Comedians on Call

My partner (Bipasha Mookherjee) and I (Samantha Brody) are the founders of  Comedians on Call, a free phone comedic helpline to make seniors laugh and help them feel less lonely. We started this initiative back in April in the wake of COVID-19 after reading in a Council Member's newsletter that when a wellness center in New York City made calls to home-bound seniors, 50% of them said they would like to hear a joke.   Our mission is to ease social isolation with laughter and human connection .

Our current program runs on Tuesday and Thursdays at 8pm ET. We pre-register seniors who call in for a 20-40 minute comedic conversation with 1-3 other participants and a volunteer comedian who leads a joke-filled chat so that everyone can laugh along together. Everything is currently set-up via telephone, as many of the seniors we serve don't have access to video technology. We are continuing to grow and expand the program.

We've gotten incredible feedback from our participants, engaged some famous comedians like Myq Kaplan, and were even featured in the Bklyner here and on the Daily Skimm. We have partnered with a number of non-profit organizations including JASA, Heights & Hills, and the Good Shepherd's Center, to share the service with their community of seniors, as well as take direct referrals from our website.