‘Stand-up comedy is my anxiety coping strategy’ – BBC
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
Adam Rogers, a 41-year-old teaching assistant from Chapeltown, Sheffield, has taken up stand-up comedy as a way of managing his generalised anxiety disorder, using the stage as a form of "exposure therapy." Diagnosed with the condition in 2019, he decided at 40 to draw up a bucket list of challenges he had long avoided, ahead of turning 50, and comedy topped the list. His story highlights a broader point made by mental health professionals that gradually confronting fears outside one's comfort zone can be an effective way of managing anxiety symptoms such as racing thoughts and difficulty switching off from worry.
Rogers performed his first open-mic set in Sheffield in December 2025, calling it "the scariest thing I'd ever done, but… the most liberating," and has since gone on to perform 11 times at clubs and open-mic nights across the city. He also writes a blog, "Notes from a Nervous Comedian," reflecting on perfectionism, vulnerability and isolation, and has ticked off another bucket-list item by riding a rollercoaster for the first time, which he intends to turn into fresh material. Mental Health UK director Deidre Bowen commented on how stepping outside a comfort zone can help ease anxiety symptoms, while Rogers himself now hopes to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival before he turns 50.
- Sheffield man, 41, uses stand-up comedy as anxiety "exposure therapy"
- Diagnosed with anxiety in 2019; has performed 11 gigs since December 2025
- Blogs about his journey and aims to reach Edinburgh Fringe before turning 50
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Stand-up comedy has long had a reputation as a demanding, high-pressure job, but a growing number of comedians and researchers have been talking openly about how performing can also help manage anxiety rather than just cause it. The idea is that structured, controlled exposure to an audience, along with the focus required to deliver a set, can give some people a way to process nervous energy rather than avoid it.
This fits into a wider conversation happening across the UK and beyond about mental health in the entertainment industry, where public figures are increasingly sharing personal experiences of anxiety, depression and coping mechanisms. Comedy in particular has often been linked to mental health, both as a subject comedians joke about and as something some performers say the craft itself helps them manage.
Individual comedians' accounts of turning to their work as a coping strategy add a personal dimension to this broader discussion, offering insight into how performers navigate their craft alongside their mental wellbeing. Such stories matter because they can shape public understanding of anxiety and challenge assumptions about what performing under pressure actually involves.