When both of your parents are schizophrenic, chances are pretty good you didn't have a typical childhood, and that is 100% the case for NYC comedian Hannah Boone who has turned her childhood trauma into comedy. She joins David and Steve to talk about how our childhood experiences condition our thinking as adults, how she un-learned hers, and how she was able to find the funny from her formative years, and that if your upbringing wasn't normal and was even downright traumatizing, you CAN laugh at that.

We also talk about:

-Good Will Hunting – going from janitor to physicist / 

-Hannah’s start in comedy / 

-Writing while high... is it any good? / 

-Being okay with joking about “the monsters inside of us” / 

-Addressing the times you’re bombing WHILE you’re bombing / 

-Holding ourselves to a higher standard, even when we have a good set / 

-Joking about life bombs / 

-Misperceptions of awkward conversations / 

-Hannah’s bit about her experiences being raised by schizophrenic parents / 

-Being comfortable joking about your fears / 

-Using word choice as a tool to lighten up dark material / 

-Considering different POVs when trying to connect a bit with the audience / 

-The misperception of mental illness as an embarrassing condition / 

-Unlearning childhood conditioning / 

-The value of therapy / 

-Realizing in real time when a bit goes too far / 

-Converting from religion to religion as a kid / 

-Where jokes come from / 

-Having a dad raise you from jail / 

-Responding to an audience “oof” /

-Stand-up being a gracious way to say difficult things / 

-Parents supporting comedy career / 

-Taking on different personas in order to cope with our upbringing / 

-The scariest people in the world: 8th graders / 

-Is comedy a magic trick? / 

And more!!!

Additional bonus footage available if you become a Patron. Visit patreon.com/youcantlaughpod for exclusive access.

Produced by Golden Ox Studio | Music: Producedbyzip

Visit boonecomedy.com to learn more about Hannah

Listen to Hannah's podcast, "Disordered"

Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@boonecomedy)