Compassionate Laughter - Michael Pritchard

Michael Pritchard

I met Michael Pritchard many years ago when I heard him speak at a holiday party for a roomful of social service types tasked with lifting up the disenfranchised in our community. That afternoon he fed our collective souls with a combination of storytelling and humor unlike anything I had ever seen before. After the crowd began to thin, I summoned up my courage to introduce myself to him.

At the time I was running a fledgling nonprofit, with not enough money and too much work and a handful of students I was tasked with inspiring. The only problem was, I was burned out. I’d been burning the candle at both ends for a long time and the work was starting to get to me.

I don’t know what i said to him. I don’t suppose it matters. But whatever it was, Mike knew what I needed. He looked me in the eyes and gave me a pep talk, one that hit me right in my heart. He challenged me to keep going, reminding me that the work we were doing, as hard as it was, was needed - and he invited me to bring my students to “shadow him” while he visited a local school district, performing a handful of shows for their students.

I watched from the bleachers as he paced back and forth. A caged tiger searching for his prey. He ran through a series of impersonations, from Yoda to Wookies and many more. He told stories that made the kids laugh uproariously. Before long he had them eating out of the palm of his hand.

And then he lowered the hammer.

“How many of you know someone who gets picked on, bullied or is the last one to get picked to play,” he bellowed. Dozens of hands shot high in the air. He invited student after student to share their stories - to come to the front of the room and share their pain with their classmates. Tears flowed and Mike was there to stand beside them, a big bear of a man baring witness to their courage. He challenged the students to stand up for one another. To choose kindness over cruelty. “Hurt people hurt people,” he reminds them. “But pain shared is pain divided.”

Mike is the change he wants to see in the world. He began his career on both the comedy stage and as a juvenile counselor in San Francisco’s Youth Guidance Center. In 1980, Michael Pritchard won first place in the San Francisco International Stand Up Comedy Competition as well as winning the prestigious California Probation Officer of the Year.

Offers from Hollywood rolled in including a guest appearance on an Emmy Award winning episode of “Taxi.” His sensational standup comedy billed him with Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld,Dana Carvey and Whoopi Goldberg playing venues as Caesar’s, the Comedy Store, Universal Ampitheater and opening for such names as Diana Ross, the Grateful Dead, Kenny Rogers, Mike McDonald and Boz Scaggs. 

But Michael Pritchard knew he was being called for something else.

A deeply spiritual man, Mike draws from his counseling background and began using humor to inspire, teach communication skills, anger management, diversity, conflict resolution and overcoming burnout and stress. His broad audience base - from corporate employees, healthcare workers, to prisoners, students and government and state officials - have honored him with countless standing ovations and numerous awards

As a result of his work, Michael Pritchard has been featured on CNN, NBC’s “The Today Show”, “The Tonight Show”, CBS “Sunday Morning” with Charles Kuralt, “Time” magazine and “People” magazine. 

He’s done seven educational series for PBS that have been seen by millions and focus on youth guidance in the areas of violence prevention. As well, Michael’s work appears in The Happy Movie. 

I’m so happy to be able to share him with you today. This conversation was food for my soul.

You can listen to this episode of From Sparks TO LIGHT here.

You can learn more about Michael Pritchard here.

To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of our theme music, please check out his website.

To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir,  Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de Santiago. 

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