SNL Skit Survey Results

Blog by Voon Pang
Nov. 8, 2012

The presidential election is over and what a close one it was (we got quite a bit of news coverage over here in New Zealand)! Similar to the election results, though much smaller in scale and way less significant, the SNL Skit survey had an even spread of reactions until a few vital responses swung the results to indicate that most people found the skit mildly amusing (10% more than the next response). However, when the number of mildly and highly amused reactions were combined and the number of mildly and highly offended reactions were combined, the difference between the two was much less (42% offended vs. 48% amused). See for yourself on the chart below –

Of those who responded, 62% were female and 38% were male and the proportion of people who stuttered was 43% (vs 57% people who didn’t stutter). Without a gold or platinum Survey Monkey account, I wasn’t able to ‘crosstab’ responses to see whether there was a difference between females and males in their reactions and people who stutter against people who didn’t stutter. Forty-two people participated in the online poll.

However, here were some of the comments on the Stuttering Foundation website from my original post in September:

“I did not laugh at all. I was not highly offended, only mildly. But, I also did not see any humor in it whatsoever.”

“I saw the skit more as a statement about dynamics between military personnel and the personality traits we associate with the stereotype of the drill sergeant; the macho guy who is unable to acknowledge any trait potentially perceived as a deficit and his total denial of it in the face of clear evidence. Stuttering happened to be the vehicle used for the illustration, but it could have been any number of conditions. That being said, it is my opinion and wish that people would be more sensitive to individuals with clinically-impairing conditions, regardless of what it is, especially the folks whose material will be viewed by millions of people.”

“As the mother of a 6 year old child who stutters and someone who managed PT, OT, and ST's, you need to get out of the field if you even remotely thought the skit was acceptable or funny.”

“I was comforted by the fact that MOST of the audience seemed not to be laughing at the stutter, but at the discomfort of the soldiers in not knowing the appropriate answer to make. That being said, I didn't find the skit funny at all, but that's par for the course on SNL these days.”

In conclusion, intentional or not, the skit opened up a dialogue about stuttering which has only meant more awareness for the general public. Many thanks for those who participated in the survey and provided comments voicing how they felt about the skit.

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

King George

In November 2010, worldwide movie audiences were presented with a most interesting and unusual movie release with The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth as King George VI and Helena Bonham Carter as his wife Elizabeth.

Unfortunately, history may have forgotten the courageous and inspiring story of Prince Albert who stuttered badly and never dreamed that he would ever be king when his older brother, King Edward VIII, abruptly abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.

Frank Wolf

This Virginian congressman has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1981. The longtime supporter of the Stuttering Foundation drew national attention to childhood stuttering in 2006 when he submitted an article about Tiger Woods from the SFA newsletter to the Congressional Record. The congressman is featured in the Stuttering Foundation's Famous People Who Stutter brochure.

Lewis Carroll

The recent Disney version of Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice in Wonderland, garnered a great deal of media hype. Even though the mainstream media has not made mention that Carroll was a person who stuttered, his family history gives credence to the discovery of the genetic link to stuttering. Carroll was born to parents who were first cousins; almost all of their eleven children, three girls and seven boys, struggled with stuttering past childhood.

Darren Sproles

Darren Sproles, a former player for The Philadelphia Eagles, the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers, made history in 2007 when he became the first player in NFL history to return a kickoff and a punt for his first two NFL touchdowns in the same game. In 2021, he was selected to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.