IT’S NO JOKE
Noah: Carrey helped me face depression
FUNNYMAN TREVOR Noah took a serious turn by revealing comedian Jim Carrey helped him realize he was suffering from depression.
“The Daily Show” host shared during a speech to accept the Comedy Person of the Year Award at the Just for Laughs Awards on Friday night that Carrey’s discussion of mental illness and depression made him realize he was facing the same battle.
“Jim Carrey was one of the first comedians that described the beast that many of us face in this room,” Noah (inset, left) said. “I didn’t know what that thing was. I just thought I liked sleeping for weeks on end sometimes.”
That all changed when he heard Carrey’s story. Carrey (inset, right), who was also in attendance at the ceremony to receive the Generation Award, shared with “60 Minutes” in 2014 that he had been on Prozac for years.
“I was like ‘Oh s--t, that’s what’s going on,’ ” Noah said of hearing Carrey discuss depression. “And I thank you because, you know, I found a way to fight it.”
Noah, 33, turned to comedy to battle his demons.
A South African native, Noah was born to a black mother and white father under apartheid. His mother was jailed for the relationship, and his father eventually moved back to Switzerland.
His mother later remarried and then divorced her second husband, Ngisaveni Abel Shingange, who was abusive toward her and Noah. When she became engaged again after the split, Shingange attempted to kill her, shooting her in the leg and head before the gun jammed. She survived. Noah, threatened by the ex, moved to Los Angeles.
Carrey recently lost his ex-girlfriend, Cathriona White, to suicide. White’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Carrey after the family claimed the actor was responsible for obtaining the drugs White, 30, used to take her own life. He is set to face trial in the suit next year.
Other winners at the Just for Laughs Awards included Mike Birbiglia for standup comedian of the year, Ali Wong for breakout comedy star of the year, Kenya Barris for comedy writer of the year and Craig Ferguson in an alumni tribute.