Abstract
In “Stand-Up Comedy and Mental Health: Critiquing the Troubled Stand-Up Stereotype,” philosopher and amateur stand-up comedian Sheila Lintott analyzes the nature and critically evaluates the evidence for the stereotype that stand-up comedians are an extraordinarily troubled lot, arguing that the evidence does not support the truth of the stereotype. In addition, this chapter explores the roots of the stereotype in the mad genius stereotype familiar since at least the time of Plato; considers reasons for its perpetuation among the public, academia, and stand-ups themselves; and surveys the negative consequences of the troubled stand-up stereotype, including a tendency to downplay the role the working conditions, climate, and culture of stand-up comedy plays in creating or exacerbating any mental health, social, and addiction challenges faced by comedians.
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Notes
- 1.
It’s also worth noting that a larger cultural debate over education, namely, over what and who should educate the youth, was at play. Plato was engaged, that is, in a debate over curriculum: should education be delivered by artists focused on art, for example, Ion on the writings of Homer, or by philosophers on philosophy, for example, well, the teachings of Socrates and Plato? Although remnants of this debate are played out today, the stakes for philosophers are lower because the terms are different—the question, in the United States at least, is whether the arts should be included in education and philosophy as central to education isn’t even on the table.
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Acknowledgment
I would like to thank the editors of this volume, Eric Shouse and Patrice Oppliger, for their encouragement, assistance, support, and extraordinary patience throughout the development of this manuscript. I am also grateful to Monica Lintott for generously reading and providing feedback and suggestions on an earlier version and to the audience at the Art, Aesthetics, and Medical and Health Humanities Conference at University of Kent, February 2020, especially Stella Bolaki, for lively discussion and novel insights.
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Lintott, S. (2020). Stand-Up Comedy and Mental Health: Critiquing the Troubled Stand-Up Stereotype. In: Oppliger, P.A., Shouse, E. (eds) The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy. Palgrave Studies in Comedy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37214-9_10
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