STAND UP FOR MENTAL HEALTH
Where: Heckler’s Bar & Grill, 123 Gorge Road E
When: Thursday Nov. 14, 7 p.m.
Tickets: Sold out
Comedy has long been a therapeutic pressure release valve for stressed-out artists.
But even those who do not identify as comedians can use humour to improve their health and well-being, thanks to the enduring efforts of a Vancouver counsellor and author who uses standup comedy as a vehicle for de-stigmatizing mental illness.
David Granirer is the founder of Stand Up For Mental Health, a program he says “helps people overcome their demons and their nightmares,” with regards to mental health, through writing and performing comedy. Some of the more dedicated graduates of his program are 50-60 shows into their career at this point, which he sees more of a mental health victory than comedy accomplishment. “In terms of having a career in standup comedy, that’s not why people are coming to the program,” Granirer said.
The 64 year-old is well known in the Vancouver area, where he teaches a standup comedy course at Langara College. It was during these classes that Granirer, who has bipolar disorder, began to think of comedy as therapy, and a positive way to promote healing and personal growth. Though his first Langara College classes outwardly had little to do with mental health, Granirer would see in people an immediate positive improvement once the laughs started.
“I began to think, ‘Wouldn’t this be cool to give this to people who weren’t into comedy but also wanted the life changing experience? That’s what gave me the idea.”
His creative kernel led to Stand Up For Mental Health, a standalone six-month program he runs with sporsorship from regional mental health organizations across sa国际传媒.
Those who complete the initial six month program, now in its 20th year of operation, graduate to an alumni program, and from that group he has selected 10 comics from Vancouver and two from Victoria for a showcase Thursday at Heckler’s Bar & Grill on Gorge Road East. Granirer has partnered with Mental Health Recovery Partners South Island and the Greater Victoria Social Gathering Place Society for his upcoming event.
It’s the first time Granirer has taken graduates on the road, but he feels they are sufficiently prepared for what awaits. Each comic will perform four minutes of material. Granirer will also perform. The veteran comic is a gatekeeper of sorts, and he aims to have the comedy hit its mark as a standalone entity, especially when audiences are paying a cover charge in a venue. “The comedy has to be good,” he said.
“That’s part of my role — to make sure it stands up as standup comedy.”
He’s run the program in 50 locales worldwide since 2004, including cities in sa国际传媒, the U.S., and Australia. He trains the comics via Skype and then flies in at the end of the course to perform live with the group. Granirer believes he has trained between 700 and 800 would-be comics since Stand Up For Mental Health began, including a show with the United States Secret Service at one point.
He has come to realize one thing, after hundred of rinse-and-repeat scenarios during his time at the helm of Stand Up For Mental Health.
“The process, where someone comes into the program convinced they are going to fail, three months later they will be on stage killing it. It’s such a wonderful transformation. I love to be part of that.”
Researchers from the U.S.-based Mayo Clinic cite many health benefits of laughter, including an improved immune system, pain relief, and mood enhancements. Comedy is what brought Granirer out of a deep depression in his twenties, so he’s living proof his program works.
“I’m not a researcher so I can’t speak to all the bio-chemical stuff, I just know that a few things happen when [the students] do standup. First of all, it really helps the general public to see mental health from a totally different perspective. But it also helps the comics; all of a sudden, all that bad stuff they have been through becomes great comedy material. It changes the way they feel about themselves. It makes them go, ‘That time I took off all my clothes and ran around the airport, that thing I’ve been so ashamed of? That’s hilarious. I can’t wait to put that in my comedy act.’ ”
