Depression Isn't Funny, But This Special Is

Plus: Malfunctioning Sex Robot, 'Joker' and what's making us happy by Linda Holmes Welcome! It was the week when [Nickelback said]( “This is how we remind you of whose song this is.” It was the week when the Tyler Perry empire [continued to grow](. It was the week when the director of one of the most heavily promoted movies of the year [opened up about]( how hard it is to be him in a world where nobody will let him do his thing. Let's get to it. Opening Argument Gary Gulman is a very funny comedian. I followed a Twitter recommendation to his stuff a couple of years ago and fell hard for it. It turns out, this was right around the time he was in extraordinary pain, ultimately entering a hospital to undergo treatment for deep depression that had resisted most efforts to treat it with medication and other therapies. Gulman’s new special The Great Depresh premieres on HBO Saturday night, and it joins a really wonderful body of work in comedy that addresses itself to mental health. Chris Gethard, Maria Bamford, Aparna Nancherla, Hannah Gadsby, Rachel Bloom, Jenny Lawson … these are all people who — while they’re not all stand-ups — have done very funny work around mental health, specifically depression and anxiety. (Many, including Gulman, have talked about it on John Moe’s wonderful podcast The Hilarious World Of Depression, on which [I have also popped up]( [Gary Gulman] Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Sometimes, it feels as if bit by bit, we can talk a little more about the subject. Gethard’s [discussion]( of his suicide attempt pushed on certain taboos; Gadsby’s [examination]( of the relationship between trauma and art made her a star in the United States. And Gulman, too, brings a new level of frankness, particularly about his treatment in the hospital. To me, there’s almost a hierarchy: It feels cliched now to talk about being in therapy (which I am), common to talk about depression (which I experience), not that hard to talk about being on medication (which I take) — but still a little bit riskier, a little more rare, to talk about being hospitalized (which I never have had to be, for reasons of pure luck and access to good treatment). Gulman nudges this conversation forward not only by talking about his time in the hospital, but by admitting that he lied about it at first. He told people he was in the hospital to have his medication adjusted (as he points out: insurance does not work that way), when he wasn’t. But! But! The Great Depresh is also very very funny — probably even if you’ve never been depressed. (But maybe especially if you have.) Gulman riffs on his past as a football prospect, his childhood anxieties, and hearing his therapist sigh mightily just after he left the office. (A nightmare.) I heartily recommend tracking it down. More talk, more talk, about all of it. It helps. We Recommend Before we get to our regular recommendations of the week, a note about a special NPR event: I’ll be talking to PCHH friend [Sam Sanders]( on stage on Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall here in D.C. With us will be NPR correspondent Aarti Shahani, whose [new memoir]( Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares is out this week. Aarti and I will talk to Sam about our experiences as new authors of very different books, and we’d love to see you there. [Tickets are on sale today!]( Have you read Patricia Lockwood’s delicious essay about reading John Updike? You really, really must. It is beautiful, hilarious, thoughtful and fair. And it’s called [“Malfunctioning Sex Robot.”]( Great writer and fun person Dave Holmes (also known as “Dave Holmes, No Relation”) has some [very wise thoughts about comedy]( and so-called “cancel culture.” If you’re a person who follows politics but also prefers to be in the company of pleasant human beings, I can make no better recommendation than to listen to the NPR Politics Podcast, which passed an important milestone this week when they went to a five-day-a-week schedule at least through the 2020 election. In some ways, this is simply giving in to the inevitable, but [give them your ears anyway](. They’re working very hard. What We Did This Week [scene from Below Deck Mediterranean] Greg Endries/Bravo Just for the heck of it, [I shared some thoughts]( this week about the weird and wonderful (well, at least the weird) Bravo show Below Deck Mediterranean. The Downton Abbey of Bravo! [Stephen rounded up]( five of the most uplifting Tiny Desk Concerts ever. [On our Wednesday show]( we discussed the harrowing and excellent Netflix series Unbelievable. [On our Friday show]( we talked about Joker, the Joaquin Phoenix performance you’re going to hear a lot more about, and the legacy of Martin Scorsese and the New York of the 1970s and ‘80s. And speaking of that big old clown movie, [Glen wrote a review]( of it that is, unsurprisingly, very smart. What's Making Us Happy Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: - Glen: [The Peanuts Papers]( edited by Andrew Blauner - Stephen: Playing [​​​​​​​Goose Game]( - Tasha: [In The Tall Grass]( on Netflix and [Full Throttle]( by Joe Hill - Linda: [Below Deck Mediterranean]( on Bravo What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: [pchh@npr.org](mailto:pchh@npr.org?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can [sign up here](. 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