91热爆

After covid-19 scuppered Jacob Hawley’s plans to tour his stand-up show, the comic quickly pivoted to host Jacob Hawley’s Job Centre for 91热爆 Sounds – a place for self-employed people (some of whom are very famous indeed) to share how they’ve kept going through lockdown, twinned with key workers’ accounts of how they deal with our new reality.

For freelances or people in the arts and creative industries, COVID-19 presents an overwhelming set of challenges – lost work, pulled gigs, growing isolation, insufficient government support – and it can be hard to see the funny or life-affirming aspects of waiting out a global pandemic. Jacob Hawley’s Five Nicest Lockdown Moments prove that in lockdown, ingenuity, kindness and wit still prevail.

Who could have predicted one of pandemic programming’s biggest stars would be a 1990s icon with a limitless capacity for positivity and eye-popping Lycra combinations?

With gyms closed, the 68-year-old fitness coach inspires a new generation of viewers like Jacob, who remembers his mum limbering up for factory shifts along to Mr. Motivator’s morning workouts.

“He’s not just an exercise instructor,” says Jacob.

“It’s about finding energy. That’s so crucial during this period because there are days where the fear of it all makes me more productive, but there are also days where I’m crippled by it. And my mum’s joining in again now in the same way she was when I was a kid!”

The colourful NHS tributes wherever there’s room to display a rainbow began with Ipswich mum Crystal Stanley encouraging others on social media to use the symbol to convey gratitude to healthcare workers.

Her Rainbow Trail Facebook page is 182,000 members strong; out in the real world, its impact can be seen everywhere.

“It’s changing the way people feel about healthcare workers, and it’s a meaningful way of thanking them,” says Jacob, whose pregnant partner normally works for the NHS.

“The first time my partner saw one of those rainbows, she was overcome. NHS workers were already underpaid and overstretched before coronavirus, so what Crystal started has really touched them because they’re not used to the gratitude.”

Listen to Crystal featuring on Jacob Hawley's Job Centre here.

Usually, Bristolian MC Mark Olver is warming up live audiences before gigs and chat shows; since March he’s been volunteering in a care home and the parallels with his normal job soon became apparent.

It鈥檚 inspiring to hear about people whose first impulse is to go and help others.

“It’s inspiring to hear about people whose first impulse is to go and help others, before knowing if they’re going to be all right themselves,” Jacob explains. “Mark wound up MCing at the care home – asking ‘how’re you doing, where are you from?’ – the man’s literally a professional conversationalist! Even at the best of times, older people are often lonely and isolated.

Mark’s got skills built up from over a decade on the comedy circuit and he’s using them to bring people together to feel a little less lonely, a little less isolated.”

Hear more from Mark and key workers caring from the elderly on the podcast here.

With so many suffering the loss of friends and loved ones during the pandemic, Anatomical Pathology Technician, Gemma Norburn’s blog Mortuary Gem is a welcome, eye-opening look at her role as a mortician during this crisis, which also covers bereavement and mental health at a time where we can’t gather traditionally to memorialise lost lives.

“During this time people have rightly focussed on doctors and nurses, but what goes on in the mortuary is a very important part of the healthcare sector that usually goes unappreciated,” Jacob explains.

“Gemma talks very eloquently and honestly about the toll this pandemic has taken on her mental health and its effect on the work she does. It’s an interesting time to be communicating to the nation about death and mourning, as well as an opportunity to change the way we deal with those issues.”

You can hear more from Gemma on the podcast here.

Along with fellow comic and Job Centre guest Iain Stirling, Jacob has found a lockdown bonus: the chance to slow down and appreciate moments of togetherness. Circuit comedians rarely get to enjoy home life for extended periods, so they’re making the most of it.

We鈥檝e all had the chance to focus on the kinds of things we weren鈥檛 properly appreciating before.

“Iain was saying he used the kitchen in his flat for the first time ever,” Jacob laughs. “I’m spending every day with my girlfriend and it’s kind of incredible, just being together. We’ve all had the chance to focus on the kinds of things we weren’t properly appreciating before. After lockdown, we’re not going to have a society where we’re out chasing things in the same way. It’s a nice feeling to realise my greatest accomplishment these past few months is the time I’ve spent together with my partner – and I think that’s a universal feeling.”