Comedians Nina G and Mean Dave raised awareness for disabilities and addiction at Los Medanos College’s comedy show, titled “Stutterer Interrupted: Comedians in Conversation,” at the Little Theatre Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.

In the show, she revealed the hard truth of her past through biting punchlines, even though they were opposite to her sweet demeanor, so that the listeners could comprehend experiences.

Nina recounted a childhood anecdote of her putting toilet water into her teacher’s coffee cup after that teacher failed her. Through this admission, the audience was able to empathize with the turmoil she had felt in struggling with her disabilities. Later on, she mentioned the iceberg of emotions she experienced, which included a mix of anxiety, isolation and guilt.

Nina felt she was a comedian that almost didn’t happen because she had once let go of her dreams; she saw that people like her “were the butt of jokes and not the ones who made them.”

Her lines of reasoning changed when she went to a disability committee which allowed her to see the strength in herself.

In March, she will celebrate 10 years of being a comedian.

Although she led the audience through her darkest times with a slideshow presentation, she tried to leave hope for others with stuttering disabilities like her own.

She handed out buttons to audience members with the phrase inscribed, “I stutter and that’s okay because what I say is worth repeating.”

One of Nina’s best friends and opening performer, Mean Dave, mentioned that his disability was in fact that he was a recovering addict. He flavored his humor by describing the destructive patterns of drugs and how his compulsive brain made him succumb to them. He explained his backstory in music and how he believed he needed drugs to produce music.

“I guess performance in general is a form of expression and communication in a way like being able to express things and ideas creatively that, probably, people wouldn’t hear in just a day-to-day context,” said Dave.

Dave’s humor was self-criticizing; at one point, he called himself “the dollar store Aquaman.” He also knocked Disney, which became one of his most liked jokes, according to the scattered laughter from the crowd.

Dave took this Disney bit a step further, using “Beauty and the Beast” to make comments on the importance of consent.

Daniel Lockett, a student in the audience, mentioned how the comedy show and his theatre class were correlated, “It’s like Greek theatre, but they have comedy in Greek theatre.”

Many teachers also attended to rally Ghiselli. Nick Garcia, drama professor, commented on how he likes comedy shows, “I know I have a great time every time I