Coronavirus: Melton comedian Jon Pearson providing laughs online

Jon Pearson is freely sharing his jokes and sketches weekly on YouTube in a show called ‘Comedy Virtually Live’ alongside friends and other stand-up comics.

He’s teamed up with The Virtual Pub, a Facebook group aimed at bringing the community spirit of a pub into the virtual domain, where prior to Covid-19 he ran a monthly comedy night.

The objective is very simple, to make people laugh from the comfort of their own home.

Jon said: “As a stand-up I realised that due to the current need for isolation most comics would now be shouting their material into a void, not dissimilar to some Edinburgh Fringe shows I have done. I wanted to create a virtual way for comics to gig and the audience to enjoy live comedy, and Comedy Virtually Live was my solution.

“I’m hoping that this show is bringing normality into the lives of people who have been thrown into a very isolated world. I know I’m going stir crazy sat at home unable to perform.

“It’s massively important to keep people laughing at this time. It is also a cunning distraction to stop people stockpiling toilet roll and canned goods, if the shops are empty for an hour my wife can go shopping without using me as security.”

Jon’s first show went better than expected, with only two days notice it featured professional comedians from all over the country, Karen Bayley, James Cook and Nick Page. With Jon as the host, the comics clocked up 150 viewers at peak, and never dropped below 100 viewers for the duration of the hour long show.

“The first one was a learning curve,” said Jon. “The acts themselves had to get used to no audience interaction, or reaction and I, as a host, had to adapt to not being able to do crowd work. Although we did get some heckles through the live chat.”

The third show is scheduled for Sunday, April 5, at 7.30pm. The acts performing are: Scott Bennett, a Yorkshire observational comic based in Nottinghamshire, Robyn Perkins, a female award-winning American observational comic based in London, Troy Hawke, an award-winning character act by Milo McCabe, a London based comic and Jon is back as host.

Donations are requested. At present funds are split four ways between the comedians who perform on the night. As the number of live views and donations increase a fifth performer will be added to the split, The Comedians Go Fund Me page. The page was created to help full-time comics who have lost their income in the last few weeks.

To watch or find out more log on to YouTube and search ‘Comedy Virtually Live’ or search Jon Pearson comedian on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.