介绍： Comedy on 'prescription': Why performing stand-up is good for your health
Mohan Gupta had never dreamed of becoming a comedian. Born in India and educated in the UK, he trained as engineer and, later, a monk. "I never in my life thought I would make anyone laugh," he says.
But a few years ago, after suffering...

介绍： Comedy on 'prescription': Why performing stand-up is good for your health
Mohan Gupta had never dreamed of becoming a comedian. Born in India and educated in the UK, he trained as engineer and, later, a monk. "I never in my life thought I would make anyone laugh," he says.
But a few years ago, after suffering a nervous breakdown, Gupta's doctors prescribed him something unusual: a stand-up comedy course.
Laughter has long been linked to a variety of health gains: it can both reduce stress, and increase immunity, focus, and cardiovascular function. Yet research now suggests that not just consuming comedy, but actively creating it – especially in a group setting – can offer significant benefits to mental health in particular.
In the UK, new programmes are beginning to use stand-up comedy lessons to help people in distress. They come as part of a larger global movement of social prescribing.
Angie Belcher, the Bristol-based comedian who created and teaches the course, describes her goal as helping her students "find their banana" – their comedic source of pain. "Your comedy doesn't come from the nice bits about our lives. It comes from the bits that are difficult," she says.
Finding the "funny" in something doesn't mean it's not serious, Belcher adds. "It's about doing what we need to do to get [through those difficult bits]."
"I'm not trying to make you into the archetype of a stand-up comedian. I'm trying to get you to lean in to what your thing is – maybe it's that you're quiet or you're nervous – and play with that," she explains. "In order to find out who you are on stage, you need to find out who you are off the stage."
生词好句
on prescription 凭处方，依处方
prescription n. 处方
This drug is only available on prescription.这个药只能凭处方购买。
on prescription drugs 处方药
over-the-counter(OTC) 非处方药
counter n. 柜台
stand-up (comedy) 英 [ˈstænd ʌp] 美 [ˈstænd ʌp] n. 单口喜剧，站立式喜剧
talk show 电视访谈节目
Jimmy Kimmel Show 鸡毛秀
The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon 肥伦秀
comedian 英 [kəˈmiːdiən] 美 [kəˈmiːdiən] n. 喜剧演员
comedic adj. 喜剧的，与喜剧有关的
find one's banana （俚语）找到在生活中困住某人，让某人难以前行的东西（find the thing that’s holding you back）
lean in 主动参与，积极投入