After Russell Brand's stint quoting 2Pac while telling the Home Affairs committee into drugs policy about his experiences with heroin addiction, it's been proven that comedians giving testimony to old men in suits is always fun to watch. That's why you should definitely watch the American version, which comes in the form of Seth Rogen giving a very warm, touching testimonial at the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services.
The Knocked Up actor and writer was there to talk about ‘the ugly truth’ of Alzheimer's Disease, but first threw a few jokes, making the old members of the Senate chuckle with gems such as ‘just to answer the question I assume many of you are asking, yes I’m aware this has nothing to do with the legalisation of marijuana.’ and ‘I came here today for a few reasons. One, I’m a huge House of Cards fan.’
But then Seth got into the serious stuff, talking about how drastically his mother-in-law’s early onset Alzeheimer’s has deteriorated and how it has been so profoundly affecting that he’s become a charity activist: ‘That’s right, the situation is so dire that it cause me, a lazy self-involved, generally self-medicated man-child to start a whole charity organisation.’
Describing how tough it is to keep his mother-in-law comfortable as her condition worsened to the point where she couldn’t look after himself, he then made a nod to Obama's attempt to get free healthcare for all in the US, ObamaCare, saying: ‘I can’t imagine how people with more limited incomes are dealing with this.’
Seth then closed his speech by saying: ‘People look to their government for hope, and I ask that when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease you continue to take more steps to provide some more.’
Ok, so Alzheimer’s might not be at the forefront of things you care about, but it’s really worth watching. If self-identified ‘lazy, self-involved man-child’ Seth Rogen can give a crap about it, there must be something in it.
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Picture: Rex
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.