Sara Hennessey and the Trauma of Her Court-Jester Ancestors

Thanks to COVID-19, comedians are trapped at home like the rest of us, so we decided we would do something a little different from our usual “Follow Friday� column while we’re all isolating. Instead of interviewing up-and-coming comedians we love on Twitter, we’re going live on Instagram every week to check in with some of our favorite people in comedy to get a firsthand look at how they’re handling the pandemic. So welcome to our new version of the column, now titled “Follow (From a Safe Distance) Friday.�

This week, I courageously took a break from my weekend vacation in the Great North for a chat with fellow Canada enthusiast Sara Hennessey (Just for Laughs, Ascension Luncheon, giving me excellent recommendations for shit to do around the greater Toronto area) about how she’s holding up in the post-vaxx pandemic. She told me all about her drunken and messy 1970s-era fake public-access show on CBC, gave some excellent advice on incorporating color into one’s wardrobe, and briefly became my therapist. She also dove deep into her psyche to bravely share an incredibly relatable comedy trigger: “If I’m at a weird show where everyone is really frozen or it’s not going well for some reason, my mind goes to this: If this was the royal court, like in olden medieval times, I would be beheaded after this. You know how they talk about generational trauma? This is like occupational generational trauma. I’m like, I could die after this! Gimme something!�

You can find Sara on Twitter at sara_hennessey and on Instagram at @sarahennessey.