If Jeffrey Gurian could speak to his 12-year-old self—the boy who dreamed of becoming a dentist and a comedy writer—he’d say, “I think I’d be amazed.”
Born in the Bronx, Gurian has already lived out the wildest of his dreams. He wrote comedy for some of the biggest names in American entertainment, shaping U.S. pop culture. His credits include Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show, which ran until the early 1990s, and Rodney Dangerfield, a master of stand-up comedy.
“I started out as a comedy writer, working for big stars like Rodney Dangerfield, Joan Rivers and Andrew Dice Clay,” Gurian said. “If you know the Friars roasts—the legendary comedy roasts that inspired the Comedy Central Roasts—I was the main writer for 12 years.”
All the while, Gurian, whose inner child is his best friend, maintained a dental practice. Until 1996, he worked in New York City’s Marble Hill neighbourhood, where he was an early practitioner of cosmetic dentistry. In the 1990s, The New York Times spotlighted him for his unique dual careers in dentistry and comedy.
Conquering his stutter
Gurian’s second act truly began when he conquered his lifelong stutter.
“Even in my 30s, I still struggled with certain words, particularly “D” words like dentistry. If people asked me what I did, I would block on the word.,” he said. “One of the reasons, I think, is that I never looked like a typical dentist. People tend to put others in categories.”
But despite the judgment, Gurian, who considers himself “timeless”—a philosophy that has shaped his journey both in comedy and dentistry—persisted.
“I realized one day that I didn’t stutter when I was alone. I only stuttered when I was talking to someone else,” he said. “That told me you can’t have a disability based on location. If a man has a limp, he limps in every room of his house. But if I can speak fine when I’m alone, then theoretically, there’s nothing wrong with me.”
“And that started my journey. It took me many years to cure myself,” he added.
“It took me a long time to get the confidence to go on stage. I was comfortable writing jokes for famous people, but performing was a different story.”
Testing if he was really funny
Once the stuttering began to diminish, it was time for him to be on stage about 20 years ago.
“It took me a long time to get the confidence to go on stage,” he said. “I was comfortable writing jokes for famous people, but performing was a different story.”
For Gurian, the ultimate test was proving to himself that he was truly funny.
“It takes a lot of courage to stand in front of 500 people. If you’re a singer, people will clap politely whether you’re good or not. But if you’re a comedian, either they laugh or they don’t. People don’t laugh to be polite.”
Luckily the performance at the New York Comedy Club turned out to be positive when a well-known New York comedian came to congratulate him after the performance.
“I took him at his word! Fortunately, the audience agreed with non-stop laughter! That’s all I needed to know! And I’ve been performing ever since!”
‘Most stutterers can’t stay their name’
After all, Gurian’s stutter goes back to childhood. In elementary school, he was placed in a special class for students with speech impediments.
“A lot of them were worse than me,” he recalled. “When you single a child out, put them in a special class for therapy, it tells them there’s something wrong with them.”
He even attempted to prove himself when he was a student at Hunter College when he ran for president of the freshman class.
“It was a huge school, fed by seven different high schools, and I only knew kids from my own. I told myself that if I won the election, I wouldn’t stutter anymore—because it would prove that people liked me,” he said.
He won, but the stutter remained.
“Most stutterers can’t say their own name—it’s something I now understand better because I work with stutterers all over the world,” he said. The experience taught him his first major lesson: seeking external validation wouldn’t solve the problem.
“That realization started my journey into introspection. I was holding negative thoughts about myself, and that contributed to my stutter.”
“No matter how many people tell you you’re fantastic, what truly matters is what you think of yourself,” he said. “That realization started my journey into introspection. I was holding negative thoughts about myself, and that contributed to my stutter.”
It was during his journey in dental school in Philadelphia, Gurian doubled down on his authenticity. He was banned for three weeks for growing a mustache and having sideburns and was told that his hair was too long.
As a dental student in the 1970s, Gurian, struggling to make connections in the comedy world, persistently reached out to Woody Allen, acting as if they were already friends. “On the back of my dental school card, I’d write: ‘Woody, it’s Jeffrey. I haven’t seen you in a long time, but I’m coming to visit you soon.’”
Determined to meet him, Gurian finally bought theater tickets, despite doubts. He didn’t have a tie, so he convinced his ex-girlfriend to accompany him. When they met, Allen shared valuable advice about breaking into comedy writing. Gurian took it to heart, and at 20, he made fantasy-comedy short films, including Masters of Disguise, which caught the attention of Saturday Night Live.
“That was my breakthrough,” Gurian said, noting his connection to Allen’s managers, Jack Rollins and Charlie Jaffe, who helped him meet key figures in the industry.
Gurian keynote speaker
Conquering his stutter opened new doors. After all, one of the affirmatios he used to reprogram his brain was “Fluency is Freedom.”
“Attaining fluency gave me the freedom to achieve all the things I wanted to do. It gave me the confidence to be a radio personality and motivational speaker.”
“Attaining fluency gave me the freedom to achieve all the things I wanted to do. It gave me the confidence to be a radio personality and motivational speaker,” he said. “A stuttering speaker or a stuttering doctor does not inspire confidence in people.”
Indeed, he became a sought-after lecturer on cosmetic bonding across the U.S. Later, as a clinical professor at N.Y.U., he focused on alternative TMJ dysfunction treatments. At dental conferences, he introduced S.T.A.R. Therapy™, emphasizing talk and touch techniques.
In April, he will deliver a keynote speech at the Oregon Dental Conference.
“I want to do more speaking at dental conferences,” he said. “Being the keynote speaker is a special opportunity to share this message. Dentists have one of the highest rates of suicide and divorce. In my own case, I did the divorce. I’m trying to put off the suicide for a long time, but it’s a shame that dentists are so stressed out.”
Now, Gurian is paying it forward. In 2022, he published Facing Adversity: Stories of Courage and Inspiration, part of The Happiness Series, following Fight the Fear: Overcoming Obstacles That Stand in Your Way and Healing Your Heart, By Changing Your Mind – A Spiritual and Humorous Approach To Achieving Happiness.
“I remember everything I write in my books,” he said. “I never let anything stop me. I push myself outside my comfort zone and challenge myself daily.”
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You can visit Gurian’s website to help people who stutter: https://www.stopstutteringnowgurian.com. He can also be reached at jeffrey@jeffreygurian.com.