What happens when a guy who wasn't raised around horses becomes a horse veterinarian... and then decides to become a stand-up comedian?
You get Matt Evans.
Matt is an equine veterinarian, stand-up comedian, and author of Chomping at the Bit: How I Became a Horse Vet Beyond All Common Sense. In this episode of Laugh or Death, we talk about what veterinary medicine and comedy have surprisingly taught him about imposter syndrome, learning new things, handling stressful moments, and finding joy while you're still figuring everything out.
Matt shares what it was like becoming a horse vet when he wasn't actually a "horse person," why learning to laugh at painful experiences changed the way he handles stress, and why comedy may actually be harder to master than veterinary medicine.
We also get into the strange similarities between medicine and stand-up, how humor helped Matt deal with anxiety, compassion fatigue, and imposter syndrome, and why learning how to learn can make almost any new pursuit feel possible.
And somewhere along the way we discuss horse castration, retirement-home hecklers, bald-guy grooming problems, colonoscopy jokes, and things about bulls I genuinely did not need to know.
So, a very educational episode.
In this episode:
- Why Matt became an equine veterinarian despite not growing up around horses
- The imposter syndrome that followed him into veterinary medicine
- How humor can change the way we experience stressful situations
- What horses can teach us about human emotion and laughter
- Why becoming good at something means getting comfortable being bad at it first
- The surprising similarities between veterinary medicine and stand-up comedy
- How Matt found comedy and eventually started performing
- Why humor became a tool for dealing with anxiety and compassion fatigue
- Learning to see yourself as the main character in a comedy instead of a drama
- Why you don't need to have everything figured out to enjoy the journey
Matt's book, Chomping at the Bit: How I Became a Horse Vet Beyond All Common Sense, is available now. You can also find his comedy, book, and artwork at MattEvansComic.com.
🎙️ Subscribe to Laugh or Death for conversations about comedy, the science of humor, and practical ways to laugh more, stress less, and find more levity in everyday life.
Life is hard. We might as well get better at laughing through it.
Links:
FREE GIFT! Download the Fun Over Funny Guide For Leaders! https://www.paulosincup.com/freegift
If you enjoyed this episode and want to build your own humor habit, make sure to follow the podcast and share it with someone who could use a little more levity in their life.
To learn more about Paul's work, book him for speaking engagements, or explore the science behind humor and resilience, visit: 👉 https://www.paulosincup.com You can also dive deeper into the tools discussed in this episode in Paul's book: 👉 The Humor Habit
All Links For Paul: https://stan.store/PaulOsincup
Guest Socials & Website:
Guest: Dr. Matt Evans
Website: mattevanscomic.com Social media: @mattevanscomic
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-evans-13b1273b5/
Order his book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Chomping-at-the-Bit/Matt-Evans/9798895655955
Episode Minute-By-Minute:
00:00 – Meet the Horse Vet Who Became a Comedian 02:00 – The Weirdest Way to Know Summer Is Coming 04:00 – Becoming a Horse Vet "Beyond All Common Sense" 06:00 – When You're Definitely Not a Horse Person 08:00 – Bald Guys Writing Jokes About Hair 10:00 – The Imposter Syndrome Was Real 12:00 – Learning to Fake It as a Horse Vet 15:00 – Can Horses Tell When You're Nervous? 17:00 – How Humor Helps in Stressful Moments 18:00 – "What Did You Do Wrong Now, Matt?" 19:00 – The Most Brutal Heckle From a Retirement Home 21:00 – Learning to Laugh Before the Crisis Is Over 23:00 – Colonoscopy Jokes, Obviously 25:00 – The Tiny Trick That Makes a Joke Funnier 26:00 – What's Harder: Comedy or Veterinary Medicine? 28:00 – Once You Learn How to Learn, Everything Changes 30:00 – The More You Know, the Less You Know 32:00 – Why Getting Good Requires Being Bad for a While 33:00 – Things I Never Needed to Know About Bulls 😂 35:00 – You Don't Have to Have It All Figured Out 36:00 – What If Your Life Is a Comedy, Not a Drama? 38:00 – Why Veterinarians Need Humor 39:00 – How Comedy Helped Matt Through Imposter Syndrome 41:00 – You Worked Really Hard to Feel This Bad 😂
