In a long nutshell....the fake terp controversy

Sign language interpreter Lydia Callis became an internet viral sensation for her signing at a Bloomberg's post-hurricane media conference. So who or what shows took advantage of this internet video sensation?

Chelsea Lately.

Saturday Night Live.

Ron Stewart on the Comedy Central Show.

And probably few others out there we don't know about yet.

But here's in a very long nutshell the fake terp controversy, and, why is Marlee Matlin so indifferent about Chelsea Lately's own joke using her own "sign language interpreter" sidekick who didn't know an ounce of sign?

First, Lydia Callis signs for the deaf what Mayor Bloomberg is saying at a post-hurricane press conference.

The capturing of Lydia Callis signing on YouTube went viral. People watching are not used to seeing an interpreter up close using such expressive signs. This, of course,  became comedic fodder.

On the Chelsea Lately Show Chelsea wanted her own "politically incorrect" sign language interpreter "sidekick" for her comedy skit using a fake terp which failed miserably (watch the video). Not a single recognizable sign was made during the comedy skit except for perhaps the universal sign for being an idiot as seen in the picture below the comedian, Heather McDonald.

The Chelsea Lately's skit angered many in the culturally deaf community except for Marlee Matlin who is seen by many as the "ambassador of the deaf."

There were two other so-called "politically incorrect" comedy skits which quickly followed suit after Chelsea's on taking advantage of the very expressive Bloomberg's sign language interpreter.

Saturday Night Live (watch the video).

And Ron Stewart on Comedy Central (watch the video starting at the 5:43 mark)

The SNL version actually had a person who knew some actual signs and many were passable signs which was at least a nod acknowledging the existence of sign language. Although it was used in their own preferred way ladened with visual sight gags and exaggerated signs. The Jon Stewart show had an "interpreter" but was used in way to segue into the "wanking off" and "crying" part, a visual gag easily recognized by the audience to mean a familiar sob story heard a thousand times but nobody really cares about. Not really an area to cry foul about "making fun of sign language." I believe "wanking" is a universal sign anyway.

But, surprise! Marlee objected and fumed in her tweets about poking fun at sign language although she doesn't specifically mention about SNL or Jon Stewart. Yet we can safely discount the fact that she didn't complain about the Chelsea Lately's faux pas terp gag.

Looks like Marlee Matlin sure pushed hard to advertise her new "Marlee Signs" phone app between her indignant responses about mocking sign language. Nothing about Chelsea Handler though but not a wonder since three years ago Chelsea Handler on her show was seen pimping Marlee Matlin's new book, "I'll Scream Later"  (watch the video). I'm sure that must've protected her *wink* *wink* from Marlee's wrath 3 years later in that terp gag gone bad in one of Chelsea Lately Show's comedy skit.

They had a lively chat with a real interpreter in tow that was, of course, mostly blocked by camera angle and, of course, no online captioning. Captioning advocate anyone?

Marlee was indifferent about the terp gag on the Chelsea Lately Show but the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) certainly fumed with indignance wrote three letters to the Chelsea Lately Show, SNL, and Jon Stewart "Comedy Central" Show *demanding* an apology!

*Insert laugh track here*

Marlee Matlin poo poos comedian Heather McDonald imitating a sign language interpreter on the Chelsea Lately Show but back in August 2009 she had some choice words in Twitter for Heather regarding her character on the show "The L Word" (watch the video) when Heather mocked Marlee by using a "deaf" voice and pretending to sign.

4:27 PM Aug 16th. So doing Chelsea Lately on Weds. And on the show bout year ago Heather McDonald made fun of me (my voice) Should I address it, make a crack? Or should I be above it? The show is bawdy..pretty much no holds barred..but hey, I got an Oscar and Heather doesn't so thats enuf said? I'm tempted to say when I walk on Chelsea that @mcdonaldeather can kiss my deaf a** but then, I'm an Oscar winner and she's not.

Hmmm...interesting reference of being an Oscar winner and that Heather has none.

But interestingly on November 8, 2009, two months later after her tweets about Heather McDonald, Marlee appeared with Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy and comedian Alex Borstein who did a "tribute" by making fun the "ambassador of deaf people" Marlee Matlin's deaf voice.  Marlee was, of course, party to that skit by pretending to be angry about the mocking of her deaf voice.

Watch the captioned video below.



That skit did raise a lot of ire from deaf, hard of hearing and even the hearing community for making fun of her voice handicap, impairment deaf voice. But Marlee told people who complained about it to "lighten up" since it was aimed at Marlee and not at deaf and hard of hearing people way of speaking.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you become involved with this special?
MARLEE MATLIN: I had been in touch with Seth MacFarlane’s office to ask him to let me use my own voice in the segments where they had a cartoon character based on me. After all, I have an Oscar and Alex [Borstein], who voiced me, doesn’t. God knows, I would have done a far better job of playing me than her.

Geez, there's that Oscar reference again noting that Alex Borstein doesn't have one.

Marlee continues,

As a very visible member of the hearing-impaired community, were you hesitant to be involved in a skit like this?
No. If I were, I wouldn’t have ever done Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show, Howie Mandel’s hidden camera show, My Name is Earl and this show. And it’s why I’m developing a very politically incorrect and very funny show for Showtime with Mario Cantone and Carol Leifer (who, BTW, wrote my episode for Seinfeld).

Were you aware that Microsoft withdrew its advertising from this special due to its controversial content?
Yep. That’s their right. But I had a hard time believing that they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into when they said they’d sponsor a show written by Seth MacFarlane.  What were they expecting? Sesame Street?

Did you find any of the other controversial jokes in this special to be offensive?
Offensive. No. Sick, very. But that’s Seth and Alex. Humor comes in all forms and everyone has their cup of tea about what makes them laugh. But the day we censor humor is a sad one for sure. All I gotta say is, “Lighten up, people.”

I guess being a part of Seth Macfarlane's skit along with Alex Borstein was Marlee's way of showing up Heather McDonald that she can, too, be a comedian and be able to poke fun at her own deaf voice in a politically incorrect way.

Don't give up your day job, Marlee.  Oh wait a min... never mind.

All in all, I suppose we need not to try and censor the Chelsea Lately Show for Heather McDonald's humor for a bad imitation of a sign language interpreter? But, gosh durn it, we'll certainly try and censor SNL and Jon Stewart on Comedy Central for daring to mock sign language! Maybe Marlee Matlin need to "lighten up" about SNL and Jon Stewart's own brand of using a sign language interpreter humor since she said a few years that "humor comes in all forms and everyone has their cup of tea about what makes them laugh.

Sure.

Now, tell us, Marlee, in a nutshell, exactly what would be the "wrong way" of doing a deaf joke for hearing people? Or would censoring be preferred?  The hypocrisy is deafeningly loud so, please, turn it down, Marlee.

Chelsea Lately's Joke on Interpreter Sidekick

You can't find the video of Chelsea Lately's sign language "side kick" interpreter joke on YouTube due to copyright violation. However, the whole video can be viewed legally on the xfinity tv website.  The joke was conjured up by Chelsea when she saw Mayor Bloomberg had his own "interpreter sidekick" during his emergency meeting with the media and public about the aftermath of hurricane Sandy. 

As with comedians, they often push the envelope in pushing out "edgy" materials. This was one of them.  People may chalk Lately's use of that comedic skit due to ignorance or are not familiar with sign language. But there are a couple of things to remember. Marlee Matlin was on Chelsea's show back in 2009 which means Chelsea was and is familiar with sign language. So, no excuse there.




Also, back in 2009 Seth McFarlane of Family Guy did a live tv comedy show that mocked the voice of Marlee Matlin. After the joking Marlee comes on stage and delivered them a taste of their own medicine, obviously all set up and staged at that point. Of course, many found it offensive mocking the voice of a deaf person and at the same time many found it to be hilarious if you read the comments.  Of course, you get the same people who found it hilarious also made fun of other deaf people's voices, too. Go figure. But Marlee Matlin did say "lighten up!" when people objected to the comedy skit that made fun of her voice.

Were you aware of being mocked on previous Family Guy episodes?
Mocked isn’t the right word. I was just part of the joke. I learned a long time ago from when I did Seinfeld never to take anything seriously and to be part of the joke is the best way to show what a good sport I was.

Were you ever offended by those jokes, or did you always think they were funny?
I personally have dealt with any adversity in my life with humor. That’s why I told America to “Read my hips!” on Dancing With the Stars or was happy to play along with Jason Alexander and Jerry Seinfeld in the great restaurant scene on Seinfeld. I know a lot of deaf people might have been offended when they made fun of my voice but remember, it was MY voice they were making fun of. I was more than happy to show up and show them that I could dish it as well as I could take it and that being offensive works both ways.

What about this skit — offensive or funny? (Or both/neither?)
It was sick. It was twisted. It was rude. And it was very Family Guy. People love [MacFarlane's] stuff. They don’t pay him the big bucks for nothing and I was glad to be part of it. I want to do it again and BE the voice. BTW, it only would’ve been offensive if I hadn’t laughed and I loved that you couldn’t quite figure out if I was seriously angry at Alex or not!

As a very visible member of the hearing-impaired community, were you hesitant to be involved in a skit like this?
No. If I were, I wouldn’t have ever done Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show, Howie Mandel’s hidden camera show, My Name is Earl and this show. And it’s why I’m developing a very politically incorrect and very funny show for Showtime with Mario Cantone and Carol Leifer (who, BTW, wrote my episode for Seinfeld).

Granted, it was HER voice they were making fun of, and not that of the deaf and hard of hearing community. Although some people would disagree with that.

A few years ago I blogged about David Armand, a brilliant English comedian who uses quasi-sign, more like universal gesturing of sorts, to make his visual joke to the song "Torn." He's not trying to be like a deaf person but more like a hearing person who cannot speak and he's miming/gesturing his way through a song full of visual sight gags. Watch the video with captions and you can see how some of the captioned words related to his "signs."  Even for David Armand's comedic skit did it upset some Deaf thinking he was making fun of sign language. Hardly. What David did was use a very visual but funny form of miming and connected that with the words to the song, "Torn."

Now, this brings me back to Chelsea Lately's "interpreter sidekick" joke. I have mixed feelings about this. Maybe all this would be better clarified if Chelsea Lately would invite Marlee Matlin again to her show again and have a discussion about the whole "interpreter sidekick" joke and get Marlee Matlin's input.  Although Marlee tweeted to Chelsea on Oct 31, 2012 on a video response saying that Chelsea should apologize for doing that interpreter joke finding it "offensive."  Maybe more accurately that it was painfully unfunny rather than "offensive"? Marlee thought otherwise.

Frankly, I find Marlee's message a bit confusing when you look at what she did on Seth McFarlane's tv comedy skit mocking a deaf voice of Marlee's when other people commented saying it was offensive or painfully unfunny by painting a brush on how deaf people talk. Both Lately and Matlin went that route using a different format. One on making fun of how people sign, another making fun of how deaf people speak. Comedians are known to make mimicking an ethnic group they way they speak but off limits when it comes to mimicking how deaf people sign?

I suppose when it comes to making "edgy" jokes it either flops or succeeds.  Marlee tried it. So did Chelsea. And the SNL version was tame compared to Chelsea's and Marlee thought SNL was bad? Mon Dieu!