January was crazy. So crazy that I actually made myself ill and am now moping around the house feeling just a tad sorry for myself. It was worth it though. Let me take a moment to tell you why (and cheer myself up in the process)…
Late last summer, Mark Olver, Bristol comedian and previous At the Sauce guest, dropped me a DM to see if I fancied helping him out with this year’s Belly Laughs, his third. At the time I was unemployed and it seemed like a great idea especially because I love what he does. If you’re local to me, you might well have heard of Belly Laughs. If you aren’t, or you haven’t, where have you been? In a nutshell, it’s a series of comedy shows held restaurants, cafes and bars across Bristol, in the dark dingy month of January.
The shows have two equally important purposes. Firstly, they get people out and into independent venues in the miserable (and notoriously hard trading) month of January and secondly, they raise money for charity. The way it works is simple – at least £10 of every single ticket sold goes to charity – in this case, Julian Trust (who run homeless shelters in Bristol) and the rest goes to the restaurant for food, drink or both. And, ticket holders get a fun, tasty night out. Quite literally, they get belly laughs.
Soon after agreeing to help Mark, I met up with him and another willing volunteer, Naomi, to get things moving. We shook our heads in fear at his paper diary and devised a plan of action to turn his scribbles into something legible. My role is I suppose ‘restaurant’ liaison. I take the conversations Mark has with people and turning them into actual dates, details and ticketed events at places all over the city. Naomi does the same for the comedians and Mark floats around sprinkling his actual genius across everything like hilarious glitter. I mean, he does a lot more than that but I don’t want to ruin his magical appearance with the reality of admin and meetings.
This year, we held ran the biggest Belly Laughs to date, with 35 gigs in 29 days at venues all over the city, from well known foodie hot spots like Woky Ko in Wapping Wharf to Pinkmans Bakery on Park Street, Tapestry Brewery to North Bristol Rugby Club in Almondsbury and The Elephant House community centre in Bedminster. Between the three of us, we attended every gig! Phew!
What did I learn?
People are amazing. We worked with over 30 comedians all of whom performed for free and some, more than once. The big names – Rosie Jones, Jon Richardson, Mark Watson – were fantastic but so were the less known names. I’m a huge fan of every act we saw and consider them my friends now (whether they like it or not!). I can’t list them all here but I urge you to check out the comedy scene in Bristol. It’s completely new to me and it’s amazing. We have some really talented people in this city. Head to The Kettle to find out who’s gigging where and when. And, check out Naomi’s new gig at The White Harte on Park Row – the next one is on Tuesday 11th Feb.
The human body is incredible. Despite both Naomi and I starting new full time jobs just before Christmas, we somehow managed to keep going physically and mentally to the end of January. We turned up for work, got home and started all over again with this job. Sometimes ploughing through admin and sometimes in the flesh at gigs. I have no idea how Mark does it. He combines a heavy work schedule with weekly overnighters in London and still managed to compare most gigs as well as all the admin stuff! Incredible. Yeah, I’m ill now but let’s not mention that…
Volunteering is fun. Giving your time for free, to help others feels great surprisingly. I’ve always been a busy person, with the blog and the podcast taking up most of my weekends and evenings but this felt different because it wasn’t for myself. We were working as an extended team to bring joy and laughter to peoples lives, to introduce them to amazing indie restaurants around the city AND raise money for Julian Trust. Some of the comedians (shout out to Esyllt Sears, Jack Davey, Louise Leigh, Morgan Rees, Rio DJ, Jeremy Flynn and Jessie Nixon as just some of our core team) did 5-6-7-8+ gigs, coming out time and again to help us raise money whilst still running day jobs and other gigs alongside.
Am I showing off?
Yes, I’m showing off. I am SO proud to have been part of this ridiculous ride and I will 100% be doing it all again next year. If I sound smug, it’s coz I am. I’m really smug. It feels fucking brilliant.
Get involved with Belly Laughs
Mark is already planning new, exciting things – follow him on twitter and instagram to find out more about how he wants to increase diversity in comedy. And, if you’re a cafe, restaurant, bar or otherwise and want to get involved in Belly Laughs 2021, let’s talk. The sooner the better. We’re on twitter of course, and you can always drop me a line. And hey, who says that Belly Laughs has to stay in Bristol? Let’s get this show on the road.
The final score
35 gigs, 29 days. 35 comedians, 1500 ticket holders, close to £40,000 into the local economy, £15,000 to Julian Trust. Happy days. Sure, this is a self congratulatory post but I don’t care. I’m really excited to be part of this big tasty, funny family. I cannot wait to do it all over again next year, just with a few days of annual leave thrown in to sleep!