Bipolar comic takes his message to the masses

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on April 19th, 2005

A Cox News Service story on comedian Paul Zass and his bipolarity manages to avoid cliche and maudlin sentimentality:

…People who go into a doctor’s office for psychiatric ills come out with “crazy” stamped on their foreheads. Even as a professional comedian, in that rare job where loony and manic are complements, his advisers told him a mental diagnosis would end his career.

“What kills a lot of people with mental illness is the stigma surrounding it,” said Jones, a Cincinnati resident who has done standup comedy for 17 years under the stage name Paul Zass. “They won’t go and get help because they know once you’re diagnosed, you’re labeled as crazy for the rest of your life.”

Of course, the most famous comedian with the disorder is Shecky Greene— He always makes those “Famous people with Bipolar Disorder” lists that are all over the internet.

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