"Going to one comedy workshop or going to one stand-up comedy event or having a comedian come in and teach kids how to improvise and giggle at themselves, it's got an effect for 24 hours and surely that's better than prescribing antidepressants," she added.
He said: "I've particularly specialised in using the arts to make people better so that could be poetry, visual arts or sometimes even drama, and I've also used things like gardening, I've prescribed allotments to people and that sort of thing.
Trials are underway to see if "comedy on prescription" can help improve people's mental health and reduce NHS costs by being an alternative to antidepressants.
Its project is aimed at helping the government work with the comedy industry, communities and organisations on comedy-based social prescriptions, in the hope the health service can use them more widely.
The drugs should not be routinely offered as the first treatment for less severe depression unless it is the person's preference, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines state.
