Commentary on SNL’s Drill Sergeant Skit

Blog by Voon Pang
Sept. 26, 2012

The ongoing discussion in the stuttering world about Saturday Night Live’s drill sergeant skit has been interesting to watch from afar. It was only last week that I got to view the segment online courtesy of someone posting the video on YouTube. Since then I have watched the video three times, once on my own and the other when I was showing a colleague at work (she didn’t stutter and found it slightly amusing, though she did comment that it was bordering on offensive and not the most sensitive way to demonstrate stuttering in the public arena) and the third time while writing this blog entry.

What’s my own take on it? I felt the skit was mixed at best. To me, as a SLP who doesn’t stutter, it was difficult to watch a person who stuttered be in denial about his difficulties with speaking. It was also difficult to watch how the corporals responded because there was so much uncertainty on how to react. Perhaps this was where the humour was for some, in the awkwardness of the situation… And this is how our interpretations of the skit all becomes a bit grey. Each person has a different life story on how stuttering has effected them. Each person is also at a different point in his or her stuttering journey (we know that there are ebbs and flows of easier communication, feelings of inadequacy/adequacy as a communicator and and denial/acceptance of stuttering). On top of this each everyone has a different humour dial – what I might find funny could be vastly different to what you find amusing.

If you haven’t seen the clip, I would invite you to click on the link below to watch the segment:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/drill-sergeant/1417080

Whatever your take on it is, I would like to encourage you to answer three questions I’ve created on Survey Monkey on http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q9PNM38 and leave your additional comments below.

One thing that I’m certain about is that we should be thankful we have organisations that advocate for people who stutter. In the light of this blip in the stuttering world, it was always going to be difficult for organisations such as the Stuttering Foundation of America or any of the other major organisations, e.g. National Stuttering Association or the British Stammering Association to release a statement which represented everyone. Lets just be appreciative that for those who are in a difficult place that there is a helping hand to stand up to those who just don’t ‘get’ stuttering.

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Bob Love

Bob Love has dreamt about being a great public speaker since his early days in Bastrop Louisiana, even though, as a young man, he could barely put two words together, let alone speak a full sentence.

In spite of his severe stuttering disability, Bob Love, the son of a sharecropper, rose to become a Chicago Bulls NBA superstar, whose records were eventually surpassed by Michael Jordan. Throughout his entire athletic career, Bob Love kept his stuttering a secret from the fans who adored him, thinking he could do his “talking” on the basketball court.

Mel Tillis

Mel Tillis, born Lonnie Melvin Tillis, was an influential figure in country music, both as a songwriter and a performer. His journey to fame was marked by overcoming personal challenges, including a stutter that he turned into a defining part of his public persona.

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.

Winston Churchill

Seeking to "remove Winston Churchill's stutter by second guessing the diagnosis" indicates neither a truthful retelling of history nor an informed opinion about a complex speech disorder, say experts in the field of speech-language pathology.

Recent news reports that quote Dr. John Mather, a Washington physician, as saying that Churchill's stutter "is a lie" brought adamant critical response from specialists in the field of stuttering and fluency disorders.

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.