Strong Ending

A Journey from Combat to Comedy

De: Audible Originals

Narrado por: Mary-Louise Parker

This heartfelt Audible Original, narrated by Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress Mary-Louise Parker, follows three military veterans as they reclaim their most painful memories and turn them into comedy. Michael Garvey, Isaura Ramirez, and Patrick Harth left combat zones to challenge themselves in a stand-up comedy boot camp. As they learn to transform their raw emotions into cathartic experiences, they face the daunting challenge of trying to make an audience laugh with jokes about war, trauma, and mental health. This audio documentary details their move from military service to sharing their searing honesty and gritty strength while performing in front of packed crowds.

Strong Ending also features insight from professional comedians Rob Riggle (The Daily Show, The Hangover) and Maria Bamford (Lady Dynamite, Arrested Development) as it explores the science behind the healing power of comedy and the role of military comedies in popular culture. A perfect mix of wit and warmth, this is an inspiring and honest listen that unearths the anxieties of readjusting to civilian life and the powerful potential of finding light in the dark.

About ASAP & Comedy Bootcamp: The Armed Services Arts Partnership (ASAP) is a nonprofit with a mission to cultivate community and growth with veterans, service members, military families, and caregivers through the arts. ASAP promotes expression, skill-building, and camaraderie through classes in stand-up comedy, improv, storytelling, creative writing, acting, and the visual arts. ASAP's approach provides veterans with transferable life skills, a renewed sense of purpose, and improved well-being, while strengthening ties between veterans and their communities through the arts.

©2018 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2018 Audible Originals, LLC.

Favorite Member Selection so far

Wow I was both laughing and touched from this production on wounded and traumatized vets using stand up to heal themselves. Felt like a shot of empathy.
Nothing bad to say. Good narration, unique topic, good balance of narration, interviews, and the live recordings from the stand up show.

Good for NPR.

Short story with clips of comedy show. Gets listener interested in topic. Would make a good NPR piece.

Comedy can heal

Stand up comedy can help with depression and PTSD- yes, for veterans, but also for everyone!

Powerful Talented Strong Dialogue = PTSD

Incredible. Laughter is a response to absurd violations to our “norms” or what is truthful and real. Comedy comes out of trauma and anger – some of my favorite are military comedies; Forrest Gump, Hogan Hero’s, Private Benjamin, Stripes, Major Payne, etc… it amazes me because I don’t think I realized there was a link of my interest of comedy about war. I found it staggering and spectacular that one of my all-time favorites, the US show M*A*S*H (Korean war dramedy) was on TV for 11 years which is 3X longer than the actual conflict (3 yrs).

Highly recommend to all my vet friends.

#MentalHealth #SuccessStories #TraumaSurvivors #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

The Power of Laughter

Dig deep and make 'em laugh! This is a wonderful production about the stand-up program for vets.

Real Veteran Review

This will jerk tears at first because of the testimonials, IF You've been in any scenario of the people speaking from the heart. Next it's Laughter! A lot of laughter I must say. If you've served download this. Sad, HILARIOUS, and quite a ride. Good job.

Dark Journey to Funny Life

#sweepstakes
It is about Veterans who have gone through terrible traumas and enter a comedy workshop And they become wonderful comedians and can cope with life even if they do not perform on stage
#bringsyouup

Laugh in the Face of Death!

perfect to understand the humanity of recovering from serving in the military!! love it!! thank you for being vulnerable to the world!!!

I Laughed ~

I don’t usually listen to non-fiction, however Strong Endings was an exception. I laughed, I cried. (Well, I didn’t actually cry because the book was so full of hope and life.) Coming from a military family (my dad was in both the Marines and Army 30 years, my husband 23 years, my brother was in the Navy more than 20 years, and our 2 sons and our son-in-law are currently serving in the AF), I actually “get“ the power of laughter in dealing with memories. Thanks to all the comedians in this book, and to ASAP for the work they are doing. My only suggestion would be to let us listeners know where we can go to see performances, or how we can digitally purchase albums.

I really enjoyed this...

I surprised myself when I found that I really enjoyed this story while I listened to it. The tale follows three military vets as they try a novel approach at helping them deal with PTSD... by making jokes about it! Standing up on stage in front of a live audience, while exposing their rawest feelings in order to make people laugh, and it works! It works by putting what happened to them in a completely different perspective.
Mary-Louise Parker did a fantastic job of balancing narrative and interviews!
This is a short book and I actually wished that it could've been longer, maybe following more people and their stories... but, even so, it's simply a great book!