A comedian warns that performing trauma isn't the same as processing it. They describe a recent show where unprocessed pain surfaced unexpectedly, affecting both the audience and themselves, and argue that "tragedy plus time" requires actually dealing with the tragedy first.
Yes, there, there, everybody has probably heard the trope that like, um, or the adage that like, uh, comedy is tragedy plus time. Sure. That can be true. I also think I want to be careful about calling what I do therapeutic because it should be therapeutic to others. Yes. But if I'm saying something on stage that I haven't already worked through, that's going to be volatile for everybody in the room, including myself. Right. So if I don't have a handle on the things that I'm saying, what will happen is that trauma will kind of like ride itself through my body. It happened last week, actually.
