Comedy night supporting Sheffield Hospitals Charity featuring comedy novices sells-out at the Leadmill
David-Bowie-costumed singalongs, traffic-related flowcharts and impeccable comedic timing – Sheffield Hospital Charity’s new comedy night ‘Chuckles for Charity’ had it all! Raising a total of £16,857 and counting, we’re thrilled that the night not only put smiles on everyone’s faces on International Day of Happiness last week, but most importantly raised plenty of money that will go towards incredible projects across Sheffield and beyond, to help people live better with dementia.
Caption: A video of the night captured by Hayley Reith, a journalism student at the University of Sheffield
This was no ordinary comedy show, however – all eight of the comedians taking to the stage that night (in front of a sold-out audience of 400 people!) were complete newbies to the world of stand-up. They received just five training sessions with comedy legend Anthony J. Brown over the course of three months, culminating in the big night at iconic Sheffield venue, the Leadmill.
Together our comedians raised a fantastic fundraising total of over £11,167 and a lot of laughter too – all eight of them were a hit with the audience, their mentor Anthony said on the night - “I feel like a proud parent – it's testament to putting the time in, and they really did! All eight have really committed to the cause.”
MC’d by Anthony himself, with Anthony’s friend and fellow professional comedian Howard Walker joining to take that terrifying first-set-slot and warm up our audience, were eight comedy novices from across Sheffield’s business community. For those who weren’t able to make it on the night, here’s the line-up you missed: (Phil Turner - Meze Publishing and Blind Mice Media, UNLTD Business) Nigel Short (VOOT Telecom), Mark Rawson (Seven Hills Creative), Ross Musgrove (Bravand), Sam Headford (See It, Be It in Sheffield), Laura Cartwright (Terra Nova Equipment), Alex Dobson (Freeths) and Joe Gleadall (Amby Recruitment).
Caption: Plenty of laughter from the 400-strong audience at 'Chuckles for Charity'
Both Ross and Laura were taking on their new roles as stand-ups for the night as part of their companies’ Master Cutler’s Challenge. The Master Cutler’s Challenge is a Sheffield tradition wherein the Master Cutler of the Company of Cutler’s in Hallamshire (established in 1624) chooses a charity to benefit from a large-scale fundraising challenge, which has now become one of the largest fundraising events in the region, raising an incredible amount of money for local causes. Find out more about the Master Cutler’s Challenge here - and sign your company up. Also joining us on the night as part of Master Cutler’s Challenge efforts was the brilliant Adam Briscoe, who chatted to attendees on the night as part of a beautiful Leadmill-inspired piece of art, which is for sale now with all proceeds going to the charity.
This year’s Master Cutler Phil Rodrigo has chosen Sheffield Hospitals Charity as a beneficiary of the challenge to fund projects that will have significant impact through a number of dementia care initiatives. The Chuckles for Charity night itself was also organised as part of the charity’s ongoing commitment to fundraising for crucial dementia projects.
Caption: Sheffield Hospitals Charity CEO, Beth Crackles, taking to the stage at 'Chuckles for Charity'
Beth Crackles, the CEO of Sheffield Hospitals Charity said: “A number of the comedians have been personally affected by dementia in their families so they’re really passionate about it. We know that when people are diagnosed with dementia it doesn’t come with a manual and caring for them can be really really tough.” Find out more about our dementia appeal and donate here.
The Master Cutler himself, Phil Rodrigo, also made an appearance on the night as a guest judge, joining Kate Hardy, Jill White and Jake Simpson to play Simon Cowell for the evening – with their scores crowning the night’s Chuckle Champion. Other prizes given out were Charity Champion and Audience Favourite.
The evening was a roaring success, and the charity would like to thank all those who volunteered their time (especially our brave comedians!), our photographer Dominic Lipinski whose photos can be seen in this gallery, Journalism Student Hayley Reith who created a brilliant video of the night, and our sponsors LensGo Visual Media and Pinders.
We can’t wait to see this wonderful event grow year on year – if you reckon you could take on the stand-up challenge you can register your interest using the link below:
Published: Thursday 27th of March 2025