Chris Gethard, especially through his public access show, develops a special relationship with his fans. If you watch an episode of The Chris Gethard Show, its earnestness looms larger than everything else, including even the comedy. Chris loves his fans and cares about them deeply. It’s why when someone wrote him an anonymous message, which talks about suicide, Chris wrote a very passionate response. The anonymous person asked:
I’m curious if you ever had suicidal thoughts. I admire you and your show and have just been in a really bad place lately. I used to see your show as the last thing I had to look forward to but I haven’t even been back for months and can’t even bring myself out the door to get there without panicking. I’d appreciate any advice really.
Chris’s response is very long and features so many powerful passages. Here is just one excerpt:
People love you. I know they do. And you know that too. This may be a weird thing to post in a public blog, but I don’t even know who you are and I promise you that I love you. Despite all my flaws and weirdness and professional drive that can shut people out and my inability to ever stop working and my inability to feel comfortable outside of the bubble of my little comedy world, I’m a big softie at my core and I’m a person who’s been through a lot on my own and I came out on the other side and I just have so much love for the world and for people, and I promise you that I don’t even know you but that the love I have for people in general extends to you personally. We all have problems, and you can see even in this paragraph that I beat myself up too, but lean on the love you have for the world and know that there are other people who love it so much that it can also make them as sad as it’s making you right now. There are other people out there like you - I’m one of them. We feel so much love when we feel it, but the trade off is we feel pain just as big. And love can often sting if it’s not requited, while pain only needs you as a receptor. I get it. I know what it feels like to feel emotions in a way that you know is much bigger than most people feel them. But this pain will pass, and it will be replaced by an equal and to be honest probably even bigger feeling of joy and love. At some point those feelings will come along and wash over you as much as the pain you’re feeling right now, and I just want to beg you to push through this painful stretch, because to someday feel love and joy as big as the pain you’re feeling in this moment will be SO, SO worth it.
Gethard goes on to discuss his own battles with suicidal thoughts. You can read the full post here.
