“I spend a lot of time in the future,” comedian Kandace Medina begins. “It’s called anxiety.” At a SHE Media Co-Lab panel at South by Southwest, Medina opened up about how comedy not only helps her connect with people, it’s been a powerful outlet for navigating her own mental health.
“My main focus in comedy right now is working through the mental health taboo,” Medina says. “Something I struggle with intensely is mental illness, sobriety, things like that which I’ve gone through over the course of my career.”
Medina emphasized that by sharing her own experiences and addressing challenging topics in her comedy routine, she strives to make her material accessible to her audience, whether they’re facing similar issues or know someone who is.
“What I find is, it is kind of difficult to talk about higher concept or more taboo topics like suicide or mental health, or PTSD — these things that I’m going through, but to be able to make it palatable to not only connect with people that experience those things, but to also bring people [in]….to be able to at least listen in and then hopefully if they haven’t experienced it, to be able to see that point of view.”
Her aim is to raise awareness about these issues, offering a platform for individuals to find solidarity and support. “If I can bring joy from tragedy and be able to communicate that thought process to other people,” she added, “that’s the biggest win I can ask for.”
But how does one navigate sensitive topics without ruffling a few feathers, especially when comedy is involved? For Medina, it’s all about your comfort levels and being able to help your audience understand your point of view.
“I want to talk about these really tough topics like mental health, something I struggled with my entire life,” she says. “So I tried to get people there. What I figured is, if you can just take them to little buoys to get them through your thought process, you can usually lead the horse to water. And so as you get more confident. It’s taking these tough subjects and then flipping them on their head.”
Medina also touched on the American mentality to overwork and how she manages to find balance within that continuous cycle. When it comes to prioritizing health in the comedy world, Medina emphasizes the importance of carving out time for herself, even though she admits to struggling with it occasionally.
“The thing I’m really proud of myself in the last few weeks, besides going to the mental hospital and getting that worked out, would be that I’m finding time to make intentional time, and it’s so hard for any of us, no matter what job you’re doing,” Medina says. “But you cannot work 100 percent. You cannot be 100 percent creative all the time. Our brain needs time to function and take a break. So I’m forcing myself, no matter how much I don’t want to, to take either a day of doing absolutely nothing.”
Fellow comedian, Arielle Isaac Norman seconded that sentiment, adding that she also struggles to find time for herself, but highlighted the lasting effect it can have on your relationships in addition to your mental and emotional health.
Norman says taking that time off not only helped with her attention span, but it helped her realize she could easily return to comedy and perform a high pressure show without any issues.
“It’s hard because you really do have to pay your dues. And then at some point, you also go ‘F**k, I have to be caring more about my friendships, my relationships, my health, I have to be getting sleep,” Norman adds. “But I have been really focusing on that now. I took six months off doing van life and I did almost no comedy for all of that. And it helped me.”
Watch the full panel now: