Gary Gulman -Fail Better

Where to Listen

I had never met or worked with Gary before this show. By the time the show was over, we were friends. His landmark HBO special The Great Depresh https://tinyurl.com/thegreatdepresh1 spotlights the pitch dark depression he went through, with comedy. He had to risk intense failure by talking openly and honestly about mental illness in front of an audience; and learn how to make it funny. What kept him going was two words from a Samuel Beckett quote; “Fail Better.”A lot of people have mild depression, they can live with it, this is not that. This is your brain lying to you 24/7 and telling you not to move. Do not get out of bed. And then beating the shit out of yourself for not being able to move. In this episode, we talk about the smallest of steps that Gary learned to take toward recovery. Jennifer talks about small things to shift thinking, make it very general about the tiniest thing that might feel good now. What you can do as a parent, loved one or friend to support someone experiencing depression, and part of it is just to be with them, sit with them, listen with empathy. A whole combination of tools, therapy, CBT, medication, ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy) and doing comedy, all of that has helped Gary recover. He talks about how ECT can have slight long term memory loss. And I wondered if it could help me forget my Bar Mitzvah. He did spend time in a psych hospital, where a fellow patient recognized him from standup and years later after all this work, he made it to Carnegie Hall. I think we all know how to get to Carnegie Hall…depression, getting help, self care and practice. Fail Better! Find Gary’s tour dates and everything he’s doing here: https://garygulman.com/ and find all of Jennifer’s amazing work and services here: https://connectedparenting.com/