Australian stand-up comedians are looking out for their mental health in a demanding industry

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MICF News

Scout Boxall,Jordan Barr,Elyce Phillips

Burnt out and struggling ahead of MICF, Scout Boxall did the unthinkable and cancelled their season. Here's why many comics are doing the exact same thing.

It was January and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival was bearing down on me. I was still reeling from a series of brutal reviews on a work in progress. My mental health was in tatters; I was running on fumes with no creative momentum.

It turns out I wasn't alone in struggling to strike a balance between life and comedy. And queer comics, like myself, as well as disabled and neurodivergent comedians, are finding it particularly challenging to avoid burning out and breaking down.Host of triple j's Weekend Breakfast Jordan Barr is part of a growing "no show" club of comics stepping off the hamster wheel.

Phillips says the increased demand for labour-intensive but poorly paid viral online content is eroding comedians' work-life balance. "The expectation I have for myself to be productive often overshadows my barometer for reasonable output of work, but I know that being specific about how I choose to be creative will allow me to have a long, calm, sustainable career," she says.

There's added pressure for some performers to work twice as hard to prove that they're not token hires but legitimate artists.

 

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