My husband and I were happily watching the new episode of The Family Guy on our DVR when we saw commercials for the Family Guy-themed special, “Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show.” I quickly rued my luck for forgetting to record it and resolved to find it on YouTube as soon as possible.
But before I had to even think about doing a search, this little news item showed up on my beloved Perez Hilton. It seems that one of the show’s numbers involved the voice of Lois, Alex Borstein, singing Lady Gaga’s Poker Face as though she were Marlee Matlin.
Now, not only am I a big Family Guy defender, but a HUGE supporter too. I absolutely love the show, and as such know that their stock and trade is making ruthless fun of anyone and everything. A right which I will defend to the death, and happen to think they do well enough so as to be viciously funny.
However, for me, this one went too far. My cousin is deaf. She is also beautiful, brilliant, and a lot of other things. But knowing how hard being deaf has made things for her — emotionally if nothing else — I have zero tolerance for jokes that trade in making fun of things like the “deaf accent.”
Fortunately, they saved their skin, though. Marlee Matlin herself came out on stage (obviously planned) and then started yelling at Alex, making fun of her, calling her fat and giving her the finger before flamboyantly storming off. It once again showed the accuracy of Seth MacFarlane’s (and the rest of The Family Guy crew’s) humor — that to get away with a joke like that, you have to turn the gun at yourself. I never should have doubted.
Comments
barb
November 11th, 2009 - 11:01:41 AM
pppftttttt. nothing, and I repeat NOTHING is scared in the Family Guy... I think the show's people assume every topic is fair game. If they haven't already been slapped for some of their racial, mysoginistic, gay, disabled and, in general, tasteless commentary, they sure aren't gonna catch hell for picking on the deaf. If they do, I will be shocked!