Reddit Died Doing What They Love Funny
TIL a study of 200 stand-ups showed that they died young, at an average age of 67.1, compared to actors, 70.7. The funnier they were, the shorter they lived. The funny one in a comedy duo was likely to die younger than the straightman.
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level 1
Listening to a ton of good comedians talk about their upbringing, it's not really a shocker. A ton of the great ones bring the average way down. Learning to be funny wasn't the only way they learned to live.
level 2
It also seems they're much more likely to be alcoholics or in recovery. Even John Mulaney.
Wouldnt be suprised if that guy with the puppets had some secret weird drug addiction. Jim gaffigan probably doesn't chain smoke but he's gonna eat himself to an early grave.
level 2
Empathy and humor are tools that people too often hone due to necessity.
Bring raised by narcissists is associated with more empathic children because they need to gague the narcissists mood in order to get their needs met.
I wonder what conditions encourage a child to develop their humor. I'd guess humor could be a byproduct of being bullied during your upbringing?
level 2
The documentary "Laughing Matters" has a lot of comedians talking about their upbringing and depression. It's been a few years since I've seen it but I remember being really interesting.
level 2
Often considered the best comedian of all time, richard pryor's mother was a prostitute and he was raised in a brothel his grandmother owned and ran, and in childhood we has sexually abused by two different men.
level 2
Theo Von had another comedian on his podcast and they were talking a little about this. Theo said for himself and others he knows, they learned to be funny because their mothers (usually) were deeply unhappy so they tried to make them laugh. That in and of itself is so heartbreaking, but it also shows them trying to take responsibility for things that aren't their responsibility and having to take what probably feels like the weight of the world on their shoulders as as a young child. That is a recipe for a ton of anxiety and depression.
level 1
The comedians that are old enough to have died at that age came up in smoke filled, coke-fueled comedy clubs soaked in booze and staying up every night eating nothing but stale burgers and club sandwiches. Things might be different with the current generation.
level 2
Stand up here.
It's not any different. You're also leaving out the fact that were all seriously mentally scarred.
level 2
Things might be different with the current generation.
Yes, we have comedy clubs filled with vape instead of smoke filled comedy clubs
Last time I checked coke dealers, liquor stores, gas station sushi slingers are still around.
Edit: I meant vape not a mysterious omission
level 2
But would it be that much different for actors? They do just as much coke and booze and cigarettes, and spend plenty of nights awake partying and getting wasted and eating garbage
level 2
"stale burgers" what high class place you know about? Stand ups eat chicken tenders.
level 2
Die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.
level 2
My local comedy club green room table would get you so high just by licking it. I have seen so much coke done off that thing that I now call that room: "The One Liner"
level 2
The comedians that are old enough to have died at that age came up in smoke filled, coke-fueled comedy clubs soaked in booze and staying up every night eating nothing but stale burgers and club sandwiches.
As opposed to similarly aged actors who all grew up in drug free healthy environments and got 9 hours of sleep per night and always used protection
level 2
I would wonder if in addition to that, comedians are more likely to be clinically depressed. Humor is often used as a coping mechanism for depression, so hypothetically the more depressed, the more you may lean into humor to cope. If you've been doing that your whole life, you're probably more likely than the average person to get into comedy as a profession. This would lead to more premature deaths from not only suicide, but spiraling into other coping mechanisms like drugs and alcohol that could lead to overdose or other complications that could cause an early demise. That could easily bring the average down.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/p78h72/til_a_study_of_200_standups_showed_that_they_died/
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