Growth from Tragedy: The Courage of Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert is one of America’s most prominent comedians, but his entry into comedy was born in tragedy. He lost his father and two brothers to a plane crash when he was only ten years old. He became a dark, cynical person for many years, and improv is what re-opened him to living.

He was immediately hooked when he saw his first improv show at Second City in Chicago. First, he was intrigued by the concept of being in “free fall,” as one of his primary fears had become losing control. Perhaps it metaphorically brought him closer to the tragic death of his family members. Second, the rule in improv was “yes, and,” a concept that he has spoken about frequently.

The idea behind “yes, and” is that your improv partner serves something up to you, and you have to accept it and build on it. When successful the performance becomes a beautiful patchwork of two comedians’ genius, and the truth is there is no one in control, there is only shared control. Colbert has encouraged this as a philosophy for how to live your life.

Improv brought Colbert back to the land of the living, and he embraced it with passion, eventually becoming the great success that he is today. In doing so, he took the brave step to move beyond his trauma, even though doing so was something that he had feared for many years. Taking those steps to “free fall,” paradoxically, brought control back to his life.

Psychologists have a term for this shining recovery from trauma: Post-Traumatic Growth. This theory posits that the deeper the trauma, and the less prepared the individual is for it, an individual can grow even more down the road, despite the painful experience of it. It involves challenges to an individual’s core beliefs, which are then addressed through a type of spiritual or existential awakening.

This seems to mirror what happened to Stephen Colbert. He has called tragedy a “gift” that awakened him in many ways, including understanding and empathizing with others’ hardships. And his bravery in the face of this tragedy, although it took decades for him to make peace with it, has become a gift to all of his audiences.