Comedian Chris Gethard’s never been afraid to delve into his personal struggles. His 2017 HBO special, Career Suicide, humorously and candidly dug into his lifelong battle with depression and anxiety, giving fans a glimpse into a corner of the comedian’s life not often seen by the public. Now, in a new essay on Medium, Gethard is revealing another side of himself. Specifically, one that’s really into jiu-jitsu.
“He’s stronger than me. He’s faster than me. He’s younger than me. He’s better than me,” Gethard thinks to himself as he’s facing down Jorge, a 36-year-old ex-Marine and Gethard’s opponent at a recent amateur jiu-jitsu tournament. The grapple-focused brand of martial arts has been a quiet passion of his for years, not because he’s the most skilled or in the best shape, but because the sport pushes Gethard to an extreme he doesn’t get to experience in comedy clubs. He may be outmatched in physical strength and skill, he writes, but it’s resilience he’s focused on. “I will not tap,” he asserts.
After reading the blow-by-blow account of his brutal, arm-twisting spar with Jorge, you ponder why anyone would do this to themselves. Here’s Gethard’s explanation:
To know myself. Not to know myself through the context of my relationships with others. Not to know myself through the accomplishments of my career. Not to gauge my worth based on the number of likes a post gets.
Not to know myself in any way from the outside.
To truly know myself when the blood flow to my brain is being restricted. To know myself when another person is trying to rip my foot off. To know myself when trapped in a position where a referee whose name I don’t even know might be responsible for saving me should I choose not to tap.
And in that sense, honestly, to know myself in death. And as such, in life.
Read the full essay here.
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9 Comments
I will have to seek this out. Isn’t this why people do marathons and ultra-marathons? Leadville 100? or super crazy tour Divide or run the Iditorod? Humans are stupid. And Awesome.
I agree, although I assume people do the Iditarod because of the lasting cultural legacy and overwhelming popularity of Snow Dogs.
ok, I laughed but also know people who have done the Iditarod, running and cycling, so I shouldn’t have. But I did. Glad I wasn’t drinking milk.
#jitslife
I remember the somewhat cringe-worthy episode of his TV show where he wrestled against some “pros”…
This is really great. The older I get, the more I lose touch with everyone I grew up with and realize your community is the community you make, I understand stuff like this. I feel this same way about pinball league. We’re all nerds, we know it, and we nerd out…and not in a cool way. Not in a “I read comics as a kid!” Olivia Munn kind of PR talking point way. It’s like a throwback to when I was straight up ridiculed as a nerd. But I didn’t get to enjoy it then, because I was a kid and felt ashamed. Now, we don’t give a shit and it’s great. Everyone from doctors, to pilots, to borderline homeless guys are in the league, and we all speak the same language, and for a couple hours a week we’re all equally pinball nerds. I love it in the way I love that Phil Collins collects Alamo memorabilia, or that Michael J. Nelson used to occasionally write a beyond-brainy column for a stereo magazine. As my dad said when I was younger, “your best friends…you haven’t even met them yet.” I never got that before.
I’m the same way, but instead of jiu jitsu I have a particularly ornery beanbag chair.
Listening to people talk about their Jiu Jitsu training is the same as talking about their improv troop, marathon training, or investment strategy.
Enjoy your hobby! I’m going to get another drink and make sure I don’t end up standing next to you for the rest of the party.
Jiujitsu is the greatest. Not everyone gets it and fewer stick with it but once it does its a bug that doesn’t go away. It just expands to fill in so much of your life in a very positive way.