In stand-up comedy, a single actor establishes an intimate relationship with the audience and discusses out loud emotional issues regarding taboo subjects. The ‘stand-up design of instruction’ (STUDI) uses similar techniques in a three minutes video to help learners connect emotional and cognitive experiences of mental health problems in six steps. The present article discusses a pilot experiment using the STUDI pedagogical model. The results showed that learners developed a positive appreciation of the training, a better emotional and cognitive understanding of the experience of mental health problems, the ability to exercise subjective and objective analysis through engaging in dialogue with other students, and increased motivation and memory-anchoring. In addition to other methods, such as simulated patients or peer teaching, STUDI can provide a simple and inexpensive pedagogical alternative using standing techniques to address large groups of students and short-circuit the barriers between emotions and cognitions.