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Why Is This Man Smiling?
With his HBO comedy special The Great Depresh and a new book deal, Gary Gulman 鈥�93 is on fire.
Spring 2020
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Gary Gulman 鈥�93 leaned forward and began speaking into the recorder. He鈥檇 read enough lousy celebrity profiles to know exactly how they鈥檙e supposed to begin. 鈥淭his,鈥� he declared, 鈥渋s your first paragraph: Gulman sipped on an iced venti Americano in a personal cup. We were in a bookstore and he wore a md传媒国产剧 College hoodie and a schlubby hat that covered his unkempt hair.鈥�
All of this was true, actually. Lousy celebrity profiles do start this way, and Gulman, whose recent HBO comedy special The Great Depresh has transformed him, at last, into one of those decades-in-the-making overnight sensations, was indeed wearing a maroon BC hoodie and an odd mesh hat. It was January and we were talking in a Barnes & Noble in Burlington, Massachusetts, a location picked by Gulman because it was halfway, more or less, between the BC campus and Peabody, where he was spending the night with his mother.
He likes to stay there when he鈥檚 in town for shows. There鈥檚 a lot of love, he said, even though鈥攁s anyone who鈥檚 seen the HBO special can tell you鈥攖heir relationship is 鈥渃omplicated.鈥�
When I became editor of this magazine, I couldn鈥檛 wait to introduce Gulman to the members of the BC community who鈥檇 yet to discover his comedy. A聽little more than a year later, an introduction is no longer necessary. The Great Depresh, which powerfully鈥攁nd hilariously鈥攄etails Gulman鈥檚 lifelong struggle with acute depression, has been a critical triumph and, more gratifying to Gulman, has been celebrated by many of the comics he admires. He鈥檇 spent the week prior to our meeting in Los Angeles, negotiating with Hollywood executives who want to do a movie, and he had just signed a deal for his first book. Gulman, it's fair to say, is red hot.
That's about the last thing he expected to be three years ago. At that point, his depression had become so severe that he鈥檇 moved back in with his mother. Gulman was more than two decades into an enviable career as a professional comic, with multiple specials and latenight TV appearances to his credit, yet just getting out of bed suddenly qualified as a successful day.
Gulman鈥檚 battles with depression go back to childhood, and may be hereditary. 鈥淢y father was actually born in a mental institution,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was like a family secret. I didn鈥檛 find out until my twenties.鈥� His paternal grandmother, meanwhile, had bipolar disease, and then there was this other family member鈥斺�淚 don鈥檛 know if he would be considered depressed,鈥� Gulman deadpanned. 鈥淗e was more criminal. He dealt in stolen merchandise, stereos and TVs.鈥�
鈥淚 forget which religion talks about this, but you save one life, you save the world. And I feel like maybe this can help save more than one life. So I feel really, really grateful for that.鈥�
Growing up in Peabody, Gulman was big and athletic, but he preferred to read, draw, and play with stuffed animals. Sports were fun, but he dreaded the accompanying macho culture. Still, the high school football coach convinced him to jointhe team. At 6-foot-6 and more than 250 pounds, he was so dominant that BC offered him a football scholarship. When Gulman attended his first Eagles practice, however, he discovered that his teammates were even bigger and stronger than he was, and they didn鈥檛 keep a secret blankie in their dorm rooms. 鈥淚 snuck it around,鈥� Gulman said of the security blanket that he still has. 鈥淚 kept it hidden.鈥�
So Gulman never made it as a football player, but his brush with the team proved pivotal. Through it, he began seeing the BC therapist Thomas McGuinness. 鈥淭herapy was a revelation,鈥� Gulman said. 鈥淚f I had only been able to go one time,聽it would鈥檝e changed me. But I saw him every week for four years. Then I went to him privately for another year or two after graduation.鈥�
Gulman started writing comedy when he was a sophomore. He had plenty of success through the years鈥攈e was a two-time finalist on the Last Comic Standing reality show鈥攂ut he continued to struggle with depression. In The Great Depresh, he describes an all-but-unbearable聽despair that culminated with the move back into his mother鈥檚 house. Eventually, he checked into a mental-health facility where he received electroconvulsive therapy, which he credits with helping to turn his life around. He still sees his therapist and takes his meds. 鈥淚 am consistently healthy for the first since October of 2017,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the longest stretch I鈥檝e had in my adult life.鈥�
Gulman continues to kill it with audiences, but these days he鈥檚 also making a concerted effort to help everyone from aspiring comics to people living with agonizing mental illness. He tweeted out a different comedy tip for each day of 2019, for instance, and makes point after each performance to meet fans who want to say hello. Many of them, he said, are really struggling. 鈥淚 forget which religion talks about this, but you save one life, you save the world,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I feel like maybe this can help save more than one life. So I feel really, really grateful for that.鈥澛犫椊
