Comedian Druski recently opened up about his traumatic childhood experiences, detailing how he resorted to comedy as a coping mechanism for what he described as family trauma. Druski spoke with Steven Bartlett on the latest episode of the Diary of a CEO podcast, which was released on September 24, 2026. He recalled growing up in Atlanta and how his father's strict discipline shaped him and his brother. He said:“The teachings being too far sometimes.”Druski says comedy helped him cope with childhood trauma View this post on Instagram Instagram PostDruski revealed that his father was a United Airlines pilot and his mother worked for the CDC. Despite portraying his family as financially well, he stated that the experiences they had were traumatic. He explained:“My comedy definitely came from a healing—wanting to make our situation better at home. We don’t come from a broke home; we were a broken home, but we weren’t a broke home.”He added that as a child, he often tried to make his family laugh, no matter what was going on at home. He added, admitting that his father's discipline was sometimes excessive and recalling thinking that the disciplining was too much:“What I wanted to do, and my personality as a kid, was always to make the family smile. No matter all the stuff we were going through, the teachings being too far sometimes, and maybe this a** whoopin’ was too much.”He explained that his approach to comedy came from his need to find anything good or hilarious in terrible situations:“I feel like my comedy comes from that place of—I never tend to punch down. I like to find the funny but also the good side of funny and not look at the negative for my type of comedy. I can find a negative situation and bring the funny out of it for both sides, me and the other person.”Druski says he witnessed abuse within his family as he also spoke about his brother's mental health strugglesDuring the conversation, Druski disclosed that the abuse he described did not just affect him and his brother. He claimed to have observed his father choke and shove his mother.According to Druski, these experiences influenced his inclination to modify the environment around him and "raise" the vibe when things got tough. He explained:“I do know that my comedy comes from that comforting type of space.”Druski stated that his experiences enabled him to read the environment around him and recognize various emotions in others:“I can read a room and sense any type of danger. I can read a room and sense any type of happiness, sadness, anything. In any situation. Somebody could be mentally ill, somebody could be physically hurt, somebody could be anything. And I always have been a good judge of character as well. So I feel like that it’s something that has helped me as well.”Druski also discussed his brother, claiming that the unpleasant experiences they had as children resulted in his brother acquiring schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in his teenage years.He explained that, while comedy became his personal outlet for processing his experiences, his brother did not have the same outlet.The comedian stated that this difference influenced his idea of comedy as more than just making people laugh. For him, it became a means of providing comfort and altering the environment around others.How Druski's experiences shaped his comedy careerDruski's reflections provide background for the type of comedy he developed over his career. He is well-known for his viral sketches and internet comedy, and he admits that his instinct has often been to find humor without making someone else the target.He added that his ability to identify different moods and settings has always played a vital role in his approach to humor.The comedian has previously discussed leveraging negative situations for motivation. According to the podcast discussion, a gunpoint robbery eventually became a turning point for him, prompting him to pursue comedy with greater determination.It was not until he received a call from Drake for the Laugh Now, Cry Later music video, which also featured Lil Durk, Kevin Durant, Marshawn Lynch, Odell Beckham Jr., Aggyabby, and Ben Nethongkome, that he gained wider recognition. This in turn led to other opportunities and commercial partnerships.The comedian also mentioned being rejected while pitching shows to platforms like Netflix, Amazon, and FX. He eventually decided to fund his own YouTube content, which he claims demonstrated the necessity of believing in his own ideas before others.His latest comments provide a more personal explanation for the humorous persona that audiences have grown to know, with Druski describing laughter as something that started as a way to soothe his family and later became his career.Stay tuned to Soap Central for more information.