Comedy Warriors: Healing Through Humor

Five disabled American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan talk about getting wounded and the opportunity to explore their experiences through the healing power of humor as they work as stand-up comics. Director and producer John Wager and his co-producer Ray Reo are co-founders of Comedy Warriors, a project that helps disabled veterans become stand-ups. All five veterans already had the habit of making jokes about their problems, and now they get coaching from well-known stand-up comics like Zach Galifianakis, Lewis Black and Bob Saget. They have plenty of questions for them: how should you stand onstage? What role do you assign to visible wounds (a missing limb or a scarred face)? How can you make a joke hit home even harder? All of the participants affirm that humor can heal – and this goes for all comedians. In the words of Bob Nickman, screenwriter-producer of the TV series Freaks and Geeks, 'Very happy, well-adjusted people don’t go into stand-up. It’s a way of dealing with pain.' The documentary builds up to the five budding stand-ups' first big show, the L.A. Improv in Hollywood, and features excerpts from their acts. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)