Empathy and Humor in Taking On Mental Health Comedian Frank King uses personal experience to tackle mental health issues using empathy and humor.

Almost everyone who hires Frank King to speak says a couple of things. “We wanted someone to come in and simply start the conversation.” Or “We wanted someone with lived experience who has suicide prevention learning objectives. There are plenty of speakers out there like that, but none have been a comedian for three decades and have written for The Tonight Show for 20 years.” Sometimes they react with curiosity. “Suicide prevention speaking and comedy?” Depression and suicide run in Frank’s family, and he has two mental illnesses himself– depression and chronic suicidality. He began his speaking career as a comedian, in clubs, before making the jump to corporate comedy. While comedy provided a good income, Frank didn’t only want to make a living– he wanted to make a difference. Given his and his family’s mental health history (he’ll tell you there are more nuts in his family than a squirrel turd), it seemed a natural progression to go from being a funny speaker to being a suicide prevention speaker with a humorous side.

Tags: Empathy, humor, Mental Health, Mental Health Advocacy

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