Sheila Bishop[edit]

I'm a stand-up comedian. Have been for twenty years. Making strangers laugh is what I do. It's what I'm good at.

Here's what I don't say on stage: I've had depression and anxiety for as long as I can remember. The jokes are real. The laughs are real. But underneath? For most of my career, I was barely holding it together.

Comedy was my armor. Great armor, actually—better than most. Make people laugh and they stop asking how you're doing. They assume you've got it figured out. Meanwhile, you're alone in a hotel room at 2 AM, wondering if anyone would notice if you didn't wake up.

I started being vulnerable—really vulnerable—about five years ago. Not on stage at first. In therapy. Then with close friends. Then, eventually, in my work. Taking off the armor.

It was terrifying. It still is sometimes. But something happened when I started letting people see the mess: they connected with me differently. The laughs got deeper. The performances got realer. And I stopped feeling so goddamn alone.

This wiki is about taking off the armor. About letting people see what you're actually carrying. About discovering that the thing you're most afraid to show is often the thing that connects you.

You don't have to be funny to be here. You just have to be tired of pretending.

— Sheila Bishop, laughing so I don't cry (and sometimes both)