Community MVP: Lil Laughs program uses humor to empower youth and combat bullying

BALTIMORE -- Lil Laughs is a comedy-based program to build confidence and fight bullying.

Founded by Baltimore comedian "Big" Fred Watkins, the program has been empowering youth, families, and educations since 2016.

"Lil Laughs is dope, man. It's a confidence, enrichment, anti-bullying program," Watkins said.  

Watkins shared his motivation for integrating comedy into the program, noting the prevalence of jokes in schools. 

"It's nothing but jokes in every school all over," Watkins said.  "I wanted to use that same art of just laughter, but to show kids and youth all over that they can use it in a positive way to build confidence."

By channeling comedy positively, Watkins aims to bolster children's confidence and foster a supportive environment among peers, tackling issues like bullying and self-esteem.

"Some of the amazing kids that we work with, man, how funny they are, how talented they are. Our program really helps. I tell kids all the time, if you want to be a doctor, a lawyer, or a comedian, our program really helps build that confidence in yourself to really pursue those things," Watkins said.     

Watkins says it's essential to maintain active engagement throughout the year, both during the school term, and in summer camps and community events, to ensure consistent support for the youth.

"I believe in the echo sentiment. It's really important to be found every single season. So we really prioritize doing events, supporting them or creating the events ourselves, making sure you're for that, working with a lot of different community partners, and also being in a lot of different schools for each grade level. That's all important," Watkins explained. 

Watkins says comedy helps lighten the pressures of everyday life - especially for the youth. 

"When relatability meets irony, oftentimes you laugh. And one of our key words to all youth is relatability. A lot of times, you've come in to school and they deal with life every day, and they sometimes can forget or may not even know how much they actually relate to the kids next to them," Watkins said.

Lil Laughs is at Great Cecil Elementary School, which is one of the organization's partners. 

You can learn more on the Lil Laughs website.