“Comedy is pure power. You’re up there by yourself. You’ve got that mic,” says Susie Essman. And it’s especially potent for girls, says Rosalind Wiseman, author of (among many other books) Queen Bees and Wannabes (source material for “Mean Girls”!) and founder of Cultures of Dignity. “Girls are out there for people’s scrutiny all the time. With comedy, they’re in a different kind of spotlight—one that they define. Comedy lets them say, ‘I think this is important.’ It gives them a new and different way to claim authority and power.”

The best comedy comes from who you are, not who you wish you were. “The things that make us different, those are our superpowers,” Lena Waithe has said—and they’re your funny. What makes you different is what makes you funny, and what makes you funny is what makes you strong.

Comedy is messy—and it’s made of harmless little fails that you quickly learn will not kill you. “You can’t be perfect andfunny. Perfect isn’t funny,” says Lynn Johnson, CEO of Spotlight Girls!

Comedy forces you to try things out—in public!—without being 100% sure they’ll work. It helps you realize there’s only so much of a situation you can control, which is a highly annoying yet extremely healthy realization—one that helps you know you can walk into any situation and deal with whatever happens.

Cognitive neuroscientist Scott Weems, Ph.D. found that people exposed to comedy are better able to solve creative problems. He says: “Just as physical exercise strengthens the body, comedy pumps up the mind.” recommend).

Listen to any comic and hear: how much information they convey in how few words; how they use specificity and detail; how they use words to show you what happened, not just tell you about it; how they order their words in a sentence. That’s not just being funny—that’s writing (and a ton of rewriting). That’s how comedy teaches you to say exactly what you need to say: no more, no less.

Says Colin Lingle, Ph.D., experienced improviser and expert in political communication: “Building your ideas into a story, especially a funny one, is not the work of slackers. Telling jokes to a live audience tunes your senses to how people react. This information can shape your entire life. It’s like training for the Olympics of Standing Up in Front of People. Once you learn it, any other venue seems like mini-golf.”

Whether it’s taking over multinational corporations or scooping froyo. “There’s all this evidence around the ROI of humor,” says Naomi Bogdanas, co-author of the Stanford-tastic “Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is A Secret Weapon in Business and Life.” Study upon study shows that having a sense of humor helps teams solve problems and makes people want to work with and for you.

Many people say, “I would do comedy, but I’m too shy.” No, you’re not. Fun fact: COMEDIANS ARE SHY.  Why do you think they like to talk on stage, or wear giant mustaches? So they don’t have to TALK TO PEOPLE.  Carol Burnett has said she can perform only when she’s in character. Joan Rivers has described feeling awkward chatting in real life, one on one. Being shy is part of your funny—own it.

Says Aparna Nancherla: “Humor opens a lot of conversations that would be difficult to have otherwise.” Here’s how Iliza Shlesinger puts it: “You can shroud an ‘agenda’ in comedy, and it’s more digestible. Of course the laughs come first, but the message is, once I’ve gotten you laughing, I want to get you thinking.”

Comedy is power—over pain.“My race and gender have been a source of pain in my life so I use humor to reassert power over the things I feel least funny about,” says San Francisco standup Allison Mick. How does that work? “Comedy is almost a form of cognitive therapy,” says Leslie Sokol, Ph.D., author of Think Confident, Be Confident and Think Confident, Be Confident For Teens. When you search for the humor in something painful, she explains, you force yourself to examine it, hold it at a distance, stop it from taking you over. “It pulls you toward a less negative, more healthy perspective,” she says. “Comedy helps you cope.”