Aspies For Freedom

For young comedian with Asperger's syndrome, laughter is the best medicine
By Kathryn Heidecker
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cf...4958&rfi=6

WOODSTOCK - Slouching in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, Elijah Wapner looks like a typical 16-year-old, but his determination to become a successful stand-up comedian with Asperger's syndrome has made him the focus of a documentary now airing on MTV.

The documentary, "True Life: I Have Autism," follows three young adults dealing with autism and shows its effects on their lives. The first two teenagers profiled in the documentary are Jeremy, 17, and Jonathan, 19, who have cases of autism severe enough that that it impinges on most parts of their daily routines. Wapner, however, has Asperger's, a high-functioning type of autism that can be nearly invisible to people who don't know about autism spectrum disorders. Asperger's is a neurological condition identified by a difference in language and communication skills.


During the filming in mid-January, Wapner had a chance to showcase his comedy skills during a Las Vegas comedy festival and was encouraged to incorporate jokes about his condition into a five-minute routine for the first time. Before the documentary was made, Wapner's routine was devoid of any mention of Asperger's or autism.

Wapner's mother, Valerie Paradiz, is director of education at the Asperger Institute at New York University's Child Study Center and penned a memoir, "Elijah's Cup," about life with Wapner. Wapner's father, Kenny Wapner, works in publishing. Still, the teen says his parents were protective about him incorporating autism into his stand-up show.

"I think they were nervous about me doing it, but when I decided to do it ... they went for the ride," Wapner said.

Wapner, too, had misgivings translating the neurological disorder into a joke. "I was afraid the audience would judge me," he said. After running through some possible jokes (like My parents tell me I have autism; I say they have an attitude problem"), Wapner decides he feels comfortable enough to bring his amended show to the stage.

"I wanted to make it my own," he said.

In the documentary, Wapner's first performance with his new routine elicits some hearty laughs from the crowd.

The new twist on his comedy set has also changed the way Wapner views his time on stage. He now considers it entertainment but also educational. "I think it helps people understand what autism is," he said. "Sure, there are some people who aren't going to get it ... but it's a good way to teach a lot of people."

Performing comedy can be somewhat addicting - "It's a rush," Wapner said - but he is at a loss for words when asked to describe the feeling he gets making people laugh. His first live performance was at the Colony Café in Woodstock at age 13, when he recited lines from joke books. He started writing and performing his own material at 15.

Wapner currently performs Monday and Tuesday nights at the New York Comedy Club in Manhattan, where the new routine continues to succeed in getting laughs. "The best night was last night ... (the audience) was just in hysterics," he said on Wednesday. "I had a hard time getting through the routine because of the laughs."

For future show dates and times, visit http://www.mrinevitable.com.

Cool. Shame there weren't any excerpts in the article.

Gotta leave the table, gotta go watch Wapner..

my god now the simpsons line mocking rainman makes sense :p

quote from article
"Wapner, too, had misgivings translating the neurological disorder into a joke. "
Well that's a joke. As if this guy is the first person on the planet to make a joke of AS! It's difficult to think of any major comedy TV show that doesn't have at least one character in it who has definite autistic traits. Of course these comedians don't say "This is about autism" because then the audience would feel uncomfortable about laughing at the joke.

Apparently the uncomunicative disabled "Andy" character on "Little Britain" is based on Andy Warhol (aspie). The League of Gentlemen, The Young Ones and the Addams Family TV shows all had some somewhat autistic characters. Australian comedy acts the Kransky Sisters and Elliot Goblet, and Willy Wonka in the latest movie, are clearly autistic eccentrics. Daria; obviously a smart geeky aspie. Ellwood Blues from the Blues Brothers and Sam Kekovich both do autistic monologues. Anyone who thinks there's something new or original about people laughing at AS is an idiot.

Don't quite get it, do you?  The difference is that he's driving the humor, he's NOT THE VICTIM NOR BUTT OF IT.  There is a difference between Stephen Fetchitt and Chris Rock.

I don't think it's at all true that all of the aspie ccharacters I listed are the butt of the joke. Most of the time the Daria TV show presents the point of view of an intellectually gifted aspie female who is held back or unrecognized by the NT world. The more NT the other characters in the show are the more they are the butt of the joke. The show heaps ridicule on sport jocks, social climbers and fashion victims. It's more scathing about NTs than any post that you'll read in this forum.

I haven't seen the apsie stand-up comedian myself, but I do wonder if his audiences feel sorry for him because he has AS and tells them so. Does the audience see the comedian as as medical case to be pitied? Pity can be easily mistaken for genuine empathy or high regard.

I think a comedy act that could be used to make people think differently about AS would be a comedian making lots of good jokes about our typical experiences, and only at the end of the piece reveal that he/she has AS. I believe ordinary people have well-developed but largely erroneous beliefs and theories about our type, but they don't realize that the characteristics of AS are due to fundamental neurological difference. I think it would be a much more radical thing to explain our point of view in the absence of emotive and prejudicial ideas about disability, medical definitions etc, and address the common ideas that already exist about people of our type("weirdos", "brainiacs", "nerds", "crazy old spinsters", "loners" etc).

Interesting - hopefully the kid is funny. If he's able to get bookings at 16 he must be doing something right.

This guy was on the MTV True Life: I Have Autism, and personally I didn't think he was that funny. Not horrible, but not amazing either. He probably just needs to work on his routine more. One of his jokes was like "Sometimes my parents tell me to go clean my room, and I tell them 'I can't clean my room! I'm autistic!'". I managed to clean my room a few times growing up, so I'm willing to bet it's not impossible.

That's not the joke.  The joke is that he's a teenager who doesn't want to clean his room, so he pulls out any old excuse he can, even if it doesn't matter.

Interesting it is good he is having some success in what he is doing good on him. I don't know if it was me or the accent but his speech sounded kind of slow.

That one kid was already funny at the end of one joke. Just one joke to. He does have some talent there I think. His jokes were funny. I heard a woman with Aspergers talk just like that once. Gee, if only some people were more patient they would realise what nice people Autistic folks commonly are! I still don't understand why some people act mean about it.

yep heh. I think the funny part was where he said "Why should I clean my room, you made this mess." Heheheh. I think that's quite funny.

Heehee! It kind of reminds me of the number of times I've annoyed my mother by replying: "I can't do my homework, it's the Sabbath! God will smite me!"

Aaah... lazy teenagers.

I get told I talk very slowly but it sounds normal to me.

"I can't tidy my room, think about all the life living under the rubble"

An obscure reference to FF7 and the floor of my room occasionally looking like the midgar slums, even my bro refers to "piles of rubble" in there.