Drew Carey: The Healing Power of Humor

US Weekly

9 months ago

Transcript

00:00I don't have to go to work, I get to go to work, I get to be here. It's a privilege for me to be

00:04here. Looking back, I realized that in my, because I've been a stand-up comic for so long,

00:10that I was, I had that kind of mindset when I came in, like it was just my time to be on stage now.

00:16So when you, especially when you do sets in like in LA, there might be 10 comics on the bill and

00:22everybody gets like 10 minutes or 15 minutes or eight comics and there's like a bunch of people

00:27and even when you're on the road, there's three comics and so you always have to share the stage

00:31and when you get on stage, you can't think to yourself, oh somebody else was just on stage,

00:37I wonder how I'm gonna do or you know, anything like that. You just get up and do whatever time

00:43you have and try to make the best of it and that's kind of like the underlying attitude I had,

00:48whether I liked it or not. I just didn't want to get the show canceled. You know, I didn't,

00:53I didn't want to be responsible for ruining the show and I wanted to keep it alive because it was

00:58such an institution and so I was very, that's the feeling I was like, oh I don't want to screw this

01:03up. I just, I want to be the one that keeps it going and once I got comfortable after a couple

01:08years and felt like it was more like my show instead of me just being a steward of somebody

01:13else's show, which is like the attitude I had when I first started, I thought, well I can

01:20do this for a while and now I think I just want to just do it forever as long as I'm

01:25mentally and physically able to show up. It's such a fun thing for me to do and you know,

01:32you need a sense of purpose and something to do and the money's nice and, but mostly it's just

01:36like, it's just a cool job to have that I don't even think of it as a job. I just think of it as,

01:41you know, a blessing to me so I don't have to go to work. I get to go to work, you know, I get to

01:46be here. I'm a, it's a privilege for me to be here. It's an honor for me to be here. Like,

01:51why would I give that up unless all of a sudden my memory started going or something. So we'll

01:57see how I, we'll see how I hold up. It's such a common thing for me to, I remember dating somebody

02:04early on and they were like, why are you saying, you know, you're sending hearts to all these

02:09friends and these female friends of yours and saying I love you and I go, yeah, I say it to

02:13everybody. I text them with a heart. I tell them I love them and I tell their husbands I love them

02:19when I say goodbye and I tell their kids I love them when I say goodbye. I, it should be as common

02:25as saying hello and goodbye. There's nothing wrong with spreading love and saying I love you to

02:30people and this idea that, you know, men especially have to suppress the idea of saying I love you to

02:40somebody. You know, I saw Paul McCartney in concert a few times and he makes it a point

02:47to say on stage when he's, he does the thing where he sings with a video of John

02:52and he makes a point to say I love you to John and he mentions on stage that when we were growing up

02:57we were never allowed to say that. So we never told each other that we loved each other as tight

03:02as they were and as close as they were. And it always breaks my heart to hear that, that, you

03:07know, and really only men get told they're not allowed to express love and they're not allowed

03:11to hug and they're not allowed to do these things or they're weak or they're somehow not masculine

03:17enough. It's ridiculous in our modern society that only in modern America and modern western

03:23society was this not allowed when it was common all throughout history and expected. I don't know

03:28why we stopped but, yeah, I don't, I think it's important to have that out there and make it a

03:35practice to tell people you love them, yeah. Well, first of all, I didn't know what I was doing.

03:42So the first time I tried to kill myself, I was drinking, I was, I had a couple beers and I took

03:47a bottle of, a whole bottle of Sominux, which is not strong enough to do anything to you,

03:53death-wise. But I took this, I took, oh, it takes sleeping pills if you want to kill yourself,

03:57so I just swallowed all the Sominux, that's the only sleeping pills I knew of. And I didn't know

04:02about prescriptions, sleeping pills at the time, I was too young. And then I told my fraternity

04:07brothers that I, hey, I just took all these pills and they took me to the medical center and they

04:12gave me EpiCac and made me throw up. And I remember, hello to my fraternity brother Paul,

04:20I remember, like everybody knew it was going to be okay, but I was throwing up over the toilet

04:26from this EpiCac and just like feeling the worst. And my friend Paul was holding my shoulders while

04:30I threw up and he started singing, take Sominux tonight and sleep, sleep, sleep, he started singing

04:38this song. Oh my God, that made me feel so much better as somebody who was able to joke about it.

04:43I saw a counselor, so at the time, like, you know, the idea that somebody would see a psychiatrist

04:52would ruin your career. Everybody needs a therapist and everybody needs that kind of help,

04:56whether you're seeing a professional or not. Like when you go talk to a friend or a bartender

05:02or Reddit and look for answers on the internet, you're seeking therapeutic help for a problem

05:09you have. Why not see a pro that has a degree in psychology and how the brains work and what

05:15neurons do and how habits are formed and what really goes on instead of going to a bunch of

05:21amateurs on Reddit or bartenders or your friends who only have the same experience that you do,

05:26who don't, who can't see outside the scope for what you need. Why, if you broke an arm, you

05:32wouldn't go to your buddy who knows first aid, you would go to a freaking doctor that the best

05:38bone person you could afford to get your arm set. But don't you know people in your family or your

05:44friends group, acquaintances who have been sick and then they tell you, yeah, I've been feeling

05:50this, but I didn't want to go to the doctor. I didn't want to bother the doctor. I didn't want

05:56to do the paperwork. I didn't want to take a day off work to take care. And now they have cancer

06:02or they have something else that have waited too long or they have something that's going to be

06:05really hard to beat now because they waited three months, six months longer than they should have

06:11because they felt this ache or pain or this thing happening and they didn't seek any help. With

06:15regular therapy and regular checkups, regular dentists, like you can catch stuff ahead of time.

06:22Like you don't have to have anything going wrong with you to see a therapist. You just go because

06:26you don't want anything to go wrong with you, you know, and keep on the path of your path of what

06:32you want out of your life. And I don't know, people in America and especially men are told not to do

06:39that. I've always had that, like my, that's my way out of everything. Yeah, and that's like, I have

06:46no objection to people using like dark humor because I know that's how they get through things

06:51and that's how they deal with things. So, yeah, like when my friend Paul started singing Take

06:57Salmonex Tonight and Sleep, that really made me laugh at one of my, while I was throwing up,

07:03after thinking I wanted to kill myself, he made me laugh by making a joke and knowing it was,

07:08and he knew me well enough, he was one of my best friends at the time, and he knew me well enough to

07:12know that this was a playful time, a time he could be playful with me and not hurt me. And it was

07:19kind of perfect, honestly. I'll never forget it as long as I live. First thing, make my bed, totally

07:25make my bed, fluff the pillows, make it look like a, you know, ready for the people to come

07:30over who are going to buy the house. You know, I want it to look like that. And when I cooked

07:35breakfast and I scrubbed everything down and got it disinfected, wiped down all the counters, like

07:39I was working in a professional kitchen and everything had to be spick and span and squared

07:44away, and it really kept me positive all during COVID. And the idea of like the work ethic that

07:52you learn from the Marine Corps and the confidence that you get from just having done that, like

07:58nothing seems impossible for me because I was in the Marine Corps. I was like,

08:04why would I be afraid of that? I was in the Marine Corps. Don't be in it. Don't be afraid of this.

08:08You were in the Marine Corps. I would just, I always just remind myself like, man, you did

08:13a thing that not a lot of people get to do. Like a lot of people do it. I don't know. There's a lot

08:17of people been through the Marine. It's not like that singular, but it's rare. Not that many people

08:23percentage-wise have decided, yes, I'm going to go through this three months of bootcamp. And yes,

08:28I'm going to have this train of thought instilled in me and subject myself to this.

08:35But it really, all that stuff really, really, really stuck with me. The self-discipline,

08:40the idea like, you know, the just idea of, yeah, you have to get up early for a week

08:49and do this thing that maybe you weren't looking forward to doing, but learn to make the most of

08:53it, make the best of it. And I got that from the Marine Corps, that kind of attitude. And,

08:58working out of that all came from the Marine Corps. I have so much to thank the Marine Corps for.

Drew Carey: The Healing Power of Humor

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