“My success as a professional funny person grew hand-in-hand with depression and alcoholism.” Julia Wertz considers her current sabbatical from writing comics.
Julia Wertz, the creator of The Fart Party and The Infinite Wait and Other Stories, needed a break from writing comedy and comics.
In a column on Narrative.ly, she describes how depression, comedy and alcoholism went hand-in-hand. Her wrenching story runs contrary to all the feted myths of art-making — of art as some heal-all expressive catharsis or safe refuge. It's the opposite of Steve Job's "Do What You Love." What you love will eat you alive.
In the words of Narrative.ly editor Olivia Aylmer, it's the story of an artist "finding peace only after she puts down her pens and turns to new interests."
In Julia's own words:
If you ask someone who works in comedy what is the most difficult part of being professionally funny, many, if not most of them, will tell you it's the depression. I'm not saying all funny people are depressed, but having spent a lot of time with cartoonists, comedians and comedy writers over the past decade, I can assure you that the percentage of those struggling with depression is higher than average.
My theory is that since the best comedy often springs from tragedy, cynicism, sarcasm and misanthropy, those who excel in comedy usually come from a background comprised of those events and character defects.
