Hanging out with Comic Relief at the World's First Online Comedy Club!

Last week I took part in a new kind of comedy show created by Comic Relief and Google+ from the comfort of my very own dining table!

The Hangout Comedy Club from Comic Relief is the world’s first online club of its kind. Using the Google+ Hangout feature, it aims to bring us the funniest comedians wherever we are, finely selected from the pick of the Edinburgh Fringe festival.

After applying for front row seats (what was I letting myself in for?!) I received a call from a lovely lady at Comic Relief who confirmed that I was one of the lucky (or brave!) nine people who were chosen to have a front row seat which meant that I would be able to interact and chat to the comedian of the evening, Stephen Bailey. After a quick test to make sure everything would run smoothly for the show, I was sent an email which included all the details of the Hangout and a link to join it online later on.

Regularly warming up the audience at ITV’s Loose Women and Let’s Do Lunch with Gino and Mel, Stephen Bailey also won the Comedy Cafe New Act Competition last year and is currently receiving outstanding reviews for his Edinburgh Fringe Festival show; Power Couple which depicts the two sides to every relationship with his very own boyfriend Gary John Senior!

If a front row seat at a comedy club is not your idea of fun, then you do have the option to apply for a back row seat which means you can join the hangout anonymously, and instead watch and laugh as the show ensues with as many friends as you like.

Before the show began and Stephen arrived, I was prompted to make smiley and unhappy faces at my laptop so that a clever Comic Relief tool called the Laughometer could accurately measure how amused I was going to be during the show. After the show the Laughometer measures participants’ highs and lows and suggests a proportionate donation for the viewer to give. This can be adjusted at the participant's discretion and whether you choose to donate or not is completely up to you -  such a feel good feature of this initiative! 

At 8pm Stephen arrived and all nine of us ‘front-rowers’ introduced ourselves to him and asked a few questions which got us all laughing together in no-time! I’ve used Hangouts before and it does take a short while to get used to it as a new way of interacting, but if you are used to using Skype and FaceTime it won’t take long before you get the hang of it!

I am really looking forward to the next line up of comedians from Comic Relief and I think this initiative has the potential to be absolutely amazing, what’s not to like, a laugh to change a life for a good cause. 

You can find out more about future Hangouts and watch past shows here.

Katie x