Is Epilepsy-Seizures something to make a joke about on tv?

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

E

Emilyjh5

New
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Did anyone see "Natasha Leggero" on Jay Leno on 9-19-11? It appeared as she was making fun of epilepsy and service dogs for seizures to me! I was not actually watching the show, I just had the tv on and when I heard the word "epilepsy" I looked at the tv and saw what she was doing. I think it was more than rude and ignorant!
If you do not like what she did either there can be a comment left on the website for the show and also on an account under her name on facebook.

It will not let me post the link on here, but if you go to Jay Leno's website you can view the video on there with her talking about epilepsy and laughing about it!
 
Last edited:
That is another example of seizures being made fun of to me. I cannot stand it when it is done and especially how it was done and put on Leno's show as it was.
 
sensitive

is my middle name, so I try not to stress out about hoof in mouth disease too much. America has become so touchy feely, that freedom of speech is in jeopardy here. Even those here that are not citizens want the rest of us silenced and scream bias when someone publicly derides their group. Having said that, I certainly do not advocate ridicule or making fun of those of us that suffer from this disorder. I just can not control what comes out of the mouths of public figures, nor do I want to try. I have the freedom to turn off any show that I feel is in poor taste. Just my opinion.
 
epilepsy is nothing to be made fun of, it is quite upseting knowing you have got it but for someone to make a joke of it is just heartless.
 
I used to have a sense of humor about it, but after the last few years of hell, I have no tolerance for any jokes about epilepsy.

If someone says one in my presence.. I come unglued on them. And the defenders who keep saying its just a joke or lighten up, make me want to punch their lights out too.

I also came across some video game discussion group that calls themselves Epileptic Gaming. I don't think they have any connection to people with seizures, but rather just used it because they thought it sounded cool. THAT annoys me too.
 
I just watched the segment in question which wasn't funny, but only because Natasha Leggero isn't funny, not because she was making a joke about epilepsy. My response to the question of whether it is something to make jokes about, I would say yes, absolutely. That is one important way of how we deal with things that make us uncomfortable. We make jokes about death, terrorism, prostate exams, racism, etc. There is nothing special about epilepsy that makes it off-limits to jokes.

The only real problem I had with her comments/jokes was that she talked about putting a service dog vest on her dog and claiming she had epilepsy so that she could take her dog into restaurants. Speaking as someone who really does have epilepsy and a service dog, this is something people really do and it is infuriating (and illegal).

But, if you take her comments within the context of her interview, she said and did all sorts of things that were absurd and offensive - that is her comedy style. It's not to say that any of those things is true or what she really believes. It's just what she believes is funny to say. I get that style of humor - saying things that are so outrageous and not funny that they are somehow funny to say. She's just not good at that style of comedy.

It doesn't mean that epilepsy is a taboo subject for comedy - just that she's not funny.
 
I haven't seen the clip, but I think it's okay to joke about anything. It depends how you construct the joke, though. Like, you can make a joke which plays on racist ideas, but by the time you reach the punch line, it's obvious that the joke is making fun of people who subscribe to those racist ideas. Same deal with epilepsy/seizures. And yeah, that's bad to say you're going to pretend your dog is a service animal to take it places, because that's the kind of thing that non-disabled tend to get riled up and attribute it to "special rights" and stuff, complaining that people are treating the disabled with extra privileges, and that even non-disabled can sneak into getting those privileges by a little dishonesty. To which I'd say, "You want to have seizures so frequent or so severe you need to bring a service dog with you places? Then go injure your brain until you have epilepsy, knock yourself out. Literally."
 
special interest groups

America had a coming of age period, and rightly so, to those who have been disadvantaged for whatever reason. Epilepsy has not really to my knowledge been out there in the forefront, except for the organizations that cater to it.
I watched a special about when the Americans with disabilities act was passed during the 1980's. The individuals storming the capitol steps were mostly in wheelchairs with a physical or mental disability.

When I read about the history of E. after years of the denial game, I was aghast at the treatment of people with this condition, i.e.-in the 1950's it was still legal in Texas to sterilize epileptics.

Comedians make fun of everyone and everything, no stone is left unturned. The moral police is not something I want to see here. We would have a much bigger problem. Just my opinion.
 
my family makes fun of it in a joking way, but its different when you are epileptic and making jokes, its not right when its other people
 
gr33nr0se said:
my family makes fun of it in a joking way, but its different when you are epileptic and making jokes, its not right when its other people
Click to expand...

A valid point and one that seems like common sense when it comes to respecting the sensitivity of others: it really does make a difference if the one making the joke is the target of the joke. Consider how this would be viewed if the joke involved ethnic or religious groups. I tend to have thick skin and can take quite a bit, but it has been open season on epilepsy from the beginning and it hasn't subsided much, even with all the sensitivity training. I believe some if this involves the myths about epilepsy. I have heard some of the jokes and they are merciless. There is a time and place for jokes, and with some jokes, it is never the right time and place.
 
Its sad, and so are the people that tell the joke,and i cannot for the life of me understand why people laugh at them,there has been a joke floating around the uk for as long as i can remember.

It involves getting your washing done cheap,by putting all your washing in a bath and then throw in an epileptic. (sorry if this offends) it realy makes me angry,when i think of all the years i have been frightend of baths,and still have to be supervised while in there so whenever i hear this idiotic joke,i wonder if the teller would like to live my life for a week,then perhaps he/she may learn that epilepsy is certainly no joke or fun.

Qs.If a comedian had a son or daughter,mother or father ect with this illness,would they be offended by epilepsy joke material ? or in the comedy world dosent it matter who you hurt or offend if it gets a laugh? or is it down to "ignorance" ? a word so often used in the world of epilepsy.
 
It would hate to live in a society where people were so uncomfortable talking about epilepsy that we couldn't joke about it.
 
granted I don't like the video "epilepsy is dancing" I take the view on life. If I can't don't anything about something let it, and it doesn't bother me to let it slide.

Plus if I think someone has a seizure in almost every other episode of House, and it is my favorite show. So I kinda have to get over my personal feelings towards towards seizures, except maybe. "I could do a seizure on tv than that actor"
 
hey at least things like this acknowledge epilepsy and keep it in common vernacular as opposed to reducing us to witches and freaks again.

I think by keeping a light-hearted nature about things can help to improve understanding in those not really familiar with seizures.

I'd rather have someone smiling at me when I'm coming out of a tonic-clonic than shrieking or crying or panicking. I'll put it that way.
But also >not< someone laughing and pointing at me.

I think smart humor can aid toward that end.

I did not see the initial clip in question... I did watch the movie trailer clip, but I couldn't hear it well because I'm at one of my fav cafes and it's noisy...

isn't it more offensive to see a stereotypical "seizure" represented (in horror movies for example) as a type of demonic possession? predecessor to giving birth to an alien fetus out of the chest or something? And again, I'd definitely rather have those around me find this type of association with seizures ridiculous, especially when I have one in their presence.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom