IF there’s one thing we all need right now, it’s a good laugh. So thank the stars for Harry Househam.

The guy behind Oxford’s award-winning Jericho Comedy nights and the Oxfordshire Mind Comedy Gala – which brought the likes of Ed Gamble, Rachel Parris, James Acaster, Nish Kumar and Ivo Graham to town – is not letting lockdown dull his funny bone.

Instead, he has risen to the challenge of making us chuckle at home.

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His most popular activity is what he describes as a “play at home game show”, on Facebook every Saturday night.

“It’s an evening of fun creative challenges and scavenger hunt activities that you can only do whilst stuck at home,” he says. “The show is a set of eight challenges that audience members have the evening to complete.

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“The main point is that, unlike a quiz, there are no wrong answers as it’s all creative and silly so everyone can see what people have posted, giving it a real live atmosphere.”

And it is catching on. He says: “We had over 100 people draw pen moustaches on their faces, 40 people recreate Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, and we have had people make over 170 paper cranes.

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“The aim of the game is to get creative, to share jokes, stories, and to come together during lockdown.”

Entry is £5 per team, with no limit on members or number of households in each team. The winning team will take 50 per cent of the overall amount raised. You can also play along for free, but won’t win the cash prize.

Harry adds: “Once you’ve purchased a team ticket join us on the Facebook event on the night where we will post the eight challenges starting at 6pm.

Oxford Mail:

"You have until midnight to complete the challenges, the team with the most challenges completed and most points will win and will be announced the next day.

"You complete challenges by submitting pictures and comments to the Facebook event. It’s as easy as that. You can enter with family members and friends self isolating from afar.

"The more players and households you have in your team the better your chance of winning, but you’ll have to split the prize with them too!”

This Saturday’s event is called Jokeo Drift and challenges could consist of such daft activities as: a housebound scavenger hunt; a ‘pics or it didn’t happen’ photo round; a contest to find the ‘roundest round’ or the ‘squarest square’; a film or product pitch; Limerick, haiku or poetry writing; recreating pictures; a battle of the bands; a show and tell, arts and crafts, a fashion show; and a lame claim to fame competition.

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The shows have gone so well, Harry has branched out with more isolated fun in the shape of a digital show called ‘Space mission: Adventure by email’.

He says: “People play by responding to emails, so you can sign up with friends and family isolating elsewhere. Audience members have to complete five challenges over two weeks, including working out a password, making crafts at home – like part of a spaceship engine using household items.

“They record mayday audio messages and video transmissions to send to other teams, and it all culminates in a big head-to-head battle where teams fight it out over Zoom with our computer system SAM (Spacecraft Automated Mainframe) guiding them through the adventure.

“This is a real artificial intelligence we’ve had built and definitely not just me dressed as a robot!”