He Lost 14 Years. Then He Found the Punchline.

Dave Mowry never expected to become a stand-up comedian.After a psychotic break in 1996, Dave spent years struggling with bipolar disorder, severe depression, anxiety, and the devastating financial and personal consequences that followed. For nearly 14 years, simply functioning in everyday life could be a challenge.Then, at 59, something completely unexpected happened: Dave took a stand-up comedy class for people living with mental illness.And he discovered he was funny.Really funny.In this episode of Against the Norm, Dave talks about how comedy became far more than entertainment. By turning some of his most painful experiences into jokes, he began looking at those experiences differently. The trauma that once overwhelmed him became material—and telling his story openly allowed him to stop pretending everything was okay.Dave shares some of his favorite jokes, explains how he finds humor in subjects most people would never dream of joking about, and talks about why honesty is at the heart of his comedy.But this conversation is also about something bigger: what can happen when you're willing to try something completely new later in life.Dave didn't take his first comedy class until he was 59. Today, at 74, he's a comedian, author, teacher, and proof that there can be second acts, third acts—and even fourth acts.His advice is wonderfully simple:Don't get stuck. Keep trying. You never know what you might discover about yourself.Connect with Dave MowryWebsite:https://davemowry.wpcomstaging.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/davemowry2/LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-mowry-2153925a/Contact us:   againstthenorm.net