I find the article "Did You Hear the One About the Former Scientist?" interesting. The article talks about Tim Lee, a former biologist who switch to work as a comedian because he found out that he hate academic work after he finish his PhD. Before he starts his carreer as a comedian, he has worked as a computer programmer for a while, then he read biographies of some comedians such as Bill Cosby, Jerry Seinfield and got interested in comedy. Later he wrote his own jokes by applying some scientific knowledge in his jokes. The articles also gives another two example of comedians who used to be trained in science such as Marlow and Goldblatt who used to be physicists.
I think it is quite very difficult to figure out what you really like. In the case of Lee, he has spent for such a long time to do his PhD in order to realize that it is not what he want. However, finally he can do what he like. Some people dare to switch to new carreer when they find that it is not what they want, unfortunately, some people do not have such opportunity. By whatever reason, they need to endure their unhappiness. Some people might not be able to find the job that they like, some people, on the other hand, cannot switch to new job due to financial or family constraints.
Even though they don't like being a scientist, they can apply their scientific knowledge in their jokes. Their experience can help them distinguish themselves from many other comedians. It is quite an advantage if you have been trained in disciplines different than other people in the field as long as you are willing to learn the important knowledge in the field. I believe that in the future a great variety of people from different disciplines would work at the same field. There would be new and innovative ideas occur more often due to such kind of drawing people from another field.
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References
Chang, K. (2009, December, 14). Did You Hear the One About the Former Scientist? The new york times, retrieved December 17, 2009 from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/science/15comic.html?ref=science
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