Green with Envy or Making Yourself Sick? (Let Go to be Well!)

If you know me, you know jealousy has always been my biggest “sin.” Oh, God, it’s a really juicy hook for me. I’m a 4 on the enneagram–and jealousy a big feature of 4’s. (That and being incredibly charming and lovable.) But I read this article and realized it’s really killing me in a way. She says it paralyzes productivity and kills creativity. It’s true. What do we do about it?

What’s in a Birthday? Notes on turning a thirty-something

Yes, I’ve spent a over decade performing comedy, but it was largely unpaid and for give minutes at a time. It was easy to sleep in until 10am every day. Working day jobs that I didn’t really feel passionate about. Since I was little, I had always felt like there was something different, something wrong with me, some way I didn’t fit in….

Laughter: The “Inner Pharmacy”

Gita Fendelman is a laughter yoga instructor and member of the Tucson Laughter Club. It's been seven years since she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and four since she started practicing laughter yoga. Since she started laughing, she's ditched conventional medication for what she calls her "inner pharmacy" – laughter. It's all she needs to …

Laughter Heals, Once Again

A sisxteen-year-old girl with a rare liver disease that eventually left her paralyzed has made major steps towards recovery with laughter yoga. Unable to speak or move, the teen's family thought she would never recover a sense of humor. Yet with the help of two hospital-employed therapeutic clowns who encouraged lung and vocal chord exercises …

Laughter Yogis and Japanese Hypertension Research

Once again, scientist have found that laughter can lower blood pressure and prevent hypertension. Well, they at least observed an 'association' between the two. The exciting part of the study, is that the Japanese researchers  brought in a bunch of laughter yogis to instigate the laughing under investigation. They worked with music therapists as well, …

Laugh Factory Therapist

National Public Radio interview with Clinical Psychologist ILDIKO TABORI and comedian KEVIN NEALON.  In acknowledging that personal anguish is at the heart of many stand-up routines, Hollywood's legendary comedy club, The Laugh Factory, recently took on Dr. Ildiko Tabori as in-house clinical psychologist to treat the club's comics. Free therapy will be available to performers four nights per …

Chimps + Laughter = Social Status

We’ve all laughed at nothing in particular just to keep the conversation going. Researchers in Zambia found that chimps do too. Their study, published in Emotion, observed chimpanzees and greater apes responding to other chimps through expressions deemed laughter. Similar to the laughter in human interaction, the study found chimp laughter to be shorter when …

April is National Stress Awareness Month and National Humor Month

If you have been mindful of your stress levels this month, well done. April is National Stress Awareness Month and according to the Society for Vascular Surgery, laughter is a key function in reducing stress and hypertension. Fortunately, April is also National Humor Month. You may have never heard of either holiday, but they are …

Check out Cinnabar’s Solo Mio Festival

I highly recommend checking out Clark Taylor and Johnny Steele here–two great (and may I say unsung) heros of San Francisco comedy. And, for full disclosure, also buddies of mine. It’s great that we’re getting so much solo show work happening in the Bay Area–especially from standups. We’re so good at being on stage, and often have so much more to offer by adding a story arc that glues our jokes together like a sturdy arc over the stormy waters of the stage.