One of the biggest errors one can make is to think that a comedian is the happiest person on earth. The way he makes other people to laugh and forget their sorrows, at least temporarily, will tempt one to think that there is no yoke upon his soul.
But Lagos-based humour merchant, Owen Gee, will not encourage anyone to harbour this thought for long. His personal story is instructive enough in this regard. Here is a comedian who gave suicide a serious thought in 2017 when he was pushed to the wall by ugly circumstances.
“I have had suicidal tendencies,” he said. “Last year, I tried several things, but they did not work out. It was not because the ideas were bad, but the people I was working with just didn’t let them work out. Then anxiety and depression set in.
“It was then I realised that no drug could calm depression. There was hardly anyone I didn’t take. There was a time I was sleeping on drugs. There was a particular yellow tablet that, if I took it on Tuesday, on Wednesday I would only be prompted to barely wake up, eat and go back to sleep even before I finished eating. I would not wake up until Thursday.”
He said he had to stay strong for his family and urged people with suicidal tendencies to seek help and there was light at the end of the tunnel.