Stepping up to the open mic! Local comedians are launching a series of new shows to bolster the standup scene in Hartford, but organizers are also shining the spotlight outwards on thousands of people across the state impacted by addiction.
At first glance, it looks like a garage, but with laughter tricking out it quickly becomes obvious the space is transformed into a comedy club. The Spigot Café in Hartford is the new home base for Giggle Jar Comedy, recently created by Will Hite and Trevor Gerald.
“One day, we were playing darts, and Trevor was just like, what if we just started something here?” Will Hite, Hartford, said.
Now each Thursday, up and coming comedians get a shot on the open mic; the gig also drawing comics from across the Northeast.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
“It's definitely a need that we're filling,” Trevor Gerald, Bridgeport, said. “I would go down in New York, and there's so much more of a volume, we just wanted to bring more of that volume here so we can compete with the bigger cities.”
Comedians performing can make the quick hop to The Spigot stage from The Elbow Room in West Hartford, another regular spot for Giggle Jar shows.
But Hite and Gerald are thinking bigger. Beyond creating a platform, they are putting another issue at center stage: substance misuse.
Local
“I don't want any more friends to overdose, because you never want to see that happen,” Gerald said.
Right now, Giggle Jar is organizing a big charity show at a separate venue in Bridgeport. That show will raise money for a local charity to distribute naloxone, a medication that quickly reverses overdoses.
“Narcan can save that person's life, and give them another chance,” Hite said.
It’s a chance that never came in Ellington.
“His ashes are here in this urn,” John Lally, Today I Matter founder, said, about his son Tim.
“This is my favorite picture of Tim,” he added, pointing to a photo snapped at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. “I remember him talking about that trip as one of the few times he could feel good during his middle of his disease.”
When an overdose put Lally’s 29-year-old son in a coma, the family had to make the heart wrenching choice to take him off life support.
“It only took seven minutes for his heart to stop,” Lally said. “I sat with him. I actually had my head, my head on his chest. I wanted to listen to his heartbeat, and hear his last beat.”
An immeasurable loss; but one accompanied by shame and stigma.
“It makes you wonder, what did I do wrong?” Lally said. “There's that judgment that you get from people around you. ‘What's wrong with you as a parent? Where did you mess up that your kid is a drug addict?’”
Lally has dedicated the last eight years to destigmatizing addiction, founding the nonprofit Today I Matter, or T.I.M., in honor of his son. The group has created a poster project to humanize overdose victims.
This summer, he is also behind a new concert series that doubles as an opportunity to education about the opioid crisis.
For that reason, Lally is supporting Giggle Jar Comedy, hoping their upcoming charity show in Bridgeport will amplify the conversation.
“People come in for the comedy. People love to laugh and have a good time. So it's a way to draw people in, but use those funds for a really good cause for helping treatment, for helping get Narcan out on the streets,” Lally said.
In Connecticut, the Department of Public Health says the opioid crisis has gotten worse over the past decade. The latest data from DPH shows 1,464 people died from overdoses in 2022, compared to about 300 people back in 2012.
Lally credits a slight downturn in overdose deaths seen in 2022 to intervention. He wants to see Narcan in every house.
“It’s saving lives every day,” Lally said. “If you can keep them alive, they have a chance to get help in recovery and have a better life. Once they die, there's no hope.”
The hope of a second chance, shared by Giggle Jar comedians. Their upcoming fundraiser will be named “Laughs For Life,” and will be shining the spotlight on addiction.
“It's very hard to change the world, but we can just start, literally, by trying to change down the street,” Hite said.
“If you want to change the world, you need to start in your own community,” Gerald added. Giggle Jar Comedy will be announcing details about the charity show in Bridgeport to raise money for naloxone distribution in upcoming days.
