Keep Talking.

Tonight’s Mostly Comedy was a great way to kick off the New Year for the club, particularly thanks to the amount we raised on the door for the charity Mind, to mark Time to Change’s Time To Talk Day, which takes place on 1^st February.

 

I think a comedy club’s the perfect place to spread word of the importance of not shying away from the topic of mental health, nor dismissing clinical conditions such as depression as some kind of active choice, or weakness. It doesn’t seem to matter how much publicity there is for the subject - it’s certainly in vogue for political parties to promise to devote more money to tackle the lack of parity between mental and physical health - the misconceptions (and lack of actual funding) are rife. The statistic that’s often bandied around is how 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem in any given year, yet despite everyone knowing this, so much still has to happen for the stigma attached to be lifted; one of the biggest steps is to encourage people to talk and not hold it all in.

The most shocking statistic for me is this: suicide is the most common cause of death for men aged 20-49 in England and Wales; the most common one; that’s terrible and simply shouldn’t be. Anyone who dismisses mental health problems as being less important than physical ones need to wake up and smell the coffee; they also need to start opening up over that metaphorical (or literal) hot drink, instead of encouraging people to suffer in silence. 

(I haven’t even got to how much was raised yet: we collected £190.55 on the door, to which we’re adding £100 from the show’s takings, so not a bad night’s work.)

Simon Munnery top left and the many faces of Brian Gittins elsewhere.

Outside of my charity-based tub-thumping, we had a great night. Simon Munnery was excellent, and Brian Gittins brought his usual unique brand of unhinged anarchy that the room crying with laughter. I hosted on my own and that went well too. So all in all, Mostly Comedy hit the ground running; I look forward to what the rest of the club’s tenth year will bring.