GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — To Aaron Sorrels, comedy served as an unconventional tool for recovery as he battled with alcohol dependency.
“I had left a job to address alcoholism in my life and was going through kind of a tough time – it was an extended period of unemployment,” Sorrels said, later saying his wife suggested he try LaughFest’s First Timers Showcase years ago. “That has kicked off an adventure that I never thought would be possible.”
Later naming himself “the Unemployed Alcoholic,” Sorrels was soon met with another challenge as the COVID-19 pandemic left public venues shuttered. That’s when he discovered the Metaverse.
“I wouldn't have expected my path to follow that route, but it did,” he said. “Quite frankly, this is the most rewarding thing I've ever been a part of.”
Sorrels has since been featured in the New York Times and Vice News due to his creation of the Soapstone Comedy Club. The venue found in Meta’s Horizon Worlds not only serves as a space for comedians across the world to try out their set, but a place for conversation.
Inside the club, a banner above the stage reads, “We are all here because we’re not all there.”
The ease-of-access, Sorrels said, is something that sets his club apart.
“What the Metaverse does is it takes experiences and takes places even and makes them accessible to people that can't ordinarily access them,” he said. “There's people from all over the world that gather in the Metaverse in the Soapstone and it's amazing.”
Though the major restrictions tied to the pandemic are long gone, Sorrels believes virtual reality-based performance is here to stay.
“There's a lot of people that really suffer with anxiety, and not necessarily being able to feel comfortable in a large group of public people,” he said. “What they get to experience is the opportunity to come in and have just that slight bit of removal, which opens them up.
“I've seen people that suffer from severe social anxiety end up taking the stage –hearing a room full of people applaud them – it's truly life-changing for them.”
The Soapstone Comedy Club often has multiple shows a day.
When 13 ON YOUR SIDE visited the space with Sorrels Wednesday morning, a talk show called “Good Morning Soapstone” was going on.
The audience had about 20 people. All were silently listening in, some turning back as I noisily made my way in. Quiet “hello” waves were given.
After approaching the stage, attendants weren’t shy to list off the different states they were from – some were even from the U.K. All agreed that comedy could happen in the Metaverse.
“Soapstone’s stage is actually a remarkable, versatile platform of performance,” a user named Mattycakess said. “There is a plethora of things that happen up here including comedy, and it gives everybody the chance to come up here and do their thing.”
Interacting with users felt natural. Nonverbal communication – little things like talking with your hands – carried through in the Metaverse.
“The facial expression, the movements, the things like that – the brain takes those puzzle pieces and puts it together just as if you and I are sitting across from each other,” Sorrels’ avatar told me while at a fire pit outside the club. “It’s really spectacular, I’ve never experienced any platform that does this.”
There is one tragic truth in the Metaverse – there are no legs.
But that almost doesn’t matter.
While the technology is revolutionary in some ways, Sorrels said there are still many ways where it’s still beginning. Either way, it’s something that can’t be accurately described unless you try it out for yourself.
“When people truly come in and experience it, when people come in and make the personal connections and feel the sense of presence, it completely changes their perception of the Metaverse.”
The Soapstone Comedy Club can be accessed through Meta's Horizon Worlds.
The Unemployed Alcoholic said he plans to do more hybrid, in-person/virtual shows at the Comedy Project.
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