Mansfield crowds wave hands in the air for Disability Nottinghamshire’s pioneering night of comedy

Disability Nottinghamshire has held Mansfield’s first ever night of comedy putting disability in the spotlight.

There was a huge turnout to the charity’s first of its kind comedy night with performances from local bands including The Simon Trio and Mansfield and Britain’s only British Sign Language comedian, John Smith.

Despite a last minute drop out from BBC disability comedian Mik Scarlett due to illness, the show was a roaring success that educated audiences on disability with a slight twist.

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Held at Mansfield Museum, the night opened with a few show stopping numbers from crowd pleaser Simply Daz, followed by the much anticipated stand up of John Smith.

His performance included a host of personal experiences and scenarios that helped to educate a hearing audience with a great response from the crowd.

In deaf comedy, clapping is useless. Instead, to show you found the joke funny, you wave your hands in the air.

A concept that John plays on as part of his act.

As the crowd at Mansfield Museum began frantically waving to welcome John to the stage on 20th March, he approached laughing at the audience, who looked like they were frantically waving as if they were on fire.

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Luckily, for the non BSL users in the audience, John has his wife Claire who interprets so his comedy can be enjoyed by all.

While John does use a lot of visual aids - the water pistol was a particular favourite - John’s routine refers back to the old slapstick comedy of Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy who he grew up with as a boy.

He said: “That kind of comedy just doesn’t exist anymore but it was very influential to me when I was younger.

“My act is very visual and aims to break down the barriers between the hearing and non hearing world.”

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When it comes to table manners and plate noise, John jokes about how it is impossible for deaf people to be courteous and watch how loud you are when scrapping the plate with your knife or clinking your tea cup on its plate.

Which somehow leads to lots of smashed china across the stage...to the applaud (waves) of the audience.

It is the first night of its kind for Mansfield but Disability Nottinghamshire hopes to build on its success and bring disability to the forefront of everyone’s minds.

A spokesman for Disability Nottinghamshire said: “We would like to say a huge thanks to all the acts who performed on the night to make it such a great evening, the audience for taking part and everyone who supported Disability Nottinghamshire to make this happen.

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“The night helped promote greater awareness of deaf culture, raise much needed funds for Disability Nottinghamshire and celebrate 30 years of service to the community.

“If you have a disability or care for someone and need information or advice about any aspect, please contact us.”

The charity would also like to thank the Phoenix Community Shop for donating funds for a buffet and drinks.

For more information on Disability Nottinghamshire or to enquire about its services visit www.disabilitynottinghamshire.org.uk or contact 01623 625 891.