Getting Funny

Sean Daly: SARASOTA

It's hard to be funny when you look like you're drowning. Tim Hedley knows this cruel rule of comedy well.

Standing under bright stage lights, Tim grasps note cards he has just pulled from his trusty black Spider-Man folder. He licks his lips. Totters side to side. He leans into the microphone and reads each word slowly, one by one, sans nuance or mirth.

"WHY …

"DID …

It's November 2010. Tim, 29, is practicing his shtick at the world's first, and only, comedy workshop for the mentally disabled. He has Down syndrome, and it comes with what experts call a disfluency: Tim's socially strong, academically weak. He also has a severe stutter and often searches for words as if he's…