Are comedians damaged people? My thoughts on the passing of Robin Williams

I’m friends with a lot of comics on social media (and real life) so I saw a ton of posts about the passing of Robin Williams.  I think the guy was a great and underrated actor, really skilled at improv comedy and I’m not qualified to comment on someone’s suicide that I didn’t know, so rather than try and figure out why or how, I’ll leave it alone.

The surprising offshoot that came from his death was the question that kept coming up over and over – are comedians damaged people?  I used to play a game when I started comedy where I tried to figure out problems other comics had.  Luckily, I don’t have any, other than drinking, lack of tact, aversion to strangers, temper…OK, a few.  Most comics have issues, but then again so do most non-comedians.  They just talk about them in front of strangers, so it’s a little more obvious.  If a comic takes their life or hits rock bottom, you don’t have to be a medium to divine they had some demons – you probably figured it out when they flat out told a room of people or posted their act online.

I generally think people misunderstand a lot comedians.  I constantly get asked if I pick on the crowd (not unless I’m being heckled, which happens about once every 100 shows) or tell old truck stop jokes (nope, just stuff I write).  I was told once at a show in Georgia by a crowd member that comedians were the most miserable people he’d ever met.  I laughed pretty hard at that one.  The truth is that comedians aren’t robots programmed to do nothing but giggle like schoolgirls all day and night.  Why was I a little grumpy offstage that night?  I drove all the way south, only to find out the venue forgot to reserve a room at the hotel on Labor Day weekend and then didn’t pre-sell tickets, so there were about eight people there.  Sorry, all out of yuckity yucks, cowboy.

Due to the fact comics are people, we have shitty days, problems and opinions.  I just think the surprise when any emotion other than happy fun time comes out, some people are shocked and think it’s not possible.  Putting people in a big group as damaged just isn’t quite accurate.  I know comedians that are clean, dirty, conservative, liberal, gay, straight, religious, atheist, loud, quiet, you get it.  Long story short, seeing a funny person go through some really non-funny times is shocking because the reality doesn’t match the perception, but it doesn’t mean the second someone picks up a mike they go bat shit crazy.  I was there long before I started comedy.  RIP Robin and I hope his family finds peace in such a dark time.