Comedian Aparna Nancherla vented about social media anxiety and the absurdities of therapy sessions in her stand-up set from Wednesday’s Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
“I am on my phone too much,” she said as an overture. “I don’t think I am the only one. But I had a rock-bottom moment with it the other day. I was walking on the street. I was deep into my phone. I thought I was about to take a sip of coffee with my other hand, but instead I just put one of my earbuds in my mouth. And I don’t have a takeaway for that. I’ve merely been sharing it with people as a way to remain accountable — to myself, to my community and just to let you know where I’m at spiritually as well.”
Nancherla, a co-star on the Comedy Central series Corporate, also detailed her failed attempts to meditate using a phone app and her accidental power trip after becoming addicted to the Instagram “mute” button. “I turned into someone I didn’t know, but I’m glad I met her,” she cracked. “I picked out a few people and I thought, ‘I’ll work back up to not being threatened by her level of success.’ But then before I knew it, even puppies were being silenced. I was like, ‘Oh, they’re just getting younger and younger.”
She closed with a stream of therapy-related jokes — including bits about a goatee-sporting hypnotherapist (“I realized that’s not the right facial hair to wake up to from a trance”) and forcing yourself into mental health. “I found out my therapist is raising her rates, so I guess I’m cured!” she said. “Very exciting. Sometimes you don’t realize how close you are to a breakthrough, and then there is is. Growth works in mysterious ways.”