Cardiff Queer Comedy WIP Season: Leila Navabi & Sam Williams

For the fourth year in a row, The Queer Emporium's WIP Season with some amazing queer comedians bringing previews of their shows to Cardiff! The final show stars the two comedians who regularly end the WIP season for us: Leila Navabi and Sam Williams!

Leila Navabi

Leila is a writer and comedian from South Wales. In 2023, she made her Edinburgh Fringe debut with a sellout run of her musical comedy hour Composition. Described as 'the actual future of comedy' (LMAOnaise), her television and radio stand-up credits include BBC New Comedy Awards 2022 (BBC) Live at Aberystwyth Pier (BBC), Stand-up Sesh (BBC), Stand Up in My House (BBC) and The Leak (BBC). She is bilingual, with Welsh Language credits including Ffyrnig (S4C) and Ni y Nawdegau (BBC Cymru). She has provided tour support for Jessica Fostekew, Laura Smyth and Nish Kumar.

Sam Williams

Join patron saint of bisexual firstborns, Sam Williams, as he sheds light on the complexities and contradictions of life as a queer person of faith. This work in progress debut show from one of the UK's most exciting new comedians is by a Christian, but most Christians will absolutely hate it.

What is a WIP?

A WIP is work-in-progress, a show that comedians commonly do to try and figure out the structure and material of their show before they debut the final product (basically, a draft of their eventual show).

What is a WIP Season?

Every Thursday in June, two queer comedians will bring a WIP of their shows to The Queer Emporium! That's ten queer comedians throughout the month, hence the season! You can buy tickets for the individual events or if you buy tickets for all of the WIP shows, you'll receive a discount (also known as our Season Pass). To receive the discount, just add all five WIP Season events to your basket and it will be applied at the check out!

Who's doing a WIP on what date?

Line-ups will be announced shortly, but previous comics who have taken part in the season include Jessica Fostekew, Priya Hall, Sarah Keyworth, Morgan Rees, Lorna Rose Treen, Leila Navabi, Amy Mason, Christopher Hall and more.

Further Information

Alcohol will be served at this event. This is a seated event. Loud sounds may feature as part of the performances.

Accessibility Information

Our events are situated in the Royal Arcade, Morgan Quarter. Access to this can be gained via our shop front entrance, which includes a step or via our side entrance, which is level with the ground but please let us know in advance if you would like to use this one as it is often locked. There is also a disabled toilet on site.

The Queer Emporium is situated at the lower half of St. Mary's Street. There is a taxi rank diagonally across from the space and Uber cars are able to collect people from the Marriott Hotel, which is approximately 0.4 miles away. Here, many buses also stop to collect passengers and allow them to alight. Parking is available in St. David's Hall 2 and the John Lewis Car Park, both of which are approximately 0.2 miles from The Queer Emporium.

Pay It Forward

If you are facing any financial barriers that may prevent you from attending the event, please contact us. We have a limited number of Pay It Forward tickets available for all of our events.