You smile with your teeth, we smile though ours.

"I tried to kill myself with bungee cord. I kept almost dieing. I would say the last time I tried to kill myself was about an hour ago. I jumped of a very tall building and accidentally did two perfect backflips and landed on my feet. The only people who saw this were two little kittens and one turned to the other and said, 'See that's how you do that.'" -Stephen Wright.

After reading various articles about stand-up I realize that this is a very violent activity. Think about it. If we do well we KILL. Do bad we DIE. The best part of our jokes are the PUNCHlines, unless of course we are doing SLAPstick, but everyone knows that is HACK. What is the the deal? Why these terms? Then I read Ed's response to my post, about self destruction in comedy, and it all became clear. The terms are violent, because stand-up is our fight to survive.

Read that Stephen Write joke again. Now take out the punchlines and pretend your best friend is saying those things. No only is it not funny, it's down right scary. Well I have some news for you. Stephen Wright really does think about killing himself. Stand-up in it's truest form is a display of who that person is. Exaggerated yes, but it is still them. These are the comedians true feelings. That is why they were able to write these things.

Take a look at Richard Louis. You more then likely know him as either as Larry David's friend from Curb or the prince in Robin Hood Men in tights. He is a stand-up great. He just talks about his insane paranoia, and it is hilarious. It is also true. If you saw Richard today and asked him, "Are you okay? You look sick." He would panic. He would just check over himself a million times to see if he was sick and more then likely decide that he is sick afterward. That is his life, the only difference is he shares it.

I am no exception. I was recently in a car accident. totaled my car. My grandfather's car. That I inherited when he passed away. My girlfriend was in the car and I was pulling out of the WAWA. We were going on a little date and I had to tap the ATM. My girlfriend mentioned there was an ATM where we were headed and there was no need for me to go the way I was going, but I went to WAWA out of spite. In other words there was no reason for me to be there and the accident could have been avoided. As they towed my car away the date money was spent on WAWA hoggies and we waited an hour and a half for a ride. My girlfriend then had to go home. She left without a date and won't be seeing me for two weeks. I was crushed.

Two days later I hit the stage, "So I just smashed my car, which sucks. Car was totaled, but what bummed me out is that I was hit coming out of a gas station! The car I can deal with but I blew 35 bucks on a full tank to move 35 feet. To add insult to injury is that I almost made it out of the way and just got nailed, then I found out that I was hit by a DODGE!"

Not my best joke sure, but everyone laughs. I laugh to, but not because I think it is all that funny. I just like knowing that something good at least came out of my pain. So I smile along with everyone, because is I were to cry I think it would kill the mood.

When Stephen Colbert was asked how he writes his show he said, "I open the paper and look for things that make me want to cry. Then I think of something funny so I don't." In all honesty that is what comedy is. We laugh to keep from crying. You know the saying, "it is funny because it is true"? Well all jokes are true in some respect. Something gave that comedian that idea for that joke. You can bet is was a real life experience.

Now I don't want you to feel sorry for us. That is not the point. I just want to show what an odd breed us comedians are. While other performances are to spread a message or make money, comedy is really for the comedian. Dane Cook has a new joke about a fan who wrote a letter saying, "Both your parents got cancer and died to get away from your comedy." I know his first reaction to this was not, "This is really funny!" No. It was hurtful, but if we can spin it into comedy then maybe the pain goes away. You see while our lives suck, comedy is the only way we have found to deal with it. When you laugh you give us a great gift. You give us power over our situation. Not only is the the pain gone for that moment, but it is conquered! So don't feel bad for us laugh with us. We really don't want you to know the darkness. We don't even want to know it. That is why we wrote the joke. As a matter of fact forget you read this. It's to depressing to know that our comic grin is made of plastic, and comedy is our drug that makes us feel normal. But it is true.... and that's why it's funny.

"Heard a joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says, he's depressed. Says life seems cruel and harsh. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world. Doctor says, 'Treatment is simple. The Great clown Paglacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up.' Man busts into tears. 'But Doctor... I am Paglacci!' Great joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains." -Rorschach from Watchmen