Comedian Pope Lonergan reveals darkly funny but also heartwarming side of care homes

Comedian Pope Lonergan’s new book ‘I’ll Die After Bingo’ does for care workers what Adam Kay’s ‘This Is Going To Hurt’ did for junior doctors, says one critic.

Pope Lonergan spent almost a decade working as a care worker and in his new memoir, he depicts an unvarnished truth about care workers and aims to rid the perception of “very sanitised representations” of care homes.

He wants his readers to become “inured to the realities of the care environment” and get rid of the “misconceptions” of “soft lighting” and “tea and sympathy”.

He uses frank and realistic writing to portray the raw and sometimes downright hilarious behaviour of some residents.

In his book, he writes: ‘We’re not conditioned to witness such a display, so it seems like a confrontation. Arthur is still a well turned out dignified man …but his mind – his poor, febrile mind – leads me into situations where he’s hosing me down with the contents of his catheter bag.’

“Bodily fluids can be very alienating,” says Pope. “You are conditioned to think of poo and wee as a private function …but when you have to mash up grapes in a stoma bag to allow safe passage for the faeces, a lot of people turn away.

“But when they turn away, that in turn can lead to neglect and deprivation. I wanted uncomfortable behaviours involving bodily fluids to let people know that can happen and to extract shame from it."

’Give us a liveable wage’

A Skills for Care analysis of 2020/21 data shows there are 105,000 vacancies in adult social care, whilst staff turnover is nearly 35 per cent.

A further report from The Work Foundation and Total Jobs shows the top reason for care workers leaving the sector, with 51 per cent saying they wanted higher pay.

As a guest on the Let’s Talk About Care podcast, Pope says: “What crazy meritocracy are we living in where someone works as a care worker, a noble profession …are not earning enough money … to put away money for their own pension.

“They are caring for others whilst sacrificing themselves for the care they may require in old age because they haven’t got enough money.”

As a comedian working at the Edinburgh Fringe, Pope said he was paid three pounds per hour more to dress up as a “rubbish tubby clown” than he did to keep another “human being alive and to thrive.

“This illustrates the lack of worth placed on the care workers' role in society".

He adds: “It’s all well and good clapping and whacking a couple of knackers together but a nice wage bump would be a more robust gesture.

“Give us a liveable wage.”

’I love that I could be a source of comfort to these people’

Pope says care work can sometimes be a “very thankless job”, however, throughout the book, Pope shows his devotion and love for the residents in his care.

In the book, we meet Sylvia. ‘Is that you Pope?’ shouts Sylvia from the armchair in her bedroom. Whoever assisted her with personal care, and transferred her out of her bed and into a chair, didn’t do a very good job …she’s deprived of lumber support …I prop her up with some pillows and brush her hair.’

“We meet a lot of these people at the point of decline.

“I loved I could be a source of comfort to these people,” he says. “I was a comforting presence and they wanted me about because they felt safe with me.

“It’s almost meditative in a way because it makes you …put your worries and stresses on the backburner to prioritise someone else and be very attuned to their wants and needs.”

’Let us bloody care workers come into the conversation’

Over the last few years, TV has been inundated with programmes such as ‘999 What’s Your Emergency’, ‘This is Going to Hurt’ and ‘Hospital’ all depicting the lives of frontline workers in the NHS.

However, Mr Lonergan says It’s about time “us care workers” came into the “conversation”.

“It’s almost like people don’t want to put a microphone in front of care workers because they feel like what they are going to say isn’t going to have any merit or isn’t worth listening to.

“Some people want to give doctors and certain professionals a platform but they don’t necessarily want to do that with care workers.”

’I’ve got more reviews to come’

I'll Die After Bingo: The Unlikely Story of my Decade as a Care Home Assistant was published on 16 June and Pope has already received positive reviews from critics.

Fellow comedian and author David Baddiel wrote ‘Pope Lonergan is always very funny even when dealing with the most serious subject matter.’

American comedian and television host Desiree Burch described his book as ‘crushingly funny and impossibly uplifting’ and the Evening Standard called it ‘From fearless and funny to heart stoppingly raw.’

“I’ve got more reviews to come … so I’m bracing myself for maybe some negative ones.

“The only thing I’m anticipating is that it comes from a particular political perspective. They may not agree with the politics of the book.”

As well as his published book, Pope is also in talks to create a TV series based on the book.

“I know I’m the person to do it because I’ve been in that job. I’ve been deeply embedded in the social care system, and I know the vagaries and frustrations and everything to do with that environment.”

I'll Die After Bingo: The Unlikely Story of my Decade as a Care Home Assistant by Pope Lonergan is published by Ebury and is available to buy now.

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