Comedy is therapeutic

So yesterday, I went to help out a comedy buddy, whom I'm sure would like to receive more publicity and web traffic, so I'll put her MySpace link here. Anyway, Erica, as I shall refer to her, wanted to take advantage of the CNN newsroom which is a portion of the CNN Studio Tour on the 3rd floor of the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle here in NYC. The newsroom is open to the public. And for a fee, anyone can make a tape and "recreate" the action in front of the camera by becoming a newscaster and read the news. Erica has a sketch character she created and wanted to have digital stills taken of her performing her act--sort of a "behind the scenes" look. So she asked me to take the photos.

...You just made my day...you just made it so much better...

The entire shoot took a lot longer than expected. And, in the beginning it seemed we were annoying the staff. Usually, they get the stale old tourist from Oklahoma to come in, read the script, and happily traipse off with a video, totaling 5-7 mins. By the time we were finished 1.5 hours had passed.

But the mood changed within the first 20 mins. Erica went into reading the script (of course, in character), and both staff members busted out laughing. I was in awe! I saw comedy at work. And I'm sure this is a "you had to be there" moment.

But here's the best part: The male staff member said to Erica, "You just made my day, I was having a really crappy day, and you just made it so much better."

I audibly "awwhhh"ed. (Yeah, I'm sentimental like that.)

Anyway, this is why I do comedy--to change people's moods, and ultimately to change their days. It's a pity that people usually go to see comedy at night because I'm sure if every office meeting started with a 15 min set by Todd Barry then many more members of the work force would get more done.

I believe comedy can be therapeutic for both the comedian and for the audience member.


*+*+*+* IF YOU ENJOYED THIS POST, GET FREE UPDATES BY EMAIL or RSS.

Did you enjoy this post? Buy me a warm cup of joe.