--- title: Robin Williams and the Link Between Comedy and Depression description: Is there a connection between depression and humor, really? canonical: https://time.com/3104938/depression-comedy-connection/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-13T15:44:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:53.443Z article:section: Health og:title: The Psychology of the Sad Clown og:description: Is there a connection between depression and humor, really? og:url: https://time.com/3104938/depression-comedy-connection/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Psychology of the Sad Clown twitter:description: Is there a connection between depression and humor, really? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Psychology of the Sad Clown > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=6edfd1fd-81d0-4e3d-bc6a-e8c36d74371b&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Remembering Robin WIlliams: Watch The Actor's Best Performances [Watch (HLS stream): Remembering Robin WIlliams: Watch The Actor's Best Performances](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wrXgMxVS.m3u8) (4:11)  _Published 2014-08-12. Remembering Robin Williams: Supercut_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 13, 2014 3:44 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Aug 13, 2014 3:44 PM UTC The death of Robin Williams has sparked some discussion about [why some of the funniest people also seem to be the saddest](http://time.com/3103256/robin-williams-dead-jim-norton/). But is there really a link between humor and depression? Though research on the topic is limited, there are a couple of competing theories out there. One is from the late New York City psychologist Samuel Janus, who looked at the link between Jewish humor and tragedy. A 1978 article in TIME describes his conclusions: --- > “” --- Over the 10 years Janus spent on his research, he also found that many of the comedians he interviewed (not exclusively Jews) had experienced significant trauma during their childhoods. Many had also been in therapy. “Eighty percent of comedians come from a place of tragedy,” Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada [told Slate](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/features/2014/the%5Fhumor%5Fcode/are%5Fcomedians%5Freally%5Fdepressed%5For%5Fis%5Fsadness%5Fjust%5Ffunny.html). And while that’s likely a exaggeration based on anecdotal—not scientific—evidence, Masada does host a therapy program for its comics. “They didn’t get enough love. They have to overcome their problems by making people laugh.” Research from Oxford University [published](http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/early/2014/01/02/bjp.bp.113.134569.abstract) earlier this year surveyed 523 comedians and compared them to a control group. Their finding? “The creative elements needed to produce humor are strikingly similar to those characterizing the cognitive style of people with psychosis—both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,” study author Gordon Claridge, of the University of Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology, [told the BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-25747068). He said comedians may use their act as a form of self-medication. But not all researchers agree that comedians are necessarily—or even often—depressed and troubled when compared with the rest of the population. “People think comedians have these really dark personalities, but a lot of people have dark personalities and most of them don’t become comedians. You actually have to be pretty well-adjusted to be successful in the world of entertainment because it’s so competitive,” says Peter McGraw, a psychology and marketing professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and author of [_The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny_](http://humorcode.com/)_._ “Most people have demons. The folks in the audience may be alcoholics, or they’ve been divorced. They just don’t have the spotlight,” he says. “Our research has shown that the act of trying to be funny makes people seem more troubled than they might actually be. We hear about the Belushis and the Pryors, but we ignore the Seinfelds and the Cosbys.” McGraw’s research, which hasn’t been published yet, looked at how humor influenced people’s impression of a given person. He and a team of researchers had a group of comedians and non-comedians write either a funny story or an interesting story. Then, a separate group of people read the stories and shared their impression of the psychology of the story’s author. Those who wrote the funny stories were rated as more troubled. “Humor plays on taboos. It talks about things that are wrong. You have to act a little foolishly and disclose information that makes people laugh,” says McGraw. There’s no consensus, clearly, on the link between humor and depression, but the fact that someone who brought people so much joy could be so unhappy underlines the complexity of depression, a disease that can afflict anyone, at any time. ## Transcript Good morning Vietnam! Hello! Welcome back. [ MUSIC ] Help me. [ INAUDIBLE ] Remember me, Mork from Ork? You once called me the nutso from outer space? [ MUSIC ] [ LAUGH ] Big kisses. Look at this thing. Look, Flipper! [ LAUGH ] [ LAUGH ] [ BLEEP ] [ LAUGH ] [ BLEEP ]. Oh, yeah! Oh, you just seem like the only normal person around here. I love this guy! You ain't never had a friend like me. Yes sir, we pride ourselves on service. That's right, learn to become a redneck in your spare time. Just kidding. Wanting to be in America. Don't ask for green card. Follow me. Ow! It's Flubber! I just wanna thank Reynolds Tobacco people. [ LAUGH ] Graham Norton you better not put that up on a camera! [ LAUGH ] I'll **** slap your big **** around the stadium. [ LAUGH ] For God's sake pinky down! Ow! All right make your fingers like I am, all right? Yeah, and stop trembling. Hold the knife boldly! Yes! You sure, you sure you're okay? I'm fine. What is this? It's, it's fuzzy. You so jealous. Just a moment. I hear people wanting something. Me! Golf is one of the few sports where a white man can dress like a black **** and not look bad. You know what I'm saying? What am I? I'm Popeye the sailor. [ MUSIC ] [ LAUGH ] I know. But it's okay. That's really [ INAUDIBLE ]. How much money have we raised? [ LAUGH ] So, I pee in a bag. P- U! Good God, was that you? Uh- huh. Look at me. [ NOISE ]. Be gone. Be gone. [ CROSSTALK ] That was gross. Boys you must strive to find your own voice. [ MUSIC ] Annie! I wont be distant. I'll come back in the morning and I'll call ya if you let me. [ MUSIC ] But I still don't drink coffee. You don't know about real loss. Cause that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself.. He's fighting Mrs Lowe. He's losing. Seize the day gather ye rosebuds while ye may [ MUSIC ] Seize the day eyes make your lives extraordinary. It was an honor serving you sir. Hey I'm sorry. Good day. I just flew in from a biology lab. I'm back and I'm flapping free! Seeing as how the VP is such a VIP shouldn't we keep the PC on the QT because if the leak's in the VC he could end up MIA and then we'd all be put on KP. And I know many of you have been looking for Sarah Palin's book. It is a **** to find, good luck. [ LAUGH ] I found it somewhere between fiction and non- fiction in the fantasy aisle. [ LAUGH ] For my first question. [ LAUGH ] [ LAUGH ] This is for $ 5. [ MUSIC ] Fosse, Fosse, Fosse. You do Martha Graham, Martha Graham. [ LAUGH ] I do a great impression of a hot dog. Thank you, boys, thank you. 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