“Everyone experiences pain, of course. But a comedian has the ability to use their anger and intelligence to refocus and reconstruct their pain into entertainment.  It’s so obvious that it almost goes without saying, but comedians are generally more intelligent and sensitive than the average person. It’s our undeniably superior (almost god-like) intelligence that made life difficult for us when we were children. We could see through the hypocracy and illogic of our parents and teachers, but because of our age and size we couldn’t do anything about it.  The more we pointed out the foolishness of our “superiors,” the more they kept us down. But just as pressure and heat transform coal into diamonds, it’s that frustration, social pressure and the heat of anger that transforms us into comedians”