Cardiac Comedy will be British Heart Foundation fundraiser

Ben Norris, Plastic Jeezus, Alex Petrovic and Ash Frith will perform at the Brighton Komedia on October 18 in a night organised by Brighton business owner Dave Blood to raise money for the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

“This year, the audience are in for an exceptional treat. Our guests will be able to see four of the UK’s outstanding comedic talents who will all be helping to raise funds for the BHF. It’s going to be a night of first-class humour.”

The father-of-two, who will also compere the night, was born with a defective heart valve which required open heart surgery when he was just two years old. In 2012, Dave had another heart operation which prompted him to turn his passion for comedy into a fundraising event for the BHF. Since then, the event – which is now celebrating its tenth edition - has raised nearly £30,000 for the BHF – which is pretty much the cost of the valve he had, Dave points out. All proceeds from the event go to the BHF. Tickets start at £20 and can be purchased from the Fringe Box Office on 01273 647100 or online at komedia.co.uk/Brighton.

“I have had two major open-heart surgeries, one when I was very small in 1974 and then another more recently in 2012. The issue for the first one was that I had a hole in the heart and then in 2012 I was diagnosed with a narrowing of the aorta which required a replacement. I've now got a mechanical value. The reason they used a mechanical one was that I was relatively young at 39 and one of the concerns was the working life of an organic valve was going to mean that in probably eight to ten years I would need another one. By opting for the mechanical valve they are saying that I've got a comfortable 40 to 50 years which is great. And now there is literally no problem. I'm living a good, free life. My consultant broke it down for me that if I'd had the operation 20 years before, in the early 90s, I would have been in hospital for about a month. If I'd had it in the early 2000s, ten years before, I would have been in hospital for two weeks. But actually I was in hospital for six and a half days which was just incredible.

“And I will you that even if I had been a billionaire, I wouldn't have wanted anyone else looking after me. I was incredibly lucky. I've had one of the very best people, Professor David Anderson and his whole team. They were just absolutely brilliant. I've always taken pleasure from making people laugh and this is a great way of doing it for a good cause.” As he says, David has got huge amounts feel grateful for and that's one of the reasons behind the whole comedy series: “I have been doing stand-up comedy since 2000 as an amateur and following the operation I decided that I really wanted to make a difference and give something back.”