A 6-week therapy group for creative people. Real clinical tools, taught through improv, standup, and storytelling.
Created by Shannon Carroll, PMHNP-BC, and Kate Rigg, MFA
Comedy Group Therapy (CGT) is a structured therapy group that combines cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) with the tools comedians use every day.
A good joke takes something true and changes how you see it. So does good therapy. In CGT, you learn to catch the thoughts that keep you stuck and find a new angle on them, alongside people who get it.
Comedy isn't a distraction from mental health work. It's a way into it.
Every session has a clinical goal and a comedy exercise to get there. Over six weeks, you build a toolkit you can take into auditions, rejections, blank pages, and bad nights.
CGT is a closed group, so the same people meet each week. Every session includes a check-in, a warm-up game, a short lesson, a main exercise, and group discussion.
A 15-minute call to talk about fit, the program, and logistics.
A short written questionnaire before your first session.
Show up Monday. Bring your material.
CGT is currently running pilot groups and is not open to the public. Fill in the form below to sign up — Shannon and Kate will be in touch when the next group opens.
Co-creator, clinical lead
Shannon Carroll is a board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner who has spent more than a decade treating New York's creative professionals — and an amateur comedian who performs at Gotham Comedy Club and New York Comedy Club. Living in both worlds is what gave him the idea for Comedy Group Therapy.
Co-creator, comedy lead
Kate is an award-winning comedian, actor, writer, and community builder whose work has been featured at Montreal Just For Laughs, the Smithsonian, Comedy Central, and on Showtime, PBS, and LOGO. She created and executive produced shows for Oxygen TV, Disney XD, and E!, and has spent over 25 years in therapy — making her the ideal person to teach you how comedy and healing work together.
CGT draws on CBT, ACT, and DBT, and on research into improv, humor, and group therapy. It hasn't yet been tested in a randomized controlled trial. We measure outcomes in every group, before and after the program, and are working toward a university research partnership.