Behind the Laughter: A Comedian's Tale of Tragedy and Hope

How do you keep going when your world is falling apart? Discover the powerful story of stand-up comic Anthony Griffith and how to navigate grief through persistence, faith, humor and love. Now available in trade paper.

Just as Anthony’s career in stand-up comedy launched him onto the stage of The Tonight Show, he and his wife Brigitte faced an unimaginable personal nightmare: their two-year-old daughter, Brittany Nicole, was dying from cancer. While Anthony performed under bright lights, he struggled not to succumb to the darkness of losing a child.

In this stirring memoir, Anthony Griffith and his wife of more than thirty years, Brigitte Travis-Griffin, share the powerful story of living between life’s funniest moments and its most heartbreaking tragedies.

With humor and deep insights into the human spirit, Behind the Laughter explores Anthony’s life and career as well as the bonds between parent and child and husband and wife. The surprising twists along Anthony’s path highlights experiencing God’s sustaining presence in the darkest moments as well as the sweetest dreams.

Behind the Laughter explores:

• Powerful, relatable emotions and lessons that are universal and inspiring
• New perspectives on difficult topics that everyone can relate to
• The power of finding humor in spite of adversity

Find true inspiration along with laugh-out-loud humor in this remarkable story of resilience and grace in the face of loss.

Anthony Griffith, a successful stand-up comedian for more than thirty years, made his way from Chicago’s South Side to the city’s comedy clubs and out to Los Angeles, where he performed multiple times on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and later with Jay Leno. He has been featured in specials for Comedy Central, HBO, and Showtime and on The Arsenio Hall Show. Also an actor, Griffith has appeared in several movies, including Panther, Tales from the Hood, and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, and received a Daytime Emmy for his performance in the TV movie Our Father. Griffith also performed in the TV series Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Bernie Mac Show.

Dr. Brigitte Travis-Griffin is a clinical psychologist specializing in a concierge delivery system of therapy for entertainment and creative professionals. She and Anthony Griffith have been married for more than thirty years. Brigitte received her PsyD from the California School of Professional Psychology and her BS from UCLA.

Mark Caro is the award-winning author of The Foie Gras Wars and Take It to the Bridge: Unlocking the Great Songs Inside You. For more than twenty-five years, he covered entertainment, food, and culture for the Chicago Tribune. He continues to contribute to the New York Times, Chicago magazine, and other publications.