How Comedy Aids Daniel Tosh’s Social Anxiety

Social anxiety can be a crippling obstacle in one’s daily life, transforming tasks that many would label as routine into unavoidable causes of worry and fear. It’s rare to identify a sufferer of social anxiety simply by their appearance, or even a basic conversation. After all, many of those with social anxiety are capable of easing into a conversation when the other persons and/or place become familiar, so one of your good friends may suffer social anxiety without even making it obvious. Medication is a common prescription to alleviate anxiety-related symptoms, like ectopic heartbeats, panic attacks, and excessive sweating. But, like many medical illnesses and disorders, lifestyle changes are suggested first and foremost. Perhaps a better diet will decrease symptoms, or maybe quitting smoking or alcohol. Yet for some people, the best medication for social anxiety is comedy, whether they laugh at jokes or they create the jokes that are being laughed at. Comedian Daniel Tosh is perhaps the most recognizable social anxiety sufferer of the latter, turning his comedic talent into an antidote for his social anxiety and OCD. Tosh is one of the last people one would expect to have social anxiety. And with that, he’s an inspiration to the many who suffer from it each day.

For an anxiety disorder defined as “an excessive and unreasonable fear of social situations”, standing in front of hundreds of people and risking thrown vegetables and heckling does not seem like the best occupation for a sufferer. But Daniel Tosh has turned his comedic chops into anxiety alleviation, thrusting him to a place that helps overcome his fears. When the spotlight hits him and an audience full of eager faces shows, he assumes a personality different from how he acts off-stage. Tosh reportedly isn’t as outward in real life as he is on stage, where he projects a personality that some have compared to a party-friendly intellectual frat boy – where his honesty shows, but it’s often acceptable criticism of some recognizable social standard. Tosh’s intelligence and honesty is no act, but the fast-paced confidence of his delivery is a new addition to a personality that he crafted primarily for comedy, but also as a way to ease his anxiety and OCD.

Understandably, Tosh’s anxiety and OCD is not a topic he touches upon often in interviews, or even in his routines. But in an interview with LaughSpin, he elaborated in rare detail about how he overcame it to start his comedy career. “I’ve always had a social anxiety. I’m not a huge fan of speaking in front of people, but there was something about comedy. I thought it was something I’d like to do,” he said. “The first time, I went to what I thought was an open-mic place.” That open-mic place was actually more suited to musicians than comedians, and while the audience wasn’t cruel they weren’t enthusiastic either; the comedy routine was just unexpected. Tosh realized that, and despite his social anxiety believed that this was the time – in his late teens – to pursue something like comedy. “I was quickly realizing that I had little chance to succeed at anything, and I was a poor, broke college student, so why not shoot for the moon?” he said. “I wasn’t going to be making a living similar to my parents. I stood no chance. I would’ve been homeless.” So even if desperation played a role in his pursuits, the bravery and commitment it took to overcome initial struggles were enough to provide him comedic opportunities, which Tosh took full advantage of.

Demonstrating courage is often an issue for social anxiety sufferers, even if they pack a lot of it. Finding a sort of natural alleviator, like Tosh, can be helpful in demonstrating one’s inner courage to even Goliath of industries. After all, Tosh is a guy who doesn’t have any issues performing jokes in front of the Lakers’ late owner, Dr. Jerry Buss, about his franchise player. “I’ve performed in front of Jerry Buss before and I did all of my Kobe jokes,” Tosh explains. “He laughed at all of them. His 19 year-old Asian date didn’t laugh, but he was laughing.” Talk about guts. In addition to his commitment and quick wit, bravery is vital to Tosh’s success. And even if one is a sufferer of social anxiety and they have no desire to pursue comedy, Tosh’s career path shows that one can choose any career path if they work hard and make some alterations – no matter how much social anxiety may interfere.