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There is a loneliness epidemic in this country which can manifest itself in poor mental health. Peter Kelly explains…

Picture the scene. It’s Saturday night in the city centre of Newcastle. The Stand comedy club is sold out. The atmosphere is giddy, nervous and excited.

The crowd are getting to their seats, buying drinks and using the toilet before the show starts. People are terrified of public speaking and the audience wonders if they might be talked to by the comedians.

And if they are, will they go blank or panic and say something really embarrassing? Others are wondering should I go to the toilet now? What if I need to go in the middle of the show? Will the comedians slag me off?

I am sitting in the green room behind the sound desk chatting away with the other comedians. Comedians love to gossip about other comedians and talk about terrible gigs where everything went wrong.

Land every punchline with precision

Amazingly, comedians can usually tell before a gig starts what it is going to be like. If the audience is very subdued, it is going to be work. A subdued audience will laugh and then revert straight back to zero energy.

You cannot get any momentum going and you have to land every punchline with precision. You feel like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up a hill. If the audience is too loud and loose before the gig starts you might having talking or disruption.

I prefer this problem, but it also means you can’t stop for a second, the minute the punchline lands, get cracking at the next one.

Also, if someone has lost the battle with their ego before the show and is going to somehow try make the show about themselves, they will have fired off a few signals of intent before the show starts.

You will often have security say, I won’t kick them out now, but I pretty sure I will be asking them to leave during the first break. The worst part about doing standup is the minute or two just before you are called on stage.

People laughing at the same time is magic. It's good for your mental health

You just want to get up there and land the first joke and then you can enjoy yourself. Stand up looks like someone going on stage and saying funny things but it’s actually someone performing the delivery of punchlines.

Comedians are, by and large, not as animated off stage as on. They are performing. They are not saying funny things, they are delivering punchlines. They don’t just want people to laugh, they want as many people to laugh at exactly the same time as possible, that’s the magic.

And that is the part that I think is good for your mental health. When a large group of people do something at the same time. Cheer a goal that’s just been scored, kneel down at mass together, you feel connected to the group.

For that moment you don’t feel isolated and alone. Modern life can be very isolating and lonely. There is a loneliness epidemic in this country which can manifest itself in poor mental health. Communities are not always as close knit as they have been in the past.

We live in the economic age of the revered individual. For doctors the main tool they have for treating this malaise is medication. That’s what doctors do. They prescribe medication. But what if prescribing something else worked better, what about social prescribing , what about prescribing comedy?

Well, that is exactly what they are now doing. Enter Craic Health, an organisation set up by Louisa Jackson to promote the social prescribing of comedy to combat the global mental health crisis.

Craic Health organises community comedy shows and workshops to help people overcome loneliness. Currently it is being trialed by the NHS but the evidence of successful outcomes and future rollout is high. The work is being support by the Labour MP Dr Simon Opher who helped pioneer social prescriptions in Gloucestershire.

Sad indictment of society that we have to prescribe socialising

Personally, I think it is a sad indictment of society that we have to prescribe socialising. I think we overly prioritise the demands of the economy over the importance of community but we are where we are and social prescribing and the existence of Craic Health is a step in the right direction.

I would recommend checking out the website for Craic Health. They have loads of evidence on their website to back up their endeavours and they have listings of scheduled events.

Hopefully, it expands more over the coming years. I have to admit, I had a little chuckle when I came across Craic Health. Sometimes when I am on stage, I joke that I am a pharmacist and I tell the audience this what they have us doing now, running around the country trying to convince you that laughter is the best medicine as there is no money left for the drugs!

It gets a laugh but I wouldn’t open with it!

Peter Kelly is a pharmacist based in London and a stand-up comedian.