Two people now. Two separate people telling me I swear too much.
Been sitting with this all day between lawyer meetings and website bullshit. The first time someone mentioned it in my writing, I blew it off. This is an experiment in being authentically me, right? But now it’s happening on stage too.
Enter Carl Jung into the picture. And suddenly everything gets more complicated.
The Psychology Rabbit Hole
I’ve been diving surface-level into Jung’s work – adding it to the book about identity and staying tethered. Guy’s got some interesting shit to say about personas versus authentic self. Multiple identities existing simultaneously.
See, I’ve always been a philosophy guy over psychology. Since I was a kid, I figured I could never really know what another person’s thinking or feeling. We think we know, but it’s always filtered through our own perspective. Psychology always seemed too definitive to me – these people talking about human nature like they had it all figured out.
But Jung’s different. He’s talking about holding multiple truths at the same time. Multiple identities. Not this binary bullshit I’ve been stuck in since childhood.
The Authenticity Trap
Here’s the thing that’s fucking with my head: What if being “authentically me” includes being someone who can adapt? What if the real me is flexible enough to say “fuck” less when it serves the comedy better?
Growing up with learning disabilities, I thought identity was fixed. If you were this, you acted this way. That was it. But Jung’s suggesting we can be multiple things simultaneously. The guy who swears like a sailor AND the guy who knows when to clean it up for the audience.
Is that selling out or growing up?
The Fighter’s Perspective
You know what we used to tell fighters who were too rigid in their style? “The tree that doesn’t bend breaks in the storm.”
Maybe the “fuck” feedback isn’t about changing who I am. Maybe it’s about expanding who I am. Adding tools to the toolkit.
I spent years thinking authenticity meant never compromising. But what if authenticity means being smart enough to communicate effectively? What if the real Ken is someone who can code-switch when it serves the mission?
The Deeper Question
The comedy is revealing something I didn’t expect – this whole identity thing goes way deeper than I thought. The book I’m writing isn’t just about staying tethered during this three-year journey. It’s about discovering that maybe I was never as tethered to a fixed identity as I believed.
Jung talks about individuation – becoming who you really are by integrating all the different parts of yourself. The professional, the comedian, the husband going through separation, the author, the philosopher.
What if they’re all equally real?
Tonight’s Revelation
I’ve been approaching this comedy experiment like I need to choose: authentic Ken or effective Ken. But what if that’s the wrong question entirely?
What if the right question is: How do I integrate all versions of Ken into something that serves both the truth and the art?
Tomorrow: Steve’s open mic. Time to test this theory. Same bit, less fucking swearing, more fucking effectiveness.
Jung might be onto something. The cigar isn’t always just a cigar – sometimes it’s a choice about who you want to be in that moment.
