Can diarrhea and suicide attempts ever be funny? Meet the Jewish comics trying to make it work

Clockwise from top left: Dan Rosen, Ryan Zeitz and Laura Leibow, all trying to make their chronic illnesses funny.

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Between bowel diseases and mental health issues, Jews are a sickly people. But comedy runs in our veins, and at least two comics have been trying to make light out of the least funny parts of their lives.

Dan Rosen was diagnosed with Crohn’s at age 11, and Ryan Zeitz has bipolar II disorder. For the second episode of Shticks & Giggles, The CJN’s comedy-interview podcast, the men join host Laura Leibow (who herself has suffered from addiction and ADD) to dive into the deepest parts of their lives—and re-emerge with something funny. Trigger warnings abound.

Find Dan on Twitter at @dantheguyrosen and Ryan at @ryanzcomedy. Watch the full live-streamed conversation on YouTube.

Credits

Shticks & Giggles is hosted by Laura Leibow, produced by Michael Fraiman and distributed by The CJN Podcast Network. Our theme music is “Extra Spicy”, written by Aleksandar Gajic and performed by Beyond the Pale. To learn how to support the show by subscribing to this podcast, please watch this video.