Pete Holmes:
That’s interesting because I think most of my comedian friends, specifically, are often worried that if they go to therapy–or if they work on themselves, or if they meditate, or if they have a spiritual practice or a discipline or something–that they’ll be less funny. A lot of them want to smoke cigarettes and eat dominos and just stay damaged because they feel it was the damage and the pain that brought us to our creativity in the first place. But you’re saying that if we worked on ourselves and got to a calm, centered place, we’d actually be more creative?

Dr. Tim Royer:
Yeah, you’d have more access to that alpha activity, which is where the creativity comes from, and you’d be much more aware of what’s going on around you, be able to find more of those subtleties which you could find humor in, and those kind of things. You’d also be aware of the reaction that you’re having in the event of when you’re doing your job so you could then respond quicker to that…just like an athlete.

The above transcription comes from comedian Pete Holmes’ podcast, “You Made it Weird.” On this particular episode, Pete gets a EEG assessment from neuropsychologist Tim Royer. I thought this piece of the conversation about creativity was particularly interesting. I’ve always been skeptical of that old trope which says the best art comes from a place of suffering or pain. I think my skepticism was/is well placed.

Tags:creativityneurologypete holmespsychologyscience