On Friday, September 19, Comedian Samuel Camroe performed at the Taylorsville-Redwood Campus. Camroe is a comedian living with Tourettes Syndrome, a disease in which the person affected experiences involuntary ticks.
Though the event did not begin as planned, as Camroe’s flight was delayed, it did not stop students from enjoying free popcorn and pizza while discussing the event.
“I hope he’ll be funny,” said Lauren Jacoby, an SLCC student who was at the event for the purpose of observing the interpreters. “Maybe we’ll even learn about his disease through his eyes and how he copes with it.”
According to the laughter from the crowd, it seemed like Camroe did not disappoint. Showing up late did not frazzle him either. He didn’t seem to be phased at all, but instead was comfortable on stage. He began by asking the crowd how they were doing and then began poking fun at the small crowd size.
“Long flight, we made it,” Camroe said. “I see 50 people left—screw them.”
Camroe then went on to candidly tell the crowd that he has Tourette Syndrome.
While poking fun at a disability is not considered acceptable moral behavior by the opinions of many, Camroe makes a point to do this each time he is on stage, making jokes while also informing the audience about his disease.
“I think I got into standup [comedy] initially because it was the best way to cope with my situation,” said Camroe.
He went on to tell the crowd about how he started sports in high school and his activities made the Tourettes better. After high school, he was looking for something to be passionate about, and found it on the stage.
Camroe encouraged the crowd to find something they are passionate about and go for it. Before the speech could become too serious, Camroe likened his belief to the rapper, Eminem, which in turn resulted in giggles and confused faces.
“It’s so funny because it’s such a mixed crowd of young people and older people,” said Camroe. “Do you know who [Eminem] is?”
While remaining pertinent, Camroe made the crowd laugh sentence after sentence while still staying true to his original goal.
He gave a large amount of information as to how he lives with Tourettes.
He discussed the effects it has on his relationships, how he felt about it growing up and what made him want to talk about it on stage.
Camroe’s insight was a way for the audience to, as Jacoby said, “see the disease through his eyes.”
Here’s sample of Comroe’s stand-up as seen on his Youtube Channel.
