Get a bunch of professional comedians in a room and you're probably going to be looking at a sad sack of potatoes. Or worse, a bunch of psychos. A study from the British Journal of Psychology found that comedians are more likely than others to admit to being easily distracted, antisocial, and compulsive and have less interest in connecting with other humans. Most of us would look at those qualities and say, "Sooo, comedians are kind of introverted?" Psychologists look at them and say, "CRAZY!" Probably because psychologists are still mad about flunking out of comedy school. Not good, either way.
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"They said my jokes needed a quick PUNch up. So I PUNched/KILLED them."
Antisocial traits aside, think of the comedians who have struggled with drugs, alcohol, and depression. There's not enough space in this article to name them all, so let's restrict our list to the Jerrys for quick examples: Lewis, Seinfeld, and Jerry of "Tom and Jerry." Slapstick comedian/perpetual goofball Jerry Lewis wrestled with depression so hard that he claimed he would have committed suicide if not for hearing the laughter of his children running down the hall while he held the gun in his mouth. Jerry Seinfeld flippantly said a version of the same thing in a New York Times interview a few years ago. And as we've covered before, Jerry the Mouse straight up entered a suicide pact with his frenemy Tom.
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The writers thought suicide by mutual vivisection would be too harsh.