Comedians host virtual comedy night in aid of hospice charity

Comedians, including Bake Off The Professionals presenter, Tom Allen, will take part in a virtual comedy night in support of St Ann’s Hospice.

The event will be streamed for free online takes places on Sunday 21st June. Viewers will be encouraged to make donations to support care for the hospice’s patients after a planned event was forced to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Eamonn O’Neal, Chief Executive of St Ann’s, explained:

We were planning a live event at a local venue to showcase the very best in comedy talent whilst raising money for our patients, but obviously the pandemic has meant that has had to be postponed to next year.

“The comedians involved have been so generous with their time and have agreed to take part in this virtual evening for a night of online stand-up instead, and we couldn’t be more grateful to them. Our nurses and doctors are working even harder than ever on the front line to make sure that we can continue to provide safe, compassionate palliative and end of life care to the hundreds of patients we support every week.  We’re hoping that people watching the free evening of comedy will be kind enough to make a donation on the night to help us continue that care.  Every penny really will make a difference to the lives of our patients at such a difficult time for everyone.”

Bake Off: The Professionals and The Apprentice: You’re Fired host, Tom Allen headlines the event, with other performers including Hackney Empire New Act of the Year winner Josh Jones, Comedy Store regular Mick Ferry, international comedian Anna Spark, American stand-up artist and improviser Kate McCabe, award-winning Freddie Quinne, popular North-West comedian Big Lou Jones, two-time national award winner Matt Reed, and rising comedy star Harry Stachini.

Anyone who makes a donation as part of the virtual comedy night will also be entered into a draw to win special prizes. These include two tickets to Jason Manford’s next tour, a virtual private training session with Anthony Quinlan, a Happy Mondays photo signed by Shaun Ryder, a Reiki training course with Ki Retreat and well-being subscription box and 10 planners from Hello Day.

Eamonn O’Neal added:

Huge thanks to Carla Speight who has organised the evening for us and the Show Stream platform team for hosting and creating the comedy night video for us free of charge.  We really appreciate all of their support.  As a charity we have to raise £20,000 a day to keep our doors open for patients, and it’s really difficult at the moment with lots of our events cancelled.  People like Carla who are thinking outside the box and being creative with ways to raise money for us are amazing and we can’t thank them enough. Please do join us for what I’m sure will be a fabulous night of fun and fundraising.”

For more information, and details of links to join the virtual comedy night stream are available from the St Ann’s Hospice website.

Image: Tom Allen performing at 2017 Latitude Festival, courtesy of Aberrant Perspectives.