Kevin Breel: Depression and ComedyKevin Breel: Depression and Comedy
The One You Feed
Kevin Breel is a 21-year-old writer, comedian, and activist for mental health. His work has been featured by NBC, CBS, The Huffington Post, MTV, CNN, The Today Show, Mashable and The Wall Street Journal. His passionate TEDx talk entitled "Confessions of a Depressed Comic" went instantly viral online- amassing millions of viewers and being featured on more than 200+ media outlets. Mashable called it "one of the moments that brought the world together" and the Huffington Post said the talk was "simply amazing." As a comedian, he’s performed in venues all across the globe; including the House of Blues, Rogers Arena and the historic Colosseum. As a mental health activist, he's a National Spokesperson for the Bell LET'S TALK Campaign and has been a guest speaker at Ivy League schools and billion dollar companies. His first book, available now, is called Boy Meets Depression: Or Life Sucks and Then You Live Our Sponsor this Week is Spirituality and Health Magazine. Click here for your free trial issue and special offer. In This Interview Kevin and I Discuss... Still wrestling with depression His viral Ted talk Learning to build the skill set to handle depression Defining our emotional landscape The benefits of waking up early The power and stabilizing force of a routine The importance of honest conversations with others Taking care of the physical body to help with depression Learning to recognize when were taking a turn for the worse and knowing how to respond For more who notes visit our websiteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
41:38•23 Sept 2015
Kevin Briel on Depression, Comedy and Owning Your Dark Side
Episode Overview
- Treat depression as part of your emotional landscape rather than your whole identity.
- Simple habits like waking early, eating well and exercising can provide a stable baseline, especially on hard days.
- Honest conversations with counsellors and trusted friends reduce isolation and shame.
- Recognising early signs of a downward slide and having a clear plan for those moments can limit how bad things get.
- Instead of running from pain, moving toward it with curiosity can lead to growth and a richer life story.
“The world I believe in is one where embracing your light doesn’t mean ignoring your dark.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This conversation between comedian and writer Kevin Briel and host Eric Zimmer takes a sharp, honest look at depression, identity and the pressure to “crush it” all the time. Kevin, known for his viral TEDx talk *Confessions of a Depressed Comic* and his book *Boy Meets Depression*, talks about what it’s like to grow up with intense emotional pain while everyone expects you to be the funny one.
He explains that his teenage years were marked by a heavy “fog” of depression, and he pushes back against tidy narratives about having “overcome” it. Instead, he frames depression as “a part of your emotional landscape, but not definitive,” and insists that “the world I believe in is one where embracing your light doesn’t mean ignoring your dark.” The episode leans into practical habits as much as big ideas.
Kevin shares the simple routines that give him a baseline: waking up early, eating well, exercising, and having brutally honest conversations with a counsellor and a few trusted friends. He talks about learning to spot early signs of a slide and treating those routines like non‑negotiable appointments, even if it means cancelling other plans. Eric adds his own experiences with depression, joking that exercise is technically for health but, really, it’s for his head.
Together they challenge the “be more beautiful, be more rich, be more successful” culture that leaves no room for being human, and they question the idea that there’s an “us” and “them” when it comes to mental health. This one’s aimed at anyone dealing with depression, supporting someone who is, or trying to live alcohol‑free while also handling a tender mind.
It asks a quiet but important question: what if, instead of running from your pain, you turned and walked straight into it?
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