New Film Shows How Veterans Heal Through Humor

MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Here in San Diego we have heard a lot about what veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have to face, the challenges of transitioning out of the service, suffering from PTSD, and some dealing with homelessness, and the lingering aftermath of war. What we have not heard as much about, is veterans with short-term memory loss trying to remember jokes, or an amputee is trying to do stand up comedy without sitting down. In new document three focuses on a small group of badly injured veterans who are transforming horrific experiences into material for new careers as comedians. It's called Comedy Warriors, healing through humor. It is being screened Snyder by the San Diego Jewish film Festival. I would like to introduce my guests John Wager and Joe Kashnow. John, where did you get the idea to find injured veterans who wanted to be comedians? JOHN WAGER: I had been working with wounded warriors, doing a lot of film work with them, and interviewing, working a lot with the injured veterans. I had lunch with an old friend, who used to be a manager of professional comedians, one day after one of these, we basically hashed it over lunch, and thought it would be great to do comedy and film together in some way, and I called my friend, the cofounder and director of the project, and I said it sounded like a good idea. So we basically put it together, and he had been thinking about doing something with comedy for a while. I was thinking about doing something with film, something different, so we patched it, and honestly we did not know if it would work. We started the project with credit cards and promises. That is thanks to guys like Joe. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Joe, why did you think you are the right kind of guy for Comedy Warriors? JOE KASHNOW: I always wanted to be in comedy, I always wanted to perform stand up. When I got the email from the project saying if this is something that you are interested in, send a video of yourself telling a joke and see how it goes. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Do you remember the joke that you told? JOE KASHNOW: The joke that I told was about my experience in the hospital, on ketamine. It's a bit of a long one. I went through my first ketamine infusion, in the summer of 2007, which was a very exciting time in my life. That is when the last Harry Potter book was first released. What I learned from all of that is that if you do not have weekend plans, I highly recommend that you take a very powerful hallucinogen, and read a slightly dark novel, and let the images fly. By the end of the week in the ICU, I was streaking down the hallways screaming more Demerol for Lord Voldemort! [ LAUGHTER ] MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: I see. I want people who are listening to us, and cannot see you, to know that you were badly injured in Iraq, you lost your leg, ultimately after an IED blast. You are also dealing with short-term memory loss? JOE KASHNOW: Yes. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: And that has made it into your act, hasn't it? JOE KASHNOW: It has. Part of the memory loss was caused by the ketamine infusions, and the other narcotics I was on for so long. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Do you show your audience notes at all? JOE KASHNOW: A try not to, and I've had the occasion where I will have a specific joke I wanted to get to that I might forget on stage. But the audience does not know what is coming, so I'm usually able to get away with that. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: What other injuries to the Comedy Warriors deal with? JOHN WAGER: Basically we have a lot of submissions, and injuries range from amputees to burn victims. One of the things that we were trying to do from this movie is to raise awareness and what these guys are going through. One of them, she was a helicopter pilot and she has severe back pain and has had multiple surgeries for her back, due to the landings and taking off and the ergonomics of the helicopter. She got addicted to OxyContin, and she had a lot of challenges as well. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: All of the Comedy Warriors are badly injured, and one of the points of this process was to get the chosen comedians paired with comedian mentors. We have a little clip from the documentary that tells about that. [ AUDIO PLAYING ] NEW SPEAKER: It's a standup workshop that is a fast track way to learn how to do stand up. NEW SPEAKER: Always think about what they are thinking, and have the balls to say it. NEW SPEAKER: I told my wife when I left for Iraq, I said honey if I do not come home in one piece, I want you to go home without me. NEW SPEAKER: Let me rent out your husband, let me rent out your garage. NEW SPEAKER: That's horrible! [ LAUGHTER ] NEW SPEAKER: I know that there are hours that the gentleman have spent, to find a funny way of telling that to the audience is an art form. [ MUSIC ] LEWIS BLACK: I think comedy is good therapy. [ END AUDIO FILE ] MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: That last voice was comedian there was Lewis Black. What tips did he give you? JOE KASHNOW: He give me a lot of feedback after my sets. He enjoyed my comedy quite a bit, in fact, he was nice enough that he had me come out and open for him at a show he was doing at the wonder theater in Washington DC in April. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: He was one of your mentors giving you feedback on your comedy, and when the opportunity opened for you to do comedy, considering the short term memory loss and the fact that you are an amputee, did you have any hesitations about being physically able to do it? JOE KASHNOW: I don't think so. I was terrified to get on stage, I dealt with extreme stage fright, in fact, the first time I was on stage, John yelled at me after we were finished filming and said you need to move the microphone a little way from your face so that we can see you. [ LAUGHTER ] JOHN WAGER: I forgot about that. JOE KASHNOW: It took me three to four months to realize that I could actually take the microphone out of the stand. JOHN WAGER: It's actually worse than Joe is describing it. JOE KASHNOW: Oh, thanks. JOHN WAGER: He would put both of his hands on the microphone in front of his face, as if he was stabilizing his body so his knees would not give out. The irony here as Joe was saying earlier about his short-term memory, the thing with Joe, you were really paired, more than anybody, when you got out there. You had delivery, you were, despite your presence and getting used to it, you really came and did well from the beginning. Obviously you did better as you went along. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: High praise. Obviously you're going to audiences talking about not coming back in one piece. How do you use your injuries into your comedy act? Is it offputting to the audience? Do you have to win them over? JOE KASHNOW: It may be offputting for someone to walk out on stage with an obvious physical limitation. I find as long as I immediately talk about being an amputee, it puts the audience at ease. All of us have dealt with injuries in our unique ways, to get the audience comfortable right away when we walk out on stage. Most comics use what they have dealt with in their lives as source material. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: So you use it as a launching point to build rapport with the audience, and then you go on whatever anyone else would talk about? JOE KASHNOW: Yes. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Have you performed for other wounded veterans? JOE KASHNOW: I had a chance to work with another comic from the film, we performed a show at a wounded warrior weekend in Canada in August. That was for a group of soldiers for the American, Canadian, British, and Australian Armed Forces. It was really exciting. JOHN WAGER: One thing that Joe touched on and it's an important point, it seems at least when we are with a live audience, the audience needed mission to laugh. Joe and the other Comedy Warriors were able to give them permission by making jokes about their appearance, the prosthetic, whatever it is. In the beginning, the audience might feel it's weird, The Sky is up here and he suddenly makes a joke and they are laughing. Especially with burn victims, it makes the other person feel more, People. These guys do so well with the audience, they make them feel okay, I can laugh, I get it. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: What are the moments that you find most compelling in the film? JOHN WAGER: There are so many, but for me, the times when you are surprised, and you see the improvement, for me, from the beginning when Joe would not move away from the microphone. I don't want to give way too much, because people are going to see it, but the bottom line is, we did not know if this was going to work. We think these guys are funny, but when they went in front of the general audience, it was a nailbiter. For us, the high of seeing them in front of a general audience, mixed with professional comedians, we did not set it up. The show was between two professional comedians. The first time he went on the improv, one of the biggest clubs in the country, and Laugh Factory in LA, that was a high for me. It was nerve-racking, but these guys stood up and it took a lot of courage. For me, that was a high moment. Obviously working with Zach Galifinakis and Bob Saget, that was hysterical. You never know what these guys are going to say. You get Zach, Bob, Louis, BJ, and they are just really and medians. They are hysterical. I am sure Joe has moments as well. [ LAUGHTER ] MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Until recently, you had a day job. Now you are a full-time comedian? JOE KASHNOW: Yes, I have been converted to stand up full-time. It's a nice way of saying I am unemployed most of the time. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: That's a triumph, how long did that take you? JOE KASHNOW: Two and a half years. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: What is your goal? Sitcom? JOE KASHNOW: I would like to be a touring comic. I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to work on a sitcom if you have one for me, but I would like to do setup as long as possible. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Do you write your own material? JOE KASHNOW: Yes. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: Do all of the comedians write their own material? JOHN WAGER: They do, to a certain extent. Some of them need more assistance, but they all write thrown material. Joe is very prolific. He is constantly writing. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH: I have to stop here, we are out of time. I want to tell everyone that the film Comedy Warriors, healing through humor, is screening tonight at 7 PM. It is being presented by the San Diego Jewish Film Festival at the David and Dorothea Garfield Theater. Thank you both so much, I appreciate you both coming on.