Group Therapy Documentary Reframes Mental Health Through Comedy

A compelling and comedic new documentary from comedian Kevin Hart’s entertainment company Hartbeat has landed on Amazon Prime. Following a critically acclaimed premiere at Tribeca Film Festival, Group Therapy showcased at global film festivals including The American Film Institute Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival and the inaugural Tribeca Lisbon Film Festival before landing on Amazon Prime.

Billed as ‘docu-therapy’, the 90-minute documentary brings together six comedians taking part in a group therapy session in front of an audience. Through a unique combination of comedy and therapy, the audience are taken along for the ride and we can all relate to at least one of the universal themes that make up our mental health.

Group Therapy–hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and featuring stand-up comedians Tig Notaro, Nicole Byer, Mike Birbiglia, London Hughes, Gary Gulman and Atsuko Okatsuka–is a master class in the importance of sharing our struggles as a way of protecting mental health. Candid conversations between the six comedic personalities walk the line between comedy and mental health therapy, and the honest and emotional group session takes place in front of a live audience.

Director Neil Berkeley and moderator Neil Patrick Harris guide the comedians on a journey through their personal mental health narratives in a bid to help them overcome some struggles. Structured as a documentary along the lines of a group therapy session, despite taking place in front of an audience, there is a sense of intimacy and honesty coupled with extreme emotions ranging from laughter to tears.

Each of the six comedians have their own personal narratives to share. Poignant moments include Mike Birbiglia’s issues with anxiety and sleep disorders, Nicole Byer’s experiences with grief and her evolving relationship with body image, Tig Notaro’s reveal of multiple anxiety-inducing personal hardships including a cancer diagnosis and the loss of her mother, and Gary Gulman’s battle with depression.

Although each cast member has a very different story, their shared experience of mental health issues unites them. Gary Gulman says of the Group Therapy experience: “If you want to cheer yourself up, cheer someone else up – the meaning of life is to help each other through this, whatever this is.”

Comedian London Hughes explains: “It felt like life was one big audition, and everyone was judging me. Is the version of yourself that you present through standup armour?”

The phrase ‘Tears of a Clown’ might seem like an outdated trope, yet there is a well-documented history of people using comedy to mask inner angst or depression that dates back to the famed ‘sad clown’ Pagliacci of Toscanini’s 19th Century opera following an actor in a Commedia dell’arte theatre company. Many comedians and performers have privately or publicly battled with mental health issues and masked them with comedic performances–from Robin Williams to Matthew Perry–and the Group Therapy documentary is a clever way of facing up to mental health issues with a comedic lens, offering a more accessible way for audiences to confront some of their own issues and realise they are not alone.

The comedians featured in Group Therapy are testament to the therapeutic power of sharing, and they take the audience on a journey through a variety of emotions. As well as the group discussions, the documentary includes interviews and stand-up clips to give an insight into how comedy can act as a coping mechanism while providing a platform to confront mental health issues.

Group Therapy Director Neil Berkley talks about the inspiration behind the documentary, and why even the act of watching it is kind of therapeutic: “Because they are sharing, that’s therapeutic for you and the audience. That’s what comedy does: people go on stage and say I went through this horrible thing, or this embarrassing thing, or this painful thing, and someone in the audience, even if it’s one person, has also experienced that, and they can say oh yeah? You are too? Great, we have that in common. Let’s talk about it; that’s the goal. It was always, let’s put them in a position or a place, in a safe place where they can share.

We’re calling it a documentary. When we made it, we called it an experiment. It is a unique concept, it kind of feels like it should be the first of many. There were never any mandates about ‘talk about this or do this.’ But the “sharing is therapeutic” was always the north star, and there was never any thought to you have to have this corporate thing that we do in your film; it was just “make it good” and “make sure it delivers that message.”

Group Therapy was co-produced by AXA and Hartbeat–comedian Kevin Hart’s global, multi-platform entertainment company–in collaboration with WPP agencies, including VML, and director Neil Berkeley. Group Therapy is a unique mental health initiative that comes to our screens during a period of anxiety-inducing world events when almost one-third of the global population is experiencing a mental health condition. The documentary follows the release of the 5th edition of AXA’s Mind Health report.

Watch a trailer here or watch the documentary on Amazon Prime.