When I was a teenager, I knew nothing about mental health. What’s more, I didn’t care about mental health, but unfortunately my mental health did “__16__”.
Aged 17, I developed anorexia(厌食症). I didn’t realize it at the time; it was something that __17__, rather than “began”. When I was 23, I was diagnosed(诊断) as __18__ anorexic. I had fast­tracked __19__ at the Maudsley Hospital in South London and __20__ 2.5 years of therapy(心理治疗). People are always __21__ to know what helped me recover and among many things, it was simple: comedy.
I’m a __22__ stand­up comic. Comedy, for me, began as a __23__ and has unbelievably progressed into a job. One of the things that __24__ attracted me about stand­up is how it plays with pain. Let me explain.
The word “comedy” is believed to __25__ the Ancient Greek “kōmos” meaning “to reveal things”. It is comedy’s __26__ to “reveal” things, to analyze, explain and understand things. This was something I turned to when I was in __27__ from anorexia. I’d never been able to explain what was going on inside my head. So, humor became a way of __28__ things. Then it became a way of explaining them. Now it’s become a way of __29__ other people. I know I’m not the __30__ one.