A FORMER Royal Marine and Afghanistan veteran who was medically discharged has found a new focus after getting into comedy.

Luke Norris from Rainhill joined the Royal Marines straight out of school aged 17.

He loved his time serving, however, the things he saw there and a back injury led to him being medically discharged in 2017.

He then struggled to adapt to normal life and struggled to find the right kind of mental health support.

However, last year he decided to get into comedy to help him with his depression, touring across the North West and turning his experiences into humour and raising awareness of PTSD and depression.

Luke, now 28, said: “Since leaving I’ve struggled massively, with drinking and drugs. I’ve had four job roles and been in six different companies, this has been due to my behaviour.

“I just can’t seem to settle and I’ve now been diagnosed with depression.

“In December last year, I got into standup comedy and it’s taken off massively.

St Helens Star:

Luke in Afghanistan

“I’ve been in new comedian of the year finals with more to come.

“Comedy is really helping with my depression and it allows me to let loose.”

Luke uses his stand up to share what is bothering him, in a humorous tone, and says that once he’s shared the problem, it seems smaller.

He added: “We go to war zones and see things that humans aren’t supposed to see, but we come home and people don’t know what to do with us.

“I’ve lost more friends from the marines from suicide than any warzone so it’s important to spread the word.

“In therapy they say write your problems down, then scrunch it up and throw it away.

“That’s how I see my comedy, I write a joke, say it out loud, get a few laughs and then it’s gone.

Luke has recently started his own comedy club called The Jester Comedy Club, at Rainhill Ex-Servicemen’s Club.

The first gig will take place on December 6 from 7.30pm alongside other comedians such as Rob Mitchell, Gemma Roberts and Peter Edge.

Tickets are £8 each.

n To book go to bit.ly/2Kf8OzV