GOT TO BE JOKING
Florets gag that won best joke award at Edinburgh Festival gets complaint from Tourette’s charity
A CHARITY for people with Tourette’s syndrome has demanded an apology from the winner of the best joke award at the Edinburgh Festival.
The Dave Award went to Swedish comedian Olaf Falafel for his joke: “Have you heard about the man who kept shouting broccoli and cauliflower? He thought he might have florets.”
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But Suzanne Dobson, chief executive of the UK Tourette’s Action charity, was not laughing and called the joke “rubbish”, claiming it had brought “shame” on TV channel Dave.
She said: “Not only is it not funny to poke fun at people with Tourette’s, it’s not even that funny a joke, is it?”
Ms Dobson said: “I would ask them to walk in the shoes of somebody with Tourette’s for a day, and then tell me if they find it quite so amusing.”
She also said the charity had several calls from parents, who said their children with Tourette’s syndrome had been angered and upset by the joke.
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The charity had been about to launch a campaign to stop Tourette’s being used as a punchline, which Ms Dobson said was “unfortunately about a week too late”.
Kate Stone, one of the panellists who shortlisted Falafel’s joke for the award, said: “It’s a good one, it’s a pun, everyone kind of recognises it as it’s intended to be a joke and I think that’s one of the things that matters the most for this.”
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