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The Las Vegas Strip is slowly awakening after a nearly 80-day slumber due to the coronavirus crisis.
USA TODAY
LAS VEGAS – Don Barnhart knows well the formula that makes good comedy.
Do funny jokes rise from funny moments?
No, he’s learned, it’s just the opposite. It’s more about the pain.
“Pain plus time equals funny,” Barnhart told the Reno Gazette Journal, which is part of the USA TODAY Network.
The owner of Jokesters and Delirious, two closed Las Vegas comedy clubs, Barnhart is one of many out-of-work entertainers deep in the pain part of it.
Workers from all walks of life are suffering through the pandemic-stricken economy, but comedians are trained truth tellers. Self-psychoanalysts who examine their own ups and downs to come up with jokes that make people laugh.
And when they feel downed and damaged by the new coronavirus reality, it may be time for the rest of us to sit up and take notice.
“It’s a roller coaster every day waking up, thinking, ‘Today is going to be the day’ (clubs can open),” Barnhart said. “But there’s a huge water ride of depression when you reach the bottom and the governor doesn’t make an announcement.”
But the guy who cut his teeth as an emcee in…
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