Pic from Vice TV
This past weekend I watched a good portion of the Vice TV series Dark Side of Comedy. (First time through I accidentally typed Dank Side of Comedy, which would be a whole other series about comedians who sweated too much and have body odor.)
To be clear, Comedian Lee Evans isn’t dead, but he is sweaty.
The series I watched, Vice TV’s Dark Side of Comedy, is about comedians who have killed themselves, succumbed to drug and alcohol addiction, or have had other tragic circumstances in their life. The series is fascinating. The list of comedians who have not had their life go smoothly is long and illustrious.
Celebrities die all the time, which is sad, but I always feel a little more sadness when it’s a comedian or comedic actor or actress. These people bring laughter and joy into our lives and the world is a little less fun without them. Do you feel the same way when you hear of a comedian passing away?
Pic from USAToday
Maybe my extra little twinge is because I feel a sort of kinship with comedians. In the 1990’s I did some stand-up comedy. I wasn’t great, but I was good. I was that local opener who got 5-10 minutes at a dark bar on a Thursday night. I probably graced the stages of these little local bars maybe 20 times. I performed in all of three cities! There were nights when I got barely a ripple of applause and there were nights when I had a bar full of people just roaring at my material from start to finish of my set.
I’ve got to tell you, having a crowd of strangers laugh and clap and talk to you after your set is the best high that I’ve ever had. Maybe that’s why full-time, career comedians so often resort to drugs and alcohol when they’re not on stage. I wonder if when they’re home without an audience and that buzz is gone, do they engage in drugs and alcohol to numb the pain of loneliness or give them the next best high that they can find.
I also wonder if being funny might be part of a mental illness or a brain abnormality. It might be that comedians brains work differently than everyone else’s. Sometimes they look at the same everyday situations that everyone else does, but they perceive a twisted, out of left field, off the wall possibility that wouldn’t occur to everyone else. Much the same way that Albert Einstein saw different possibilities in the way that physics and time works, comedians see different possibilities in the mundane. Could comedians be just a different kind of genius? That’s how I like to look at it.
Brett Butler, not dead.
Although many of the comedians who ran into trouble in their lives are men, a fair amount of female comics also had their share of issues. Brett Butler was one episode of Dark Side and she seems to have found her way back to stability and is making a comeback, acting in several things over the past few years. Her interview was very interesting. Other femme fatale’s whom you may remember that weren’t all in the series include Rosanne Barr, Ellen DeGeneres, Maria Bamford and Tiffany Haddish.
The Dark Side of Comedy is a fascinating watch and you’ll learn a lot more about many famous comedians through interviews of their friends, families and other industry insiders. The next time you go to see a comedian, whether it’s just a local yokel or one of the big timers, tell them you liked their set, because you never know what they’re going through when the spotlight turns off. And for cripes sakes, and all that is holy, do not buy them a drink! (I know that if any comedian reads that last line they’ll laugh.)
Thanks for reading! ~ Phil
