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Boston Globe

He almost left comedy altogether. Now, Liam McGurk is sharing a more personal side onstage

The laughter is a bit nervous, but it grows as McGurk talks about how maybe he shouldn't have scheduled a date three days after he was released. How his potential mate found the grippy socks he kept lying around his apartment. And he defends the decision to keep the gown from the hospital — he only did it because he likes his space on the train. This is the part that's different. McGurk has always been funny. Now, he's digging deeper and talking about the parts of his life that make him nervous. 'Over this year and last year, there's been like, a huge change in me, as corny as that sounds,' he said, speaking backstage after the show. 'People say like, 'I've been working on myself.' I used to say that, and it didn't really mean anything. But I have hours and hours every week of like, different sorts of therapy and recovery stuff.' Advertisement McGurk has had to take breaks in his comedy career before to deal with addiction and mental illness. In 2023, McGurk posted on social media that he was back pursuing comedy. He felt better, so he thought he was better. But the turmoil returned. He would swing from hopeful to hopeless. He couldn't control his thoughts or emotions. It got to the point where he didn't think he'd be able to live a normal life. 'I was pretty much debilitated for all of 2023,' he said. 'Late 2023, I was able to get into a program that actually started to change me and turn my life around.' Advertisement Over the past couple of years, he has undergone intense therapy in the Borderline Personality Disorder Outpatient Program at McLean Hospital, 15 hours a week with different psychologists and psychiatrists trained to help people with his condition. McGurk was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder in 2022. The program gave him better control over his emotions and a way to navigate his daily life. When he got back to performing comedy again in 2024, he did so without any big pronouncements. 'I just quietly started going to mics and shows again,' he said. 'Quietly started to reconnect with people.' Comedian Liam McGurk, right, kills time with fellow comedian Laith Al-Sasah before his set at Goofs Comedy Club. Ken McGagh for The Boston Globe The new treatment helped him as a person, and as a comedian. 'It's actually changed me internally,' he said. 'It made me like, a much happier and grateful person. And so I feel a lot looser onstage, because I'm just very happy to be up there and perform. And when I see people laugh, I get very excited, and then I want to tell my next joke.' Advertisement Andrew Giampapa has known McGurk since they were both 19 and starting their careers as students at UMass Amherst, and he has seen the work McGurk has put in. 'You watch somebody who's just goofy like that really deal with some of the most painful and serious situations that a human being can experience,' he said, 'and not only get past them and get through them, but thrive. He's just become a much stronger version of himself.' McGurk's comedy hot streak almost ended before it got a chance to take hold. He was preparing to demote stand-up to hobby status in May and pursue nursing classes, and almost dropped out of a scheduled appearance in the A friend convinced him to do it anyway. Then he was eliminated in the first round, but found himself back in it when a comedian ahead of him dropped out. He made it to the finals and had a killer set at the Somerville Theatre for the finale and wound up winning the competition. He was shocked. 'If you look at the video of me winning, I almost passed out,' he said. It was a test of McGurk's ability to persevere through uncertainty. 'I can at least be true to myself by giving the best performance that I can,' he said. 'That's the only thing I can control. I could control my delivery, and I can control my timing, and I can control how confident I'm coming across.' Advertisement McGurk takes the stage. Ken McGagh for The Boston Globe Since winning the Boston Comedy Festival competition, McGurk has been getting more headlining spots around town. He's out several times a week doing showcase shows. He landed a college booking agent and will start the audition process to get on that circuit soon. The Festival win gave him the confidence he needed to take one more step forward. 'I thought I could never be a full-time comedian, and [I realized] that's actually not true at all,' he said. 'I'm much, much closer than I thought.' McGurk knows he's not a finished product. But he realizes he doesn't have to be. Right now, the dream is working out, and he's writing and gigging to make sure he takes full advantage of every opportunity. And that's enough. 'If I'm really looking at, should I be a comedian, or should I be a nurse?' he said, 'I don't have to make any final decisions. I could go back and be a nurse if I want to be a nurse. But I'm looking right now like, I just got this agent, I just won this contest, and winning made me realize how hard I was on myself.'