It may sound peculiar, but gambling – with its risky nature, unpredictability, and big stakes – makes the perfect working board for comedy acts. The gambling world is full of chaos, financial losses, anxieties, and a bunch of elements that would describe human behaviours as being destructive: a good base for stand-up comedy material.

Think about how a comedian crafts his material. The only thing he or she needs is a few reality hooks that can have scenarios attached to them. For instance, hope, addiction, and loss are three good examples of universal elements that a comedian can use to build a funny situation. Guess what? All three can be found in a casino setting with its offer of huge jackpots, a free slots session, complementary drinks, etc.

Here’s some comedians who have talked about gambling in the past:

Ken Cheng

Cheng is not only known for his career as a stand-up, but he is also as a passionate poker player who has taken part in professional tournaments.

In 2018, he took his passion for poker and his background in comedy, went to BBC, and made a documentary called Game Over, Humans. It took a light-hearted approach to a controversial subject, trying to answer if AI would really be able to replace humans.

He found motivation for this documentary after an AI bot managed to defeat several top professional poker players.

Jimmy Carr

Switching to a darker humour style, Jimmy Carr is a master of words.

In one of his shows, he compares life to slot machines. “You keep putting in more and more, but you’re not getting anything back. And yet, you tell yourself, just one more, just one more…”

We laugh at Jimmy Carr because we can relate to this dark side of addiction. We all have our obsessions that, in one way or another, force us to act dumb, stupid, or funny in our daily lives.

Tommy Cooper

Tommy Cooper also highlights how fast you can take gambling situations and transform them into funny scenarios. In one of his jokes, Tommy noted that gambling looks funny as long as you do it together with your friends and family, but on the other hand, it can be highly destructive.

“Gambling has brought our family together. We had to move to a smaller house.”

Tim FitzHigham

In his shows, Tim FitzHigham likes to go back in time and bring historical bets to life, presenting them funnily to his audience.

This has lead to Tim having to gamble with his own life. In 2017, he rowed the English Channel in a bathtub. Another stunt was to paddle the Thames River with a paper boat.

Comedians may be gambling with their own lives or trying to make everyone smile by putting gambling situations in a more artistic context. But the reality is cruel to those who do not understand that gambling should only be done for fun.

John Robins is doing a great job promoting responsibility. While most of the names we have mentioned above are combining their passion with comedy shows, John Robins really struggled. He lost not only money, but friends, relationships and, in his own words, “my self-esteem”.

After a rough life lesson, John joined the National Gambling Treatment Service, doing his best to promote responsibility among gamblers. Gamble responsibly, and do not let your emotions dictate your next moves.

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