You can be depressed AND funny. Ask Aparna Nancherla.
The Indian-American is slowly taking over the standup comedy world. She's got a web series, a podcast, has done writing gigs for late night comedy shows and is currently touring with her latest comedy album Just Putting It Out There across America. And we for one aren't complaining. Nancherla's comic act has a near-constant stream of one liners that call out the absurdities of the modern world. Here's a sampling from her hilarious Twitter feed.
On her Conan appearance (video above) Nancherla poked fun at her depression and pill-popping ("because that's how you begin comedy shows") and her dating successes (or lack thereof). Here's her 2013 appearance, which was also the first performance by an Indian-American comic on the show. Nancherla spoke about her most impactful moment, which was when she realised "any pizza can be a personal one if you cry while you eat it".
Nancherla's podcast with fellow comic Jaqueline Novak, titled Blue Woman Group, covers the duo's struggles with depression. Don't worry, there's no self help here, just two woman comically riffing on feeling the blues.
A lot of her standup material also draws from this struggle, and she is one of the few stand-up comics who deal with mental health in their sets. In 2015, she spoke about depression, anxiety and how its affected her in collaboration with an NGO.
Here's an excerpt from the flagship production of Tig Notaro's Bentzen Ball Records. It's got even more of Nancherla's views on everyone's favourite Italian sustenance. "I have been calling 'pizza' 'yoga' for months now."
Here's the comic describing her "New York moment".
It's not all fun. Nancherla worries about her younger viewers and she's got advice for them. Unfortunately, there's no advice for men because they "don't care about that today".
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