Laugh For Life Comedy, the community interest company based on Merseyside helping people to improve their mental wellbeing through comedy, received the acclaim of the city’s Lord Mayor recently.

In an ongoing collaboration with Care Merseyside, the company founded by Henry Churney staged a premiere for their documentary ‘Behind the Laughter’ in Liverpool City Centre.

Approaching 100 guests attended with Liverpool’s new Lord Mayor, Cllr Barbara Murray paying homage to Henry and Care Merseyside’s work.

“They are both a huge credit to our community. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, it’s a brilliant initiative by Henry and heartwarming to see how our people are being helped through social prescribing. The quality of comedy was obvious given the audience feedback, not surprising given Liverpudlians and their ability to wax lyrical using comedy!”

Henry launched the initiative with Care Merseyside back in April 2024 and hasn’t looked back.

He said: “I have so many people to thank for helping me get this far. This is all about helping mental wellbeing via the medium of stand -up comedy which Laugh For Life Comedy teaches. We had a fantastic turn out and I’m very grateful to the Lord Mayor of Liverpool for supporting us. She’s fabulous.”

The documentary ‘Behind the Laughter’ directed and produced by the brilliant Kai Joyce, describes the experience of all those individuals, from attending the stand-up comedy course to showcasing their own material in front of a live audience across the city. The journey then continues with the Laugh For Life Comedy monthly workshops enabling all individuals to continue their adventure and further enhance their mental wellbeing.

Henry added: “Kai is an extremely talented young man. We are so very grateful to him. And not only do we now have a documentary, we’re also aiming to produce a book of work from all of the participants to raise funds. We also have the opportunity to do more shows.

“Last week, the team performed at the Epstein Theatre in  Liverpool to critical acclaim. And in September, we host a gig at Liverpool’s Pocket Cafe with the aim of performing at the Liverpool Fringe in October.

“Incredibly, we’ve also been successful  in obtaining  funding from Edinburgh ‘Keep it Fringe’. This means a Laugh For Life Comedy team will debut at Edinburgh Fringe in August as part of my solo show that week. They have already performed at the Buxton Fringe with me earlier this month.”