Going through several of the all-time great comedians, I reach a conclusion that many are half-whacked out mentally ill and drugged up, much of their brilliant, genius careers.
Carlin, Williams, Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Jim Carrey, Sam Kinison, Andy Kaufman, ....
Far as I know Andy Kaufman was neither drugged nor mentally ill (in some ways he was a lot more sober than
his audiences, even if some of his signature pranks made you wonder whether he didn't have a few screws
loose), but there
were times when brilliant humourists
weren't half whacked and/or mentally ill,
if you know or remember Goodman Ace, Fred Allen, Gracie Allen, Jack Benny, Gertrude Berg, Shelley Berman
(at least, before the once-infamous incident where, during a live documentary, an actual telephone could be
heard ringing from backstage while he was doing one of his once-fabled situational telephone routines, and
he lost it, leading to a career decline before he returned gradually as a character actor and, in time, cast
member of
Curb Your Enthusiasm), George Burns, Ernie Kovacs (his first wife was said to be slightly
unbalanced but not him), Groucho Marx, Henry Morgan, Bob Newhart, or Nichols and May. (Each of those partners
suffered some mental issues
after they broke up their clever improv partnership and went into different
work entirely.)
