Human connection is the antidote to loneliness, Covert Theatre's Wade Jackson reckons. Photo / Dean Purcell
The growing loneliness epidemic is no laughing matter, but Wade Jackson, founder of Auckland’s Covert Theatre, reckons improv comedy could be the cure.
In a vibrant city such as Auckland and a country known internationally for its friendliness, you wouldn’t expect Kiwis to be lonely. The truth is sobering.
Nearly one in five Kiwis reports feeling lonely “often” or “always”, and young people aged 14-24 are the loneliest age group of all. New Zealand has one of the worst youth suicide rates in the OECD. Among the known risk factors are loneliness and a lack of social connection.
This isn’t just a matter of statistics to me. It’s personal. Tragically, the 18-year-old son of a friend of mine took his own life this year.
Very few people are willing to admit they’re lonely. Often, they carry a sense of shame. And while men are less inclined to open up about it, women experience loneliness at roughly the same rate.
Loneliness has a purpose. It’s nature’s warning sign that we need to meet that ancient biological and social need for connection. But it can also become a dangerous downward spiral, leading to a feeling of total alienation where we just stop trying.
A successful business leader I was coaching told me he had virtually no close friends. Consumed by work and family, he barely had time for himself, let alone for maintaining friendships.
At Covert Theatre’s public improv classes, I always ask the newcomers sitting there nervously what brought them to class.
Most are looking for more connection in their lives and to meet new people. Others want more fun and to break out of the monotony of their day jobs.
The third most common answer is they want help dealing with social anxiety, a condition that plagues so many young people today and increases the sense of being alone.
At our Friday night shows, we’ve seen audiences dwindle. It used to be the biggest night of the week for going out, but that’s changed.
In part, that’s still a post-Covid hangover. People have become accustomed to working from home and staying at home, watching a streaming platform rather than having a shared social experience.
I was talking to someone in their late 20s who used to go out most weekends. Now, they just stay at home. The cost of living doesn’t help, either. It’s expensive for people to socialise regularly.
But online interaction can never replace real, face-to-face human contact. When we connect, our lives become richer and stronger, both individually and collectively as a society.
So we decided to do something about it. In September, we’re launching The Social Club, a free comedy show that will run every Friday night through December.
Get hold of a friend you haven’t caught up with for a while and bring them along or come alone and meet someone new. Then stick around, because the real magic happens after the show.
We’re putting on nibbles (also free!) and inviting the audience to stay and chat with the cast – and just be human together. Laughter is the fastest way to connect, so there’s no awkward small talk, you’ll meet the performers and other comedy lovers, and be a part of something special.
At the Covert Theatre, our purpose is to enhance human connection through play, at our shows, workshops and outreach programmes like the Office Comedy Clash and The Resilience Playground.
Surprisingly, the essence of improv isn’t about trying to be funny. The spontaneous comedy emerges as a natural byproduct of that, being fully centred in the moment with somebody else in a playful state.
Social scientists tell us the lack of social connection has the same impact on your lifespan as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and is more dangerous to your health than obesity, excess alcohol and a lack of exercise.
Human connection is the antidote to loneliness, and laughter is the fastest way to connect. Spending a night laughing in person with others in real time is a beautiful human experience that will only become more precious.
Once, we all watched the same TV shows at the same time. Now, with so much online content and so many different ways to get your entertainment fix, it’s rare to have those shared experiences.
Soon, with the rise of AI and deepfakes, we won’t know what to believe. It might even get to a point where all we can trust is what we can see in person, right in front of us.
So get out of the house and come to The Social Club on Friday nights. Connect and laugh with others as if your life depends on it. Because it does.