Dave Chawner
An award winning comic using comedy to talk about taboo topics such as eating disorders, mental health and identity. A full time comic of 6 years Dave is regular compere/MC, opener and warm up act, currently on UK tour. He is a versatile writer, performer and host and always a fun name on the bill. Continuing to go from strength to strength, he is lively, fun and definitely a name to look out for and certainly an act to book.
Live, Laugh and Hope with Dave Chawner #isharehope Episode 70
Summary: Dave’s answer to the five questions! Listen to the full conversation on the player above; also available on iTunes and Stitcher.
Question 1: How do you define hope or what is your favorite quote about hope?
Dave Chawner:
Hope is feeling like you’re not trapped, feeling like everything is doable, everything is within arm’s reach. I think it’s a belief and in the same way a mindset as well.
Question 2: Who has shared the most hope with you?
Dave Chawner:
My grandparents because they’ve nearly won the race. She’s an old lady, she had had this amazing, colorful life, she’s lived during the war, she got through it, she had such a beautiful optimism. She had a husband, she had a family, also a grandson. That gave me hope that, hey, things are going to be all right which is beautiful.
Another one is my therapist. She gives me so much hope.
My little niece, she’s my hope as well because I can already see her growing up and develop and not having kids around, I never knew how much it makes you think about the person that you are, the person that you want to be and the person you are to them.
Question 3: How have you used hope to make it through a difficult time in your life?
Dave Chawner:
I used to work in radio and I was sponsorship and promotions manager of the UKs third largest radio network. I was 23 at the time. When I took the job I thought I would be manager in the sense that I would be managing things. I didn’t realize there was managing people. I was 23. The youngest girl on my team was 28. I’m an idiot. I should’ve never gotten that job. I had a bull – it was come on, there was no way I could ever do that job. I will never forget one Thursday, I got into the office and met with a client. This is horrible and I’m not proud of it. Went out in Soho, went to a champagne bar and took a client for a lobster lunch. Got a call through from my phone and I accidentally lost a million pounds. It was a contract that was worth half a million pounds and everything had been going wrong at the office. I got back into the office and me and my manager went out for coffee and he fired me on the spot.
Honestly, I’ll never forget I went to a park with some of my mates and jokingly, even though I’ve just been sacked, some of them said “Well, this is the park, you should get used to it because you’ll probably be living here now.”
I was so lonely, but I think the hope that I had was genuinely I felt this huge release. I got fired for it for a good reason. The hope that yes I think I can use this. Now things can get better. There was a hope that I have a better suited future.
I used to work for Yelp. It got to a state at Yelp where it was a really tough decision – comedy was taking off and I couldn’t split focus between my job and my comedy and I made a ridiculous decision and I said I’m going to have to quit. They were incredible. They said to me “well, you got to do it”. There was just that hope that even now, even if everything falls flat on its ass, even if I can’t afford whatever, I’m just so hopeful about what’s coming and so pleased that I took the plunge. That was three years ago and I’ve never regretted it.
Question 4: How are you sharing hope today?
Dave Chawner:
I suppose first rate is try to be there for them. I think that’s important in hope because a lot of times it’s got to be really personal things. You’ve got to be able to stand there and say “tell me, talk to me and make sense of it” when you saw it’s me. I think the second one is try and put a positive spin on things. I never want to be that guy that people are like, oh my God that is so boring.
Question 5: How should I (the listener) begin to grow in hope or share hope today?
Dave Chawner:
One of my favorite TED talks is Beauty, Gratitude, Nature (Louie Schwartzberg). The hope there comes from gratitude.
(1) Be grateful.
(2) Be optimistic.
(3) Be there for people.
