The safe, repetitive domesticity of lockdown made me face my demons and seek therapy, while also making me hungry for sensation and risk. So I set off for a retreat in Amsterdam
If you had asked me pre-pandemic if I would ever touch psychedelics, I would have said absolutely not. The speed of my brain is literally my only skill. As a standup comedian and podcaster, I can walk out on stage with absolutely nothing in my head and riff with an audience for an hour if I need to – which I know seems like a superpower to others – while ordinary powers, such as the ability to do my laundry every week, elude me.
I was recently diagnosed with ADHD – first in the green room by other comedians, then by a doctor. It seems that a lot of us comics have it. I guess it’s a job you can do if you are not neurotypical, because you see the world from an unusual angle and there is very little admin. I often see comics on Facebook posting: “I’ve just got Peckham in my diary for tonight; am I meant to be doing a gig for anyone there?”
