The Science & Art of Comedy & Creativity | Tom Segura

KEYPOINTS

• 01

  Steady cardio clears mental clutter more than it delivers insights

  Segura, who doesn't enjoy running, notices that on runs his mind drifts to people and relationships rather than producing jokes, and miles go by. Huberman agrees that long runs leave him feeling that 'a bunch of clutter just got cleared.' He describes these wordless stretches without sensory input as valuable for learning and creativity.

• 02

  Most of the cognitive boost from long, slow exercise comes from arousal

  Huberman says about 90% of the brain benefit of long, slow-distance work comes from raising alertness, which sets you up to focus afterward. High-intensity work adds other effects such as BDNF. Segura confirms it from experience. On packed days of recordings and pitch meetings, an hour-long lift beforehand leaves him in a visibly better mood and ready for everything, and skipping it makes for 'a different' day.

• 03

  Your brain stays on standby for your phone, even during sleep

  Huberman explains that the sleeping brain still tracks its surroundings. People can even answer simple math questions in sleep. Circuits queue up context-dependent behaviors like 'a magic library' rearranging its shelves. With the phone in the room, the brain keeps anticipating picking it up. That, rather than EMFs, is Huberman's explanation for why people sleep better with the phone outside the bedroom.

• 04

  Segura captures raw ideas in voice notes, sometimes with low-dose THC

  Segura has tried every capture method but often records voice memos at night, sometimes after a mild cannabis edible. He describes the right dose as letting stream-of-consciousness run and bringing 'shelved' uncomfortable thoughts to the surface. Too much tips into paranoia. Many 'brilliant' late-night recordings sound bad the next day, though some survive. Huberman notes he hasn't used cannabis in a long time.

• 05

  A set list is a handful of single words

  Segura's hour-long set list is a short column of Sharpie-written words (examples shown on camera included 'Gitmo,' 'jail,' 'teacher' and 'duck'), each cueing a worked-out bit. Some jokes follow the classic setup-and-punchline form. Others are longer stories with a 'punchline pivot.' Being around other comedians, or deep in writing a script, puts his brain in 'joke mode' all day.

• 06

  Drop old material to keep evolving

  After his 2010 album, Segura told himself, wrongly, that everyone at his shows had already heard it, which forced him to build a new hour instead of leaning on bits that 'would just crush.' He repeated this after every album, and it became the norm among comics: shoot a special, drop all of it and go back to square one. Huberman sees the same need to cut ties with your past self in every creative field.

• 07

  Repetition burns a joke, even below conscious memory

  Huberman describes HM, the famous patient with hippocampal damage who couldn't form new memories. Researchers told him a joke and he laughed, but on each retelling he laughed a little less until he found it not funny, despite having no conscious memory of hearing it. Both men connect this to the dinner-party mistake of retelling a joke, which ruins it the second time and the first time too.

• 08

  Comedy draws people with trauma, and nightlife fuels substance problems

  Segura says comedy attracts many people with traumatic backgrounds, clinical depression and severe anxiety, who often use substances to cope. Add late nights in an environment where drugs are readily available, plus the belief that substances help the art, and 'we have a lot of addicts in comedy.' Some performers recognize when it's getting in the way and quit, while others are 'too far gone.'

• 09

  Cynicism kills funny; strong opinions fuel it

  Segura argues that cynicism removes any sense that things could get better, much like refusing the 'yes, and' of improv. Complaining, by contrast, is core to stand-up: you can be funny loving or hating something, but 'I'm fine with whatever' does nothing on stage. The long-term goal for every comic, he says, is to be who you are off stage when you're on stage.