Ruby Wax on Loving Your Ego

11.30am, 1 November 2009
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1
 
It's often said God has a big ego problem, but stand-up comics surely come a close second. It's not so much the size of their egos as the fragility that makes them such curious creatures. Think just how many -Stephen Fry, John Cleese, Caroline Aherne, Spike Milligan to name a few - have oscillated between brilliance and neurosis.
 
Ruby Wax has been there too. In fact depression and low self-esteem hit her so hard that a few years ago she decided to train as a psychotherapist and study for an MA in neuroscience. Now she's taking to The School of Life's pulpit to preach the difference between loving yourself and plain old narcissism.
 
In her characteristically forthright style, Ruby will be urging us all to take better care of our delicate psyches. It will be a fierce and fiery sermon exploring Freud's old favourite - jokes and their relation to the unconscious. You'll laugh till your sides split but you'll also come away moved and motivated by Ruby's serious campaign get us talking more openly about mental health.
 
Ruby Wax originally studied psychology as a teenager at Berkeley in the United States, before coming to England to establish herself as a comedienne and TV presenter. Over the past four years Ruby Wax has returned to her original calling, training as a psychotherapist and studying for an MA in Neuroscience. She recently appeared at the Edinburgh festival with her show about mental health Ruby Wax and Friends.