That Difficult Stage
Stand-up may seem scary, but embracing the fear can be positive.
It's often suggested that stand-up comedy is one of the scariest things you can try; although it's not often suggested by comedians, interestingly. Mention that idea to a comic and they'll generally rattle off a lengthy list of much scarier occupations: nurse, firefighter, the police, the armed forces, that motorcycle wheel-of-death circus act at last Edinburgh Fringe, and probably anything to do with politics right now. That really is life in the firing line.
In fact, performing comedy can often help. There's an interesting talk in the TedX lecture series by a neuroscience graduate called Daniel Hardman, about how he helped alleviate his anxiety by turning to stand-up. Now that probably sounds counter-intuitive to most of us, who prefer more agreeable methods to manage our mood: meditation remains an enduring classic, and other mindfulness techniques aren't too far down the list.
Some people are even turning to natural hemp-derived products to treat various things, including anxiety. These newer tactics to relieve anxiety, such as ingesting cannabidiol (CBD) tinctures, are becoming increasingly popular; CBD is expected to become a $22 billion industry by 2022 according to Daily CBD. Touted to treat anxiety, pain, insomnia, and even depression, so you can see why CBD oil it's on some people's shortlist for treating anxiety, perhaps more so than taking to the stage to perform stand-up.
The very idea that a stand-up gig is on the horizon might well cause more stress than before. That happened to Hardman, as he explains in that talk, The Funny Side of Fear. He'd become so withdrawn that it was causing issues with his friends, and after one particularly awkward not-going-out exchange, he turned on the TV instead and saw Russell Kane (pictured below) strutting confidently across a stage. Suddenly motivated and throwing himself into the embrace-the-fear approach, he booked a stand-up gig... then the anxiety kicked in and he cancelled it a few days later.
It took him eight months to rebook it, and the eventual gig was apparently pretty awful - but he'd tackled something scary, and nothing terrible happened. Anxiety gave way to relief. Admittedly he tended to suddenly curtail gigs and rush off stage fairly regularly in his subsequent gigs, but that changed as the shows continued and he took more control of his own thought processes.
Something you also often hear comedians admit is that they actually need to do stand-up, for their own equilibrium as much as the gainful employment. It often follows a funny answer to the frequent interview question 'what would you be doing if you weren't a comedian?' - they'll respond with something flippant and extreme, then admit that actually, the thought of not doing comedy is genuinely worrying, and long breaks between gigs can cause problems.
Indeed, actually doing interviews is clearly a form of therapy for some comics we've come across over the years. An experienced interviewer prodding in the right places can get a comedian talking and thinking about stuff they might not ever be asked in day-to-day life. It's always an interesting moment when a particular question pulls an interviewee out of their stock-responses zone and leads to some genuine soul-searching about an issue they maybe haven't properly addressed.
They also have that other outlet, of course. Britain still doesn't have the same therapy-is-normal culture that is common in much of the US, but one place you are fully permitted to bare your soul is on a comedy stage. Maybe not on all comedy stages, true, but talking about anxiety in an entertaining way can be helpful for everyone. Laughter may not be the best medicine, but it helps.