Concussion and Comedy: No Laughing Matter?

Abstract

Since the early days of film, depictions of concussion events have been regularly portrayed in comedy show broadcasts. Early comedians including Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and the Three Stooges frequently acted out incidents of head trauma for comedic effect, with audiences at the time enthralled by their slapstick humor despite the potential seriousness of these incidents. The introduction of cartoons in the 1930s continued this trend, with popular shows such as “Tweetie and Sylvester” (Looney Tunes), “Tom and Jerry” (Hanna-Barbera) and “Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner” (Looney Tunes) regularly depicting direct blows to the head in an intentionally entertaining manner. Sitcoms such as “The Office” (NBC), Fawlty Towers (BBC) and “New Girl” (Fox) have also featured episodes focused around concussive brain injuries to main characters. Head trauma has been represented in mainstream comedy in this manner for almost a century; however, in recent years, there has been a shift in its portrayal. Rather than providing mere entertainment value, head trauma is being parodied in comedy shows and used as a social commentary. An example is an episode of the comedy show South Park titled “Sarcastaball” [1], which satirized the concussion crisis in the National Football League (NFL). The premise of the episode is that the fictitious town of South Park adapts the rules in their school football games to minimize head injuries due to the harmful consequences of concussion that are described by retired NFL athletes at the start of the program. This results in a new sport called “Sarcastaball,” with the focus of the game on hugging opponents and “being nice” as opposed to the big hits and tackles typically associated with football. Although few people will watch comedy shows such as South Park with the purpose of obtaining high-quality information on concussion, the attitudes of the general public may still be shaped by influences that they see and hear in media culture. Smedema et al indicated that comedy programs can affect how the public perceives persons with disabilities [2]. It is not unreasonable to infer that comedy shows portraying head injuries also have the potential to influence the views of a wide-reaching audience toward concussion in sports. The South Park episode of “Sarcastaball” also made reference to the controversial issue of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and football, although no definitive association between the 2 was stated. It can be speculated that any potentially misleading or mixed-message information transmitted via these sources, including through YouTube videos on the Internet [3], may convey misconceptions about concussion to a wide and often impressionable audience. This influence of mainstream comedy shows on the topic of concussion has implications for the medical and public health communities to consider. Although television broadcasting companies are not necessarily dispensers of medical information, it may be argued that they have a social responsibility to consider how medical conditions included in their shows are portrayed and parodied. This is especially pertinent for topical issues such as concussion in sports. The general public has been shown to have misconceptions and incorrect beliefs about sports concussion [4] and brain injury [5,6], and trivializing the serious nature of head injuries in comedy shows may lead to the viewership getting distorted views and misunderstandings of the gravity of such injuries. Health professionals can be proactive in relation to this, by bringing their patients’ attention to high-profile episodes and highlighting that although these incidents may be funny, they are portraying what