How Comedy Saved Dave Mowry’s Life

Wendy & Rich 0:01
Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union studios Hartford County Living Presents, Conversations with Rich Bennett. 

I love Rich Bennett. 

How are you? 

You're so good. 

You're so good. 

You're so good. 

You're so good. 

You're so good. 

You're so good. 

You're so good. 

No, no, no, no, you're so good. 

Rich Bennett 0:27
What if the thing that helped save your life wasn't another medication or another therapy session, but a microphone, a spotlight, and a room full of people ready to laugh? My guest today knows that sometimes the most powerful healing begins when we stop hiding our pain and start sharing it. Even if that means turning some of life's darkest moments into punchlines. Dave Mauri has lived through bipolar disorder, severe anxiety, homelessness, devastating loss, and years of believing his life would never get better. But then something unexpected happened. Stand-up comedy helped him take back control. They always say laughter is the best medicine. And today, he's an award-winning author, Mental Health Advocate, Comedy Instructor, and the author of Healing with Humor, Mental Illness to Mental Health, One Left, One Joke, One Inspiring Story at a Time. And through his own journey and the inspiring stories of others, Dave is proving that laughter doesn't erase pain, but it can help light the path toward healing, hope, and reminding us that none of us has to walk that journey alone. How's it going, Dave? 

Dave Mowry 1:51
It's going well, Rich. How are you doing? 

Rich Bennett 1:53
I am doing good. Listen, first, I have to-- because anytime I talk to a comedian, I always have to ask than this. 

And, yeah, I know you can't pick just one. So, three of your favorite comedians. 

Dave Mowry 2:07
Oh, wow. I'd say, there's a guy, Steven Wright. 

Rich Bennett 2:13
Yeah, oh, my God, yes. 

Dave Mowry 2:15
Isn't he great? 

Rich Bennett 2:15
Yes. 

Dave Mowry 2:16
He's-- He's great. I love him. And then, I like Ricky Jerveis, and 

I would say Jerry Seinfeld, just because he's so clever, you know, his act is clean, and 

Rich Bennett 2:35
then 

Dave Mowry 2:37
he's just laughing a lot, funny. So, yeah, I'd go with those three that are on top of mind. 

Rich Bennett 2:42
You are the first comedian I ever talked to that named those three. Actually, nobody's ever named one of them. 

Dave Mowry 2:50
Really? 

Rich Bennett 2:51
No. And they're great picks. Steven Wright was 

Dave Mowry 2:55
mean, 

Rich Bennett 2:55
hilarious. I oh, God, he is-- 

I think he threw a lot of people for a loop when he first started. And I think it was the first time on public television, I believe, was on Carson. If I'm not mistaken, and people didn't know what to expect of him. He reminded me of Andy Kaufman, but not-- you know, the delivery was completely different, but people didn't know how to take Andy Kaufman. 

Dave Mowry 3:25
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 3:25
And he was hilarious. Yeah, but-- oh, yeah, Steven Wright-- who was the other one I was thinking of that reminded me of Steven Wright that passed away? Mitch had-- I can never pronounce his last name. Judge it 

Dave Mowry 3:40
anyways. 

Rich Bennett 3:41
Those are-- they're all great. All right, so your story-- like I said, it's one of incredible highs, devastating lows and remarkable resilience. But before we get into everything else, for those here in your story for the first time, who was Dave Mallory today? 

Dave Mowry 4:04
Dave Mallory today is 

someone with the compassion I didn't have before, 

and strength I didn't have before, and the confidence that I can get through anything, no matter how hard, how bad, how awful it can be. Low, low, low, low part of life, and to get through that. So strength, perseverance, I think, compassion that I've gained through my experiences, my life, that I didn't have before, I think that's important. And I'm also a father, grandfather, a husband, and I work with people with the mental illness. And I share my story, they share theirs, sometimes for the first time, and I help them heal. 

Rich Bennett 5:08
And I want to thank you for that, because-- and we talk about mental health on here a lot. And when people share their story, it does help others. I know that for a fact, because I've had people contact me, because of a guess I've had on and they heard the story and it's helped them. So I want to thank you, thank you for that a lot. So, what do you actually hope that people see when they meet you now that they may not have seen years ago? 

Dave Mowry 5:44
Depend on the situation of setting, you know. 

I think they see, you know, years ago, especially during the deep and dark days, I was just a shell of a person. So, now I hope they see the whole person, you know. When people see me in the mental health field, I hope they see somebody who's lived a life who's been there and who really understands what it's like to live with the mental illness. And so, they can share their story and talk to me with confidence that, uh, one, I'm gonna listen and I'm gonna care and, uh, I've been there and two that, uhm, you know, I'm not gonna go out and tell their story to somebody else, you know, it's their story. 

Rich Bennett 6:42
Right. 

Dave Mowry 6:44
You know, what they say to me, uh, stays, stays between the two of us. 

Rich Bennett 6:49
Yeah, you can't, yeah, it's in confidence with 

Dave Mowry 6:52
them. Ye, 

Rich Bennett 6:54
exactly. Yeah, which is good. It's up to them that, if they want to share their story like you have, then it's totally up to them. 

Dave Mowry 7:00
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Otherwise, I'd feel like I was using them. 

Rich Bennett 7:05
Right. 

Dave Mowry 7:05
And that's the wrong reason. The other thing I've found out going through everything that I've been through is, uh, When you do things for the right reason, things tend to work out 

Rich Bennett 7:18
yeah. 

Dave Mowry 7:18
and if you do it for the wrong reason, um, I know one of the businesses, I started, I did it to be rich and famous. 

That's the one that crashed and burned and caused me to, uh, have my, mental breakdown and go into my dark days and my last, 

Rich Bennett 7:39
right? Wow. Now, what, if you don't mind me, ask me what kind of business was that? 

Dave Mowry 7:44
It was, uh, a bagel, uh, retail franchise and production, uh, business. 

Rich Bennett 7:51
Bagel? 

Dave Mowry 7:52
Bagels, yes. 

Rich Bennett 7:55
All right. We repeat that again. A bagel. What? 

Dave Mowry 7:59
Okay, we had a bagel retail stores 

Rich Bennett 8:01
a retail. Okay. I thought 

Dave Mowry 8:03
and 

Rich Bennett 8:03
you said bagel, read done for a man who said, we 

Dave Mowry 8:05
read on. Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 8:06
you recycled bagels. 

Dave Mowry 8:07
Recycle bagels. Yeah. Well, we kind of did that when we had leftover bagels. We donated them to the food bank. So we recycled those. But yeah. Yeah. So 

Rich Bennett 8:18
sell 

Dave Mowry 8:20
the holes. 

Rich Bennett 8:21
Yeah, we sell the holes. Sorr. We, 

Dave Mowry 8:22
that was the most profitable. 

Rich Bennett 8:23
You mentioned sign filled earlier and all I could, 

Dave Mowry 8:26
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 8:26
was selling muffin, muffin tops. 

Dave Mowry 8:29
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. 

Rich Bennett 8:32
Yeah. God. All right. Oh, man. This is going to be funny. I can hear it already. All right. So you're your book, you write with, you know, remarkable honesty about living with bipolar disorder and severe anxiety. Um, what was life really like during the years when you were suffering and silence? 

Dave Mowry 8:59
Um, 

when I had my break down, I was driving down the freeway and it just my mind snapped. Um, you know, my voice went monitoring my muscles and my face went slack. It was everything I could do just to get home and I went to bed. And I stayed in bed. I could, I couldn't get out of bed. I could barely get out of bed. And if I didn't get out of bed, it was everything I could do just to get downstairs to the couch. I could sit and just to hold it together and just to be the, um, if I heard the phone ring, I would have a panic attack. I couldn't interact socially with people. I couldn't work. I couldn't go to the mailbox because I was afraid that I'd see a neighbor and they'd look at my eyes and see the emptiness and 

Rich Bennett 9:56
Wow. 

Dave Mowry 9:56
the brokenness inside. So I went to the mailbox at night when I was able to go to the mailbox. I didn't shower for weeks and weeks. There's something about when you're in a deep, dark depression that in its common you just can't shower. I mean 

Rich Bennett 10:14
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 10:14
you just can't, it's too much. I'd sleep in my clothes because it was too much to take my clothes off. 

Rich Bennett 10:20
Wow. 

Dave Mowry 10:21
I was too much to put back on in the morning. Back to the shower and when I wrote, my blog for BPHope.com and the blog post has been read by over a million people with the most common comment being "OMG, that's me, you're telling my story." And when I wrote about 2D Press to shower, the response, the comments were just amazing from people saying "Yeah, me too, me too." "OMG, that's me." So that was interesting. It's 

indescribable. If somebody hasn't been there, it's really... 

It's indescribable, 

Rich Bennett 11:09
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 11:09
the depth of the blows and the sadness and the loss and being homeless and letting feeling like I let down the family and sense of worthlessness. 

Rich Bennett 11:21
If you don't mind me asking, "Are you a veteran?" 

Dave Mowry 11:26
No. 

Rich Bennett 11:27
You're not. Okay. And I answer because I know a lot of veterans go through that 

Dave Mowry 11:31
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 11:32
as well. 

Dave Mowry 11:33
Yeah. It's a similar thing and you know... I'd hear a song on the radio and it would trigger a thought and I'd go back and I'd relive that trauma. And so it was PTSD. It was classic 

Rich Bennett 11:50
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 11:50
PTSD. So yeah. And the veterans have the same situation. 

Rich Bennett 11:57
Oh yeah. 

Dave Mowry 11:57
And one thing about learning the comedy, getting into the comedy and teaching the comedy is I learned how to reframe when I heard that song and got triggered. I got triggered to go back to that darkness looking for the comedy and that experience, reframed everything. And so I wouldn't go back to that dark place and relive that trauma. 

Rich Bennett 12:20
How did you actually come about doing the comedy? Uh oh. 

Dave Mowry 12:28
Yeah. I mean, who knew, right? I mean, here's the guy. He's a businessman. Then he has a breakdown. He loses everything. Homeless with the family. Blah blah blah blah blah. 

He never thought about it but my wife saw a little ad, just a little tiny ad in the newspaper about a stand-up comedy class for people with a mental illness. And she urged me to go. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So I went and first class, well, we went around and told our stories. And I told my story and I shared too much in the comic that was teaching it said, you know, that's just sad. Yeah. So looking for the humor and it was, was hard, but my wife urged me to do it. So that's how I started and you know, I found out I could write jokes. I could find the humor and the punch lines. I was pretty good at it. I had timing. 

You know, 

Rich Bennett 13:34
And 

Dave Mowry 13:34
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 13:34
it was like a course you took. 

Dave Mowry 13:36
It was a class. Yeah. It was a 10-way class. We look for the humor. We learned how to find the humor and the challenges. Then we at the end of the class. We did a show. So we got up and stage. You know, I told my story one joke at a time. 

Rich Bennett 13:55
Right. 

Dave Mowry 13:56
And it's interesting. I'd have, if I was in front of people, if I was in front of people, I'd have a panic attack. I just didn't matter what I was in front of them for. Even if I was with a group, I would, I would think everybody was looking at me and I'd start to sweat and I'd have a panic attack. 

Rich Bennett 14:13
Wow. 

Dave Mowry 14:13
But when I get up and stage and was telling my story, one joke at a time. And like you said, complete openness and honesty. And there were no nerves. Just no nerves. I had. I just went up and had a good time. 

Rich Bennett 14:29
But were you nervous when you were walked into the class that first day? 

Dave Mowry 14:34
Oh yeah. I was nervous. I was. Didn't feel like I belonged. I was. I was you know suffering and silence I I tried to be as invisible as possible. 

Rich Bennett 14:50
Right. Wow. Wow. That's amazing. I never heard of that but that's that's great. Now you got now I got to find the guy that held the class and get him on. 

Dave Mowry 15:02
Yeah, his name is David Gruner and it's called stand up for mental health. 

Rich Bennett 15:08
Oh, 

Dave Mowry 15:08
And 

Rich Bennett 15:09
okay. 

Dave Mowry 15:09
he's out of Vancouver BC and his class changed my life and so I can't say what Oh, yeah, I can't say enough. 

Rich Bennett 15:21
what 

Dave Mowry 15:22
And 

Rich Bennett 15:22
surprised you the most about 

Dave Mowry 15:27
that. What surprised me the most was the transformation the well surprised me that I could I could write jokes and they were funny. But the transformation that happened by reframing and instead of going back to that trauma using using the using humor to reframe my experiences. And the the healing power like you said, you know, the healing power of humor. It's 

Rich Bennett 16:04
yeah, 

Dave Mowry 16:04
truly amazing. What's truly 

Rich Bennett 16:06
I got 

Dave Mowry 16:07
amazing. 

Rich Bennett 16:07
just scared to hell with me. 

Dave Mowry 16:13
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 16:15
So those of you listening. Yeah, David decided he was good. He was going to live and and scared to hell out of me. Well, 

Dave Mowry 16:21
yeah, there you go. 

Rich Bennett 16:22
Iron or 

Dave Mowry 16:24
Yeah, that 

Rich Bennett 16:24
what? 

Dave Mowry 16:25
was that was the siren. 

Rich Bennett 16:26
Wow. No, but the thing is. And after, you know, a lot of comedians say this, when's it have gone through anything traumatic, any type of disability, disease or whatever, they write jokes about it. 

Dave Mowry 16:45
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 16:46
yeah. If it themselves. 

Dave Mowry 16:48
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 16:48
It gets the people laughing. 

Dave Mowry 16:50
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 16:51
There's one guy and I can't think of his name right off hand that I've been watching clips of. And he's got cerebral palsy and he can't speak. So he uses his phone. And his phone does the talking for him. A lot of times you see him on stage with a young lady who's in a wheelchair, but to watch these two go back and forth. Oh my God. And they're just cracking on each other's disabilities, but the whole stage. I mean, the whole audience is just rolling. 

Dave Mowry 17:25
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 17:26
And you would never think of it. Who's the other one? I think of Josh Blue. Who's another comedian with cerebral 

Dave Mowry 17:32
palsy? Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 17:33
just. Oh, oh, it's amazing. And like I said before, when we started, you see, laughter is the best medicine. And I definitely believe that. Good, you were. I say something. 

Dave Mowry 17:48
It truly is the best medicine. I remember. And it was in the comments last. The first time I left in 14 years. 

Rich Bennett 17:57
Wow. 

Dave Mowry 17:58
And it was a real belly laugh. And as I was laughing, I realized how long it had been since I laughed. And it just. It just let so much stuff out. And it felt so amazing. 

Rich Bennett 18:15
Feel like a ton of 

Dave Mowry 18:16
the release. 

Rich Bennett 18:16
He lifted off his shoulders. Didn't 

Dave Mowry 18:18
it? Oh, yeah. Exactly. Exactly. 

Rich Bennett 18:21
Oh, man. Can you actually remember the first time you made an audience live about one of 

Dave Mowry 18:30
the. 

Rich Bennett 18:31
Yeah, moments of your life. 

Dave Mowry 18:32
Yeah. Yeah. It was that first class or, you know, the class and the first performance after the class. And 

it was, you know, was just silly stuff. I mean, seemed, you know, silly stuff. But you know, one of the things about making it easy for me to perform is I like my jokes. 

Rich Bennett 18:59
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 18:59
And I think that's so important. I don't. 

Rich Bennett 19:01
Oh, yeah. 

Dave Mowry 19:02
I don't necessarily laugh at my own jokes, but I really. I like my jokes. And I think they're funny. I know they're funny because, you know, everybody laughs. So, um, but yeah, telling it and having people laugh, it was it was, it was confirmation that, you know,the  jokes were funny. 

Rich Bennett 19:23
Right. Did something actually change inside you that moment? 

Dave Mowry 19:31
I wanted to do it again. 

Rich Bennett 19:34
That great. 

Dave Mowry 19:35
I think that was that was it. And going from where I was. And I have any actual, you know, no clue, no imagination, no thoughts of comedy, no thoughts of getting up on stage and performing when actually every time I did before getting in front of people I'd have a panic attack. So yeah, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 19:57
Now you just love doing it don't 

Dave Mowry 20:00
you? I do I do and um part of it is shattering the stigma 

Rich Bennett 20:09
yeah 

Dave Mowry 20:09
you know 

people um think of somebody with bipolar disorder and severe anxiety and they have this image and then I get up on stage and i'm confident and capable and funny and 

interact with the audience and it shatters the stigma they they don't see mental illness in the 

Rich Bennett 20:33
right 

Dave Mowry 20:33
same way anymore 

Rich Bennett 20:35
now are you just doing it local or are you traveling around the states and Canada doing it 

Dave Mowry 20:42
yeah i've done it i've done it i'm gonna Canada but i've i've done it mostly around you know long the west coast 

Rich Bennett 20:51
okay 

Dave Mowry 20:51
um throughout i'm in Oregon so throughout Oregon and then uh into Washington and then and down in California and uh so it's it's 

yeah you know uh my humor travels so it's it's kind of fun 

Rich Bennett 21:07
you gotta make it add here to the east coast especially Maryland 

Dave Mowry 21:12
yeah 

Rich Bennett 21:12
and then you know i'll come and see and afterwards we'll go out and get some great seafood 

Dave Mowry 21:17
uh that sounds great 

Rich Bennett 21:19
so is there any stage that you you know because a lot of comedians have state or stages dreams just like musicians have dreams about a certain stage they want to be on is there one for you or is it just the fact just getting in front of people 

Dave Mowry 21:35
yeah i i haven't thought about that no particular goal as far as the stage i want to get um up on 

i think relating to that i i think it's just getting in front of the the audience that 

Rich Bennett 21:50
yeah 

Dave Mowry 21:55
will you know when i when i perform after i perform people come up to me and people with the mental health challenge and whatnot and they come up to me and say you know first you call my story and thanks so much and i laughed and laughed for the first time and so i think for me the just getting in front of the the right audience you know an audience that i can make a difference 

yeah 

Rich Bennett 22:23
i don't know if Ngami or was it the national association, 

Dave Mowry 22:30
national lines i mean a little yeah 

Rich Bennett 22:31
national lines but yeah i don't know if they do fundraisers or any other non-profit thus fundraisers were they bringing comedians 

Dave Mowry 22:39
yeah 

Rich Bennett 22:40
but they should 

Dave Mowry 22:40
oh yeah i've i've done that yeah i performed at their convention up in Seattle 

Rich Bennett 22:46
oh you have 

Dave Mowry 22:47
there are like 400 people there so i did that and then it's interesting you bring up Ngami i actually work in Ngami i was executive director of a big Ngami 

Rich Bennett 23:01
and 

Dave Mowry 23:01
affiliate 

Rich Bennett 23:01
really 

Dave Mowry 23:02
uh so i'm connected with Ngami around the state and i've i've done fundraisers for him 

Rich Bennett 23:09
oh that's awesome 

Dave Mowry 23:10
you know and book signings and workshops and uh you know the workshops are really cool because what happens is i get up in front of people and i tell some jokes of course 

Rich Bennett 23:25
yeah 

Dave Mowry 23:25
but i i talk about the structure of a joke and the healing power of humor and then we break into smaller groups and write jokes so i help i go to table to table and help them write jokes so finding something, finding something challenging and then writing a joke and finding the humor and writing a punchline and then somebody from each table comes up and and the joke and I introduce them like they're coming up on stage at a comic club you know 

Rich Bennett 23:57
all man 

Dave Mowry 23:59
and it's um it's really fun and 

Rich Bennett 24:03
yeah 

Dave Mowry 24:03
and the people of it and and i think you know the best humor comes from i think our challenges 

Rich Bennett 24:12
yeah 

Dave Mowry 24:13
you know i think that's and you talk about you know the fellow was terrible policy and you know the dark humor um it's it's really important dark humor is is really important it helps people heal 

Rich Bennett 24:29
it does and you see people do it not just with with disabilities but even with death 

Dave Mowry 24:37
yeah 

Rich Bennett 24:37
uh i forget though who was it the one comedian who's diagnosed with cancer i 

Dave Mowry 24:42
yeah 

Rich Bennett 24:42
want to say terminal and he just kept performing and until the day he died and actually i think he lived longer than they expected um but he he didn't give up yeah He didn't give up. And I think that's a big thing. I think with, especially with comedy itself, 

everybody needs it. But especially people that are diagnosed with something like that, you know, whether it be cancer or whatever, it just don't give up and listen, 

Dave Mowry 25:17
listen. Oh, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 25:18
It's comedians. 

Dave Mowry 25:19
Oh, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 25:19
You'll be rolling. 

Dave Mowry 25:22
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 25:22
You roll. Now, it credit it for wrong. Now, I mentioned the one book, but didn't you just finish another book as well? 

Dave Mowry 25:29
Well, I've got, the first book was, it's called OMG, that's me. 

Rich Bennett 25:35
Oh, okay. That's the first 

Dave Mowry 25:36
one. That's the first one. Bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and more. And it's actually, but the best seller on Amazon in the mental health category, sold over 22,000 copies, 705 star reviews. What it is is I took the blog posts. The blog post, you know, when I wrote the blog posts, I went back to those dark times and I talked about the experience of it. So it was 

Rich Bennett 26:05
right, 

Dave Mowry 26:06
you know, reading that book, writing that book, it's what it's truly like to live with a mental illness. Truly like to live with depression, truly like to 

And not be able to get out of bed. 

Rich Bennett 26:21
yeah. 

Dave Mowry 26:22
And 

they're really resonated with people and so many mental health books are like three steps to wellness, you know, do this, do that. And mine was just what it, you know, just raw open on us, what it's like to live with mental illness. So anybody that's listening, if you if you've got a mental health challenge and you want to know you're not alone, that other people have these experiences, you know, pick up the book, it's inexpensive. And people buy it and then they give it to their family members. They give it to other people. So they say, hey, this. And the response is, OMG, that's me, you're telling my story. And so they share it with family members and their therapists and say, you know, this is me, this is what I'm going through. 

Because, you know, when we're in the depth, whatever we can't, we can't describe it, but we can't talk about it. We don't, you know, 

Rich Bennett 27:27
well, I want to take that one step further, Dave. All of you listening, purchase several copies of the book. And I'm talking about the first one. We haven't got into the second one yet. Oh, OMG, was 

Dave Mowry 27:40
it OMG? OMG. That's me. 

Rich Bennett 27:42
Purchase several copies and donate them to whether it's a recovery center, actually, a jail. 

Dave Mowry 27:51
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 27:51
A jail or a prison 

Dave Mowry 27:51
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 27:52
be a perfect place. There are a lot of facilities around where you live. I'm sure that you could donate them to and it will help these people. Actually, why not just purchase those books and do 

Dave Mowry 28:05
that usually? 

Rich Bennett 28:06
I give that 40 

Dave Mowry 28:08
and, but yeah, 

Rich Bennett 28:09
or that people do that. 

Dave Mowry 28:11
yeah, I appreciate that. It truly is. If if it's not going to happen, and when not, but I think the book should be read by everybody in medical school or every 

Rich Bennett 28:22
Oh, 

Dave Mowry 28:22
professional, because, you know, they, they get told what the symptoms are. They have the DSM, which describes it so they can so they can diagnose, but they don't truly know what it's like to live with a mental illness. 

Rich Bennett 28:39
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 28:40
And so, you know, I think everybody that's in the helping profession should read it as well. 

Rich Bennett 28:50
And, you know, I've said it a few times already. Lave three is the best medicine. But the new book, healing 

Dave Mowry 29:00
healing with healing with humor. 

Rich Bennett 29:01
Yeah. Some people might hear that and wonder, you know, is a mental illness too serious to laugh about? What would you say to them? 

Dave Mowry 29:12
I would say it's 

not. There's very, there's very few things or very few things that are too serious to laugh about. One of the favorite jokes when I perform is a suicide joke. And it's my wife's favorite joke. It's just, you know, sui is never funny, right? You can't joke about that, supposedly. But I'll I'll tell you my suicide joke. 

Rich Bennett 29:43
I was going to say you know you have to 

Dave Mowry 29:44
You 

Rich Bennett 29:44
now. 

Dave Mowry 29:45
have to now. 

Rich Bennett 29:46
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 29:48
During my 14 last year's suffering and silence, one day was particularly bad. And on this one, particularly bad day, I decided to end it all. So I went up into the bathroom and I took a bunch of pills. Afterwards I called my wife for help. She said there are more pills under the sink. 

[laughter] 

Rich Bennett 30:13
Oh my god. 

Dave Mowry 30:16
I know. And that's an audience favorite because, you know, you can't talk about that. 

Rich Bennett 30:24
But the fact that it's your wife's favorite, too, is- 

Dave Mowry 30:26
Oh yeah, it's great. 

Rich Bennett 30:28
Yeah, it's great. All right, I'm in it. Does she help you write it? 

Dave Mowry 30:31
No, no. No. But she laughed when I told her to her. So- 

Rich Bennett 30:35
Oh my god, that is hilarious. Oh yeah, ehm, ehm, with- with that being said, because I think this is where- and, you know, we just went through this- this cancel 

Dave Mowry 30:48
bullshit? 

Rich Bennett 30:48
culture 

Dave Mowry 30:48
Oh yeah, yeah, 

Rich Bennett 30:50
yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I think this is where comedy- and let's face it, back then, a lot of comedians were afraid to go out and perform. 

Dave Mowry 30:59
Exactly, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 31:00
Um, because people didn't know how to laugh. So explain to everybody, what's- what the difference between laughing at someone is and laughing with someone? Because in your case, that's what they're doing. They're laughing with you, but in a way it's at you, but it's not at you. Does that make- 

Dave Mowry 31:23
No, yeah. And, know, I- I mean, yeah. I would suicidal. I went out to a small park, not too far from our house, and I had a gun, and I sat on the picnic table, and, you know, I didn't- I didn't do anything. I came home and, you know, put the gun away, and never looked, you know, never seriously 

Rich Bennett 31:45
I- The thought was, 

Dave Mowry 31:45
considered it again. So I've been there, and it is laughing with me. And I don't make fun of anybody. Um, some people- the only people that have ever had an issue with any of the jokes and are people in the helping profession. A what they've done is they've said, you know, you probably shouldn't tell that joke because it might trigger somebody. And, um, so, you know, and I've never- so they're trying to protect the people that have a mental illness. And that does more damage than, um, than anything else. So you're talking about the cancel culture, you know, and- and not being able to tell jokes. And- and I just- I just kept telling my jokes. And if somebody 

Rich Bennett 32:40
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 32:41
reacted negatively, then that was their issue. It wasn't mine. It wasn't with the joke. There were enough people in the audience. There are enough people with mental health challenges to laugh and love it. Um, and come up to me after the show and say, you're telling my story. That was great. Um, I didn't realize I could laugh at these things. You changed my perspective. 

Rich Bennett 33:02
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 33:03
Um, yeah. So yeah, it's always it's- it's always the person that's in the helping profession that's trying to- trying to protect us thinking that we're vulnerable, that we're we can- that's exactly the opposite. 

Rich Bennett 33:19
And my take on it too is number one, if you're going to have to see a comedian, then you should know who you're going to get to see first of all. Um, and number two, if you're going to be offended by any jokes, any kind of jokes, why are you going? 

Dave Mowry 33:38
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 33:39
yeah. I never understood 

Dave Mowry 33:41
Yeah. And- and then 

Rich Bennett 33:43
that. I'm boggling. 

Dave Mowry 33:43
San Joe. 

Rich Bennett 33:45
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Dave Mowry 35:04
Yeah. When you come into a comedy show, there's this unwritten contract between the comic and the audience. And yeah, he's gonna maybe say something that's the darker edgy or 

The you don't think it's fun here is too personal, but that's that's part of the contract 

Rich Bennett 35:25
Right. 

Dave Mowry 35:26
and and to get upset about it enough to 

You know or do a post about it on social media or to You know like saying I shouldn't tell that joke You know trying to censor my act censor my jokes. I mean, I bristle at that and it just makes me want to And I've got other jokes that besides mental health jokes that just come to me The other that I can't tell or I don't tell but You know so, yeah, the cancel culture But I just Yeah, I just ignored it 

Rich Bennett 36:09
But the other thing is to you you are living proof 

that humor 

Actually became part of the healing process 

Dave Mowry 36:21
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 36:21
and people people gotta understand that it's I mean God, I don't want to go off on a tangent here. So 

Dave Mowry 36:30
oh go for it. Go for 

Rich Bennett 36:32
Yeah, 

Dave Mowry 36:32
it 

Rich Bennett 36:32
it just it just it burns me up that You and it's usually the ones that get offended are the ones that there's nothing wrong with 

Dave Mowry 36:43
them with yeah, yeah, yeah 

Rich Bennett 36:45
Except the fact that 

The whooses and can't Appreciate a good joke 

Dave Mowry 36:51
yeah 

Rich Bennett 36:51
you know, It's it's irritating as hell 

Dave Mowry 36:56
Yeah, and they're looking to be offended. I mean some of the people are looking to be offended and looking to um be offended so they can write that That that post on social media and 

You know, I've had it. I'm yeah, I just ignore it. I just ignore it I don't have time for for folks like that Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 37:20
all right now I want to go back to this comedy class a minute because You know a lot of times with these people to get offended they end up heckled in the the comedian Did that class teach you how to deal with hecklers? um 

Dave Mowry 37:34
Not 

really um 

Rich Bennett 37:39
Have you have you had the problem where you've had hecklers 

Dave Mowry 37:43
no, 

Rich Bennett 37:43
Good, 

Dave Mowry 37:44
no, I haven't 

Rich Bennett 37:44
ever will I 

Dave Mowry 37:46
haven't and and I won't um I 

Rich Bennett 37:50
And 

Dave Mowry 37:51
if if I do you know, it's it's the same thing that You know, I'll just deal with it. I can interact and I'm not I'm not worried about it But it never had that situation Yeah 

Rich Bennett 38:01
What the other thing is to I think because Now that you're seeing cancer culture mainly finally start going away or whatever I think you're starting to see a lot more of the audience Stand up against those hecklers. Two because they have the comedian's back which in in the day they always did 

Dave Mowry 38:21
Yeah 

Rich Bennett 38:21
They always had not just comedians but performers. They always had their back 

Dave Mowry 38:25
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 38:25
you know, but yeah, it's wow good. 

Dave Mowry 38:28
And they're there for a show. They're not there for the heckler you know the heckler wants to be a comic or get up on stage, you know find 

Rich Bennett 38:35
Right 

Dave Mowry 38:36
find find your own stage 

Rich Bennett 38:38
Hey, one of the things about your comedy too. It's it isn't Making fun of just mental illness. It's about finding humanity in it So how do you strike that balance? Yeah 

Dave Mowry 38:55
I think it's just you know like humanity being human We have our we have our foribles we have our challenges and and so that's where it is, you know That's where it is 

Rich Bennett 39:09
Do you think laughter actually? Yep gives people permission to have conversations. They might have otherwise avoided 

Dave Mowry 39:20
Definitely and you know in working with folks with a mental illness If you get three people with a mental illness together 

and and talking about your mental illness your mental health and your challenges comes up It inevitably goes into humor and laughter 

You know the other thing with the cancel culture Right 

I just lost my thought it'll come back to me, but um Oh words people saying you know you can't say crazy or you can't I mean I that's You know that's crazy But you it is it is 

Rich Bennett 40:09
The 

Dave Mowry 40:10
to think somebody with a mental illness is gonna be offended because you said the weather was crazy yesterday It's absolutely idiotic Um But again these people are trying to protect us and we don't need protected Um Please that's the worst kind of 

Rich Bennett 40:24
Yeah 

Dave Mowry 40:24
ablism But three people three of us, you know um 

We were talking in an inevitably go see humor and we talk about, you know, because we have been crazy. I've been crazy. I mean literally crazy and we talk about being crazy and we talk about the things we did when we were crazy and we laugh about it and we joke about it and. 

Yeah, you know, it lightens it. It's it's it's healing. 

Rich Bennett 40:52
Mm hmm. 

Dave Mowry 40:54
But we do it. I mean, we do it. You know. 

Rich Bennett 40:58
And now you're you're teaching, staying up comedy to others, little mental illness. 

Dave Mowry 41:05
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 41:05
So I want to switch that because you're doing the teaching, but what have your students taught you? 

Dave Mowry 41:14
I think the strength and the perseverance, 

Rich Bennett 41:17
Mm hmm. 

Dave Mowry 41:19
some of the people that I have in my classes, you know, my story is challenging and hard and all that kind of stuff. But some of the people in the have had incredibly you know, more challenges 

Rich Bennett 41:33
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 41:34
and whatnot. I think the perseverance, the strength of people, the strength of being human. And then the willingness to be there and to be open and to talk about it. So the courage. So strength and courage and perseverance. And and what I, if there's a message for the folks that are listening, it's, you know, even at the bottom and the darkest times the hardest times. 

No, you're going to come out the other side. 

Rich Bennett 42:08
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 42:09
You know, and if anybody ever thinks about people with the mental illness, we have suicidal ideation. It just is. It's just a fact. And obviously, you know, most people don't act on it. Very few people act on it. 

Rich Bennett 42:25
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 42:25
But, 

you know, it's it's it's. 

I think, um, 

you know, it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem. 

Rich Bennett 42:47
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 42:48
And it is, you know, what we're going through is temporary and we welcome out the other side. So, you know, we can, it took me a long time to accept the fact that I had a mental illness and I had these challenges. But I accepted it without resignation. I didn't resign myself to it's always how it's going to be. And I just kept 

trying. And I kept crashing. I kept trying. And I kept crashing. I over and over and over. I tried and I'd crash and burn and and go and end up going back to bed and when I put I kept trying. 

Rich Bennett 43:24
How many times have you? And it's probably continuous. I'm sure that have you thanked your wife for finding that ad for that comedy class? 

Dave Mowry 43:35
I don't know how many times a lot. When I'm on state, you know, my wife stayed with me when we lost everything, 

Rich Bennett 43:46
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 43:47
you know, we were hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and I was incapable of functioning and she held us together and did everything and she stayed with me and she's truly the hero of my story. 

Rich Bennett 43:58
Right. 

Dave Mowry 43:59
And I say that and I say that on stage. And she she truly is the hero of my story if she hadn't stayed with me, I'd be in a, single room occupancy, you know, hotel and old town wandering the street, going to the going to the City of Kitchen. That's how bad. That's how bad it was for me. 

Rich Bennett 44:28
With the, with the book, what actually inspired you to write healing with humor? 

Dave Mowry 44:35
I think the transformation that happened with me and then seeing the transformation that happened with people in the class because I tell a story of five of the people that have taken the class and the transformation that's happened with them. 

So that's what inspired me and Molly's an example. She's chapter six, Molly was a doctor. All she ever wanted to do is be a doctor and practice medicine in her hometown and she had to give it up because of her mental illness. She had to break down and she just she had to give it up. And so she was lost. And then she came to the comedy class. Her mom brought her. She was suicidal. Her mom brought her. And 

she started writing jokes and finding humor in her experiences. And now she sees herself as a comic. 

Rich Bennett 45:28
Good. 

Dave Mowry 45:28
She's got a purpose. She's got an identity where as before she lost her identity. She lost everything. And now she sees herself as a comic and she's living a full life. She performs around town. So stories like that inspired me to write the book. 

Rich Bennett 45:44
And so with the book, because your chapters are all people's names now. 

Dave Mowry 45:50
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 45:51
Explain that and who these people are. Yeah, um, by name, but yeah, what 

Dave Mowry 45:57
yeah, no, no, no, and yeah, these yeah, and they they wanted and I obviously we talked about it. Do you want to do you want me to use your real name? Yeah, how do you how do you want it and get permission, but they wanted to tell their story. They want their story out there, you know, so, um, yeah, they won't. I think I think that's important. They want to tell the story. Yeah, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 46:27
Was there one store you knew you absolutely had to include in the book. 

Dave Mowry 46:34
Lorraine Lorraine is an older lady. I think when she took the class, she was 68. 

Rich Bennett 46:44
Wow. 

Dave Mowry 46:45
She was frail she used to walk her. Um, she'd been in the state hospital committed to the state hospital hospital six times. Um, she'd suffered sexual assault and abuse. She had, um, You know, she's had she and she had all these experiences 

Rich Bennett 47:07
yeah. 

Dave Mowry 47:07
and and she still was. Uh, they're telling her story and she volunteered at the food bank. She was on the board of one of the nonmeah affiliates. Um, she, uh, coached, uh, uh, a, a, um, special Olympics team. She was, you know, she had to be included. I had to tell her story. It's an amazing story. 

Rich Bennett 47:41
Was there one particular story that was very hard for you to write and tell. 

Dave Mowry 47:51
Lorraine because I wanted to do her justice. I wanted to honor her. I wanted to make sure that it was right and accurate and showed her strength and her perseverance and her courage and her grit, I think, you know, 

Rich Bennett 48:13
It, it sounds like this book and oh my God, OMG. That's me go hand in hand with each other. Am I wrong? 

Dave Mowry 48:25
No, you're, you're right. Um, both of them. In healing with humor, you know, we tell the story and with openness and honesty, we tell their story, but we also include their jokes that they've written. 

Rich Bennett 48:42
Oh, okay. 

Dave Mowry 48:44
So you can read their jokes and the audiobook's going to come out in a couple weeks and you can hear them live on stage in the audiobook. The audiobook is been described as brilliant. 

Rich Bennett 48:54
Wait a minute. The audiobook is actually then. 

Dave Mowry 48:57
Um, the audiobook is about them and then we were able to splice in them performing on stage. 

Rich Bennett 49:07
That is awesome. 

Dave Mowry 49:09
It is awesome. It is really cool. And you hear, um, it's just amazing. It truly is amazing. It's, it's great. So, yeah, and it'll be out in a couple of weeks. 

Rich Bennett 49:23
Dave, you know what you have to do with this now, right? With 

Dave Mowry 49:26
What's 

Rich Bennett 49:26
this 

Dave Mowry 49:26
that? 

Rich Bennett 49:27
book, get all of them. And to do stand up on the stage, all of you, like one big show and record it and pitch it to the networks as a comedy special. 

Dave Mowry 49:40
Yeah, um, well, we do have a show. 

Rich Bennett 49:43
We have white. Okay, 

Dave Mowry 49:45
we, we, um, we did a show at Portland Center stage and Portland Center stage is one of the premiere. 

Live entertainment venues in in Portland, in Portland. And, um, so it was recorded and the audio is great and you see the comics up there. I've, I've, I've got it. We've got it. And I think I'm, I should pitch 

Rich Bennett 50:10
it. Yeah, 

Dave Mowry 50:10
I sure, I really should. That's maybe you've inspired me to do it. Um, 

Rich Bennett 50:15
look, what did you tell me before we started recording? You asked me if I started what? 

Dave Mowry 50:20
Did you book 

Rich Bennett 50:22
right? 

Dave Mowry 50:23
So yes, 

Rich Bennett 50:24
I got to start my book and now you have. Yeah, it's just comedy 

Dave Mowry 50:28
special. Yeah, yeah, no, I, I, I do. It's, 

you know, it would be a great PBS special. Um, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 50:41
The thing is, because now I'm thinking, okay, God, I'm thinking big here. 

Dave Mowry 50:47
Alright. 

Rich Bennett 50:48
Like the blue collar comedy 

Dave Mowry 50:50
tour. Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 50:53
yeah. I, I think it honestly gave Larry the cable guy and probably Ron white a boost. 

Dave Mowry 50:58
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 50:59
yeah. And what they were doing. Um, but I can see this being a tour. 

Dave Mowry 51:07
Yeah, and you know, I've thought about that and we do, you know, we do, when we do, we do shows around Oregon, rural travel, you know, but there's depending on, you know, there can be anywhere from four to eight of us, you know, the people that I've taught that are just laugh out loud, funny, and really, you know, do great on stage, but it costs money to, for, you know, four or six or eight people to travel and get hotel rooms and blah, blah, blah, blah. So we need a sponsor's what we 

Rich Bennett 51:43
Who 

Dave Mowry 51:43
need. 

Rich Bennett 51:43
wants to donate the buses, the tour buses for? 

Dave Mowry 51:46
Yeah, exactly. Or if anybody out there is inspired, you know, you know, we'll travel, we do that, and we'd love it. 

Rich Bennett 51:56
Oh, I 

Dave Mowry 51:57
see 

Rich Bennett 51:57
this being big. 

Dave Mowry 51:58
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 51:59
In all 

Dave Mowry 52:00
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 52:00
honesty. 

Dave Mowry 52:00
Yeah, you know, it's got the potential and 

I've become an expert or professional at producing shows, you know, 

and all the comics are just frankly just laugh 

Rich Bennett 52:19
out loud, funny. 

Dave Mowry 52:19
Yeah, good. I mean, just laugh out loud, funny. And it's a great show. So I mean, it travels, it would, it travels well. 

Rich Bennett 52:28
Good. Yeah, I can't wait for it to come out this way, because I would definitely go to see 

Dave Mowry 52:33
night. 

Rich Bennett 52:33
it every 

Dave Mowry 52:34
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 52:34
It's here. 

Dave Mowry 52:35
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 52:36
I can see it being on the big stages and then eventually fill in arenas. Am I dreaming too big for you, 

Dave Mowry 52:41
I 

Rich Bennett 52:41
there? 

Dave Mowry 52:41
think the arena thing's a little big, but, you know, we did Portland Center Sage and that, that was big. That was big. And that was kind of like, you know, we couldn't do any better than that. But the other thing is to, you know, writing new material and 

Rich Bennett 52:59
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 52:59
getting in. And I'll get inspired and I'll sit down when I get inspired. And the jokes will just flow. I'll come up with 10 or 12 jokes in an hour, you know, and, and usually two or three are keepers. 

But it's challenging for folks to sit down and, and, and write. 

Rich Bennett 53:18
Right. 

Dave Mowry 53:19
But I've got to, I've got to know the joke I want to tell you 

Rich Bennett 53:22
Okay. 

Dave Mowry 53:22
before. 

Rich Bennett 53:22
Right 

Dave Mowry 53:22
at a time. You know, we were talking about my wife. You know, being in the hero of my story, we're also talking about my bipolar disorder. And, you know, so that's mainly ant depression. So, and it was, you know, I never knew which one of me, you know, which, who was going to wake up in the 

Rich Bennett 53:42
Right. 

Dave Mowry 53:42
morning? Which one of me was going to wake up in the morning? So, but I finally figured it out. So I figured it out because the depressed me, I do what I'm depressed. It's everything I can do just to get out of bed. I spend all my day trying to get out of bed. And when I'm manic, I spend all day trying to get my wife into bed. 

Rich Bennett 54:07
[laughs] 

Oh, shit. Oh, my God. 

Dave Mowry 54:15
Yeah, we could do. 

Rich Bennett 54:16
The wife like that one? 

Dave Mowry 54:18
Oh, she likes that one a lot. And what, you know, what you and I could do, I mean we could just do one of your podcasts. We could just do it and I just, you know, tell my jokes. 

Rich Bennett 54:29
I wouldn't mind that at all. 

Dave Mowry 54:30
Yeah, it'll be, it'll be a fun, it'll be a fun one for you and the audience. 

Rich Bennett 54:35
Actually, it could be a good roundtable one. 

Dave Mowry 54:38
Oh, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 54:39
Oh, okay, 

Dave Mowry 54:40
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 54:41
I'll definitely, I'll make that happen. 

Dave Mowry 54:44
Alright, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 54:45
Something important, where can people purchase your books and follow you? 

Dave Mowry 54:51
Yeah, Amazon for the books and actually DaveMauri.com is my website and there's links to the books there. And there's more about me there. So DaveMauri.com and 

Rich Bennett 55:08
the 

Dave Mowry 55:08
books are available. What's that? 

Rich Bennett 55:10
I was just talking to listeners and OWRY. 

Dave Mowry 55:13
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 55:14
But I'll have the link in the show notes. 

Dave Mowry 55:15
Yeah. Yeah, DaveMauri.com. And the books are doing well on Amazon. The audio book of OMG, that's me is actually outselling the paper bag. So that's, that's fun. 

Rich Bennett 55:29
Wow. 

Dave Mowry 55:30
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 55:32
With, 

you spent years trying to, you and several other people, trying to shatter this thing about Saranta mental illness. Where do you think we've made progress and where do we still have a long way to go? 

Dave Mowry 55:55
Yeah, we've made progress. 

We have made a lot of 

Rich Bennett 56:01
progress. 

Dave Mowry 56:02
I think where we have a long way to go is my rant about people in the helping professions. you know, they've got this perception, they've got into the helping profession thinking that people with mental illness are, ar, are we can need help and, um, I'd really like to be able to shatter that stigma. 

Rich Bennett 56:26
Yeah. 

Dave Mowry 56:27
And, and I share that message of, of, I share that message when I'm in front of, um, any groups. 

Because if, if we can shatter that stigma with them, then they'll be able to truly help more people. 

Rich Bennett 56:44
Yeah. So, if readers, not if, when readers finish, healing with humor, um, what do you, what message do you hope stays with them long after they close the book? 

Dave Mowry 57:02
I think the, the strength and the courage of the people in the book. It's, it's inspiring because 

Rich Bennett 57:09
Mhm. 

Dave Mowry 57:09
you, you read about where they were and where they are now. And you get to read or hear their jokes and laugh along with them. So, you know, I, I, I think that, um, yeah, yeah. I think that, um, and I, listening to a previous podcast you had with Nic, Nicolette hot holiday about, um, publishing books and her, her helping authors, um, it's inspiring me, I've been thinking about writing a workbook for helping with humor. 

Rich Bennett 57:45
That's a great idea. 

Dave Mowry 57:47
And, and a workbook so people can take it and they can look for humor in their own experiences and write jokes about their experiences. Uh, I think that would be really be healing. So I've been, I've been, it's been in my head for a long time, but I think I'm inspired now because of your podcast to, to get that started. 

Rich Bennett 58:09
So Nicolette, if you're listening, don't just give me a hard time about me working on my book, but you don't need to give Dave a hard time because he'll do it anyways. 

Dave Mowry 58:19
Yeah. And she, yeah, she can reach me a day, marry that guy and pitch me, uh, pitch me her services. So, 

Rich Bennett 58:27
she's, she's great. Actually, another one I'm, um, that through pod match. 

Dave Mowry 58:31
Yeah, yeah. Pod match is great. 

Rich Bennett 58:34
Oh, it 

Dave Mowry 58:34
It is. Pod 

Rich Bennett 58:35
is. 

Dave Mowry 58:35
match is great. I've been doing lots of podcasts. I'm, I'm now, um, I gotta brag a little bit. I'm ranked in the top two percent of all podcast guests on pod match. 

Rich Bennett 58:43
Oh nice. 

Dave Mowry 58:44
I know it's, it's, it's, uh, affirming, you know, it's affirming. But you know, the thing about mental illness and then the comedy and the standard comedy and it's, it's unique. So, um, plus, I do want to tell you one more joke. 

Rich Bennett 59:01
Okay, good. 

Dave Mowry 59:02
Not, not a mental health joke. And it's the only joke I tell that I haven't read myself. It was, it was Ken Robinson. I'll give him credit. But, um, there was, um, I personalize that my, my daughter Megan when she was in, uh, first grade. She was, uh, they were doing art. And she was drawing a picture and teacher came up and looked over shoulders and Megan. Uh, that's a nice picture of what are you drawing? And Megan said it's a picture of God. And the teacher said, but Megan, nobody knows what God looks like. And Megan said they will in a minute. 

[Laughs] 

Rich Bennett 59:43
I love that. Oh, man. 

Yeah, you're right. We have to do, we have to do another episode of Just the Jokes. 

Dave Mowry 59:53
Just the jokes. Yeah. We'll, we'll do that. We'll set it up and we'll do, uh, we'll do whatever you want. We'll do a half hour show and we'll do, uh, at least 20 minutes of, uh, 

Rich Bennett 1:00:01
that would be 

Dave Mowry 1:00:02
20 minutes 

Rich Bennett 1:00:03
great. 

Dave Mowry 1:00:03
of joke. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:03
That 

Dave Mowry 1:00:03
I'll just do 

Rich Bennett 1:00:04
would be 

Dave Mowry 1:00:04
my hack. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:05
Dave, is there anything else you would like to add before I get to the last question? 

Dave Mowry 1:00:10
No, I just, uh, I really appreciate you have me on. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:14
Oh, my, 

Dave Mowry 1:00:15
spread the word, you know, shatter stigma, uh, don't get stuck where you are in your mental health journey. You do come out the other side. I think, you know, uh, 

Rich Bennett 1:00:27
yeah, 

Dave Mowry 1:00:27
sharing that message is, is, is important. You've helped me do that. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:30
Well, and you, you've listened to the episode with nickelets, so you know how this works. I need you to pick a number between one and five. 

Dave Mowry 1:00:40
Okay. Two. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:42
Two. All right. Now I need you to pick a number between 21 and 40. 

Dave Mowry 1:00:54
34. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:55
34. 

Okay. What is the lesson you've learned about the nature of change? 

It's good to hear what we've been talking about. 

Dave Mowry 1:01:11
Yeah, change is possible. Uh, if we don't resign ourselves to our present situation, if we keep trying, if we persevere, uh, change happens. And if we do things for the right reasons. positive change. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:37
Great Dave. I want to thank you again. Those of you listening, make sure you pick up the book, healing with humor as well as OMG, that's me. And after you read them, leave a four-review everywhere that you can leave reviews. Take a photo of yourself holding the book or books. Put it on social media, tag Dave, tag myself, let everybody see it, get it out there, buy copies and donate them to a facility, to a prison jail, whatever. And everybody is going to benefit from this because a lot of people, it definitely will help them. Dave, thank you so much. It's been a true honor and I can't wait to talk with you again. 

Dave Mowry 1:02:23
Yeah, I look forward to it. Hey, thanks much rich. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:27
another great conversation. Man, I haven't left like that in a while. Dave Storry is such a powerful reminder that sometimes healing can come from places we never expect. For him, it came through stand-up comedy. Learning to look at some of the darkest experiences of his life differently, and finding the humor in them, and eventually standing on a stage and telling his story one joke at a time. But what really stayed with me is something Dave said near the end, change is possible. His life went from success to losing everything, living with severe depression and anxiety, homelessness, and moments when he questioned whether he wanted to keep going. And yet, he kept trying. Today, he's not only telling his story. He's helping other people find the courage to tell thers. And I love what he said about his wife being the true hero of his story. Sometimes, the people who stand beside us, during our darkest chapters, are much bigger part of our healing than they may ever realize. And maybe that's the biggest takeaway for this conversation. Lave after doesn't mean the pain wasn't real. It doesn't mean mental illness isn't serious. Sometimes, left or simply gives us another way to carry what we've been through. And it can open conversations, break down the stigma, remind us that we're not alone. And maybe even help somebody realize that the chapter they're living right now doesn't have to be the end of their story. Make sure you check out Dave's books, OMG, that's me. And healing of humor, mental illness to mental health, one laugh, one joke, one inspiring story at a time. And like we talked about, don't just read them, leave a review, share them, give a copy to somebody who might need it. You never know when somebody's going to read Dave's words and have that same reaction so many others have had. OMG, that's me. Somebody understands 

it. And Dave, I'm holding you to it. We're doing that episode where you come back and tell the jokes. And who knows, maybe someday we'll see that healing with humor, comedy tour, making it its way across the country. Until next time, I'm Rich Bennett. Thanks for listening and remember, every great conversation starts with someone willing to listen and someone willing to share. Now it's your turn. Join the conversation by sharing this episode, leave in a comment, or reaching out to me directly. Take care, be kind to one another, and I'll talk with you again soon.