BBC Focus

MONKEY CAGE

ublic speaking is

thought so wretched a

torturethatitranksas

more stressful than

moving house, and more

horrible than being

cooked alive in lard while a drunk Hugh

Fearnley-Whittingstall clumsily

spatchcocks you with skewer

after skewer.

Therefore, those uninfected with

thedesiretomakeroomsof

strangers laugh often see the

comedian as a diseased anomaly.

When I made a documentary about

comedians and melancholy a

couple of years ago, Jo Brand

told me that she didn’t

necessarilythinkallthecomics

she knew were categorically

mentally ill, but that most

were “damaged people”.

Despite the weight of anecdote,

there’s little hard research.

Perhaps one way of finding out

how comedians think is to look at our

brains.Lastyear,Iplayedasolitarygameof

Radio 4’sJustAMinutein an MRI scanner at University

CollegeLondonaspartofresearchintowhichareasof

the brain light up when a performer improvises.

Preliminary analysis suggested that, compared to a

control group, comedians have less activity in Broca’s

area, a region of the brain involved in the basic

processes of speech production. This may sound

surprising, but the researchers say that it’s because

comediansfindspeechlesseffort.It’scalledthe‘giftof

the gab’, and it seems that practice has honed that part

of our brains.

Unfortunately, neuroscience is less helpful when it

comes to finding a link between comedy and more

nebulous concepts such as mental health.

Can psychology help? I spoke to two psychotherapists

while researching this column. One believed that if

you’re joking about something, then you haven’t come to

termswithityet,suggestingthatcomedyisan

unhealthy coping mechanism. The other saw joking as

ahealthyoutletforcopingwiththeanxiety

of existence. From my perspective, I think there

is a way to jokeandto come to terms with life.

Lifeistooabsurdtotakeallitscatastrophes with

astraightface.

In 2014, headlines were made when

psychologists at the University of Oxford and

BerkshireHealthcareNHSFoundationTrust

published a study showing that comedians

were more likely to have psychotic

personality traits. Over 500 comedians

took part in the study, with one of the

authors, Prof Gordon Claridge,

commenting that “the creative

elements needed to produce

humour are strikingly

similar to those

characterising the

cognitive style of people

with psychosis.”

Whereas other cultural

groupsmayhaveblanched

at being considered psychotic,

comedians were pleased that it

proved they were special. Actors

were researched too, and they

proved less psychotic, giving

comedians a quiet moment of pride. More

seriously, this study didn’t prove a link

between comic talent and mental illness – this

isn’tpsychosisintheclinicalsense,butratheran

ability to make quick associations and connect

random thoughts, a thinking style that’s often

seen in people with schizophrenia or bipolar

disorder. Say ‘bicycle’ to a comedian and they

don’tjustpictureabike,theypictureallthe

things that might make the bike funny.

Ultimately, perhaps comedians are no sadder

than the rest: it’s just that they publicise their

pain. As Billy Crystal said,

“stand-up is how comedians

process things that are

painful.” Hopefully, by

doing so, they can give a

voice to others who process

their pain in silence.

ROBIN INCE ON...COMEDY AND MENTAL HEALTH

“SOME BELIEVE THAT IF YOU’RE JOKING ABOUT

SOMETHING, YOU HAVEN’T COME TO TERMS WITH IT”

P

ILLUSTRATION: JAMIE COE

Robin Inceisacomedianandwriterwho

presents,withProfBrianCox,theBBC

Radio4seriesThe Infinite Monkey Cage

bbc.in/1Lxp3QR

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