Tiernan;1643412 wrote:Alot of comedians supposedly suffer from depression / alcoholism / drug addiction etc. What's up with that?
...in b4 somebody from Cleveburgh asks if I'm a comedian
If you're serious about that question and not just trying to be a dick, there's lot of reasons why a bunch of comedians suffer from depression.
You have to realize that stand-up comedy is not a glitzy thing. There are guys like Robin Williams and Seinfeld who are the exceptions and are performing in huge theaters and making millions of dollars. But most comedians spend their time toiling away in the basement of a club, or in some shitty strip mall club in the middle of nowhere to just make a living. You spend countless hours away from family and friends and you do it because you love to perform. But it's not just something you can just stop doing. Giving up on it and working a normal job almost brings that same level of depression. So it sucks. Bad.
I've battled with depression because of it. I've never contemplated suicide. But I have drank a shit load of booze after a show to try to forget the fact that I'm only making $200 that weekend and hadn't seen my wife in several days and the club put me up in a seedy motel. But comedians have the ability to take those painful experiences they are going through and look at them differently and make them funny. That doesn't make them less painful.
That's the one positive that I have found from Robin Williams' death...it has definitely opened up the door (at least among a lot of my friends) to be more open about depression and anxiety and how prevalent it is among comedians.
Also, nobody has mentioned Death to Smoochy yet. Such a great movie.