When tragedy strikes, some people become Mother Teresa. Others become comedians.
Caleb Medley was already on the comedy track when tragedy struck.
The Denver Post recently ran a piece about Medley, a budding comic who spent some time in the Denver standup scene.
Medley was one of the survivors of the 2012 Aurora theater shooting. Now the comic, husband and father is recovering from a brain injury.
Humor helps Medley along, according to the article.
Whether his experience will ultimately push him toward more standup, humanitarian efforts or something else remains to be seen. It’s too soon to tell where the necessary healing and psychological distance will lead.
Coping Through Comedy
Some of the best comics–George Lopez, Darrell Hammond, Christopher Titus–metabolized life’s hardships into comedic meat.
“Normal people terrify me,” Titus famously said, “Because they haven’t had enough problems in their life to know how to handle problems when they come up. Something little happens and they snap. But being from a dysfunctional family means nothing rattles me. Hey, once you’ve driven a drunken father to mom’s parole hearing, what else is there?”
That’s not to say that one has to have a hard life in order to become a comedian.
But it sure helps. After all, you’ve probably watched a comic or two take the mic and thought to yourself, “Man! He could use some hardship.”
You may be in a hard place right now, and you may be seeking solace in family, friends, a spiritual practice or inspirational YouTube videos (like this one. Or this one).
Why not consider an improv class? It’s a support group of a different kind. Contact us to learn more.
