Laughter is the best medicine. We all have heard it probably thousands of times in our lives. But do we truly know what it means? Well, luckily, we do not need to find too long to know how laughter and humor can change a man’s life. This year’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction gave us two prime examples in the form of Will Smith and Ryan Reynolds. Both Ryan and Will have been able to change the course of their lives through comedy and laughter.

While we have already seen how important of a role comedy and making people laugh has in Will’s life. We do not know about Ryan’s love of comedy. But let’s take a look at how making fun of himself made Ryan battle and win over anxiety.

Laughing at himself helped Ryan Reynolds to overcome anxiety

Ryan Reynolds had one of the best episodes of this year’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction. In the episode, Ryan gives the viewers an honest look inside his perfect life. We got to know many new things about The Adam Project stars’ life. Such as his relationship with his brother and his history with his father.

A shocking fact we got to know about Ryan was his struggle with anxiety. Ryan jokingly mentioned that whenever he used to appear on David’s show, just before the curtains would draw, Ryan would feel like he was going to pass out. Ryan feels his anxiety is more of an “anticipatory” thing.

But Ryan says that whenever an anxious situation presents itself, his defense mechanism of an idiot kicks in and saves him by cracking jokes and making people laugh.

Ryan says, “This idiot takes over, and has some jokes. And that guy kind of keeps you safe.”

The Red Notice star then goes on to add that instead of cracking jokes on other people, he likes laughing at himself and loves carking “self-effacing humor” as he feels it saves him from his anxiety.

It is certainly inspiring to see how just the ability to laugh at oneself can save a person and help them face their fears.

What do you guys think about Ryan’s solution? Will it really be helpful? Let us know in the comments below.

Stream My Next Guest Needs No Introduction only on Netflix.