I am really starting to get Pissed-off at Stephen Colbert and his gulping Pain Pills shtick

[Up2Late]

Ever since he broke his wrist he's been acting like he's gulping down Mega quantities of Vicodin!

Sorry, that's not funny, that a Very Dangerous thing to do, especially considering that a large part of his target audience is college students who drink a lot!

He must have gulped two dozen "pills" on tonights show! (re-play coming-up at 1:30am)

Vicodin is mostly acetaminophen, more commonly known as Tylenol, which most Americans think is a very safe drug is NOT a very safe drug, it's actually one of the least safe OTC drugs on the market today and is quickly becoming the suicide drug of choice for depressed suburban kids.

<http://www.drugs.com/vicodin.html>

My best friend DIED last year from an overdose of Tylenol, Vicodin and Beer last year, and we are pretty sure now that it was a suicide.

I really think we should flood his show and Comedy Central to tell him to stop before he kills someone.


<http://www.drugs.com/vicodin.html>

[WindRavenX]

1. he's blasting the RW pundits like Rush who do this

He isn't doing it to be "funny"--he's pointing out the extreme hypocrisy of the right.

[Up2Late]

4. Yes, I know that, but he picked a VERY dangerous drug to do it with.

Tylenol combined with Alcohol quickly leads to major Liver damage, and the Alcohol makes the amount of Tylenol you can safely take about Half the recommended dose!

Recent studies (July 2006) showed that even recommended doses of Tylenol start damaging the liver after only a few doses.

What he's doing is very dangerous.

[WindRavenX]

5. As I recent college grad, I assure you, I know what he's doing is parody.

And if someone emulates him, I echo another poster's thoughts: Darwin Award.

I will not have someone censor his work for the mere possibility that someone might copy him.

I mean, should we make sure no more frat movies like Old School and Wet Hot American summer are no longer available because someone might emulate the obviously unhealthy drug habits that are portrayed in those movies? Of course not.

I am sorry for your loss, but I'm afraid your emotions are overriding your logic on this one.

[Up2Late]

10. Would you rather he get taken off the air after he's sued by a bunch of angry parents?

This is an incredibly stupid thing to be doing for laughs, and I'm sorry, as a recent College Graduate, you can't yet see that.

If he was using a drug, say Codeine or Morphine, that most people DO know is dangerous, that would be funny, but this is just a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[blogslut]

14. So, you're saying that kids will see him do this

and emulate him? Do you really think that? Do you really see an outbreak of young adults and teens popping bottles of Vicodin because Stephen Colbern did a comedy bit?

[Up2Late]

24. NO, I'm NOT saying that at all!

I'm saying that THIS drug he chose is VERY DANGEROUS because nobody understand how dangerous it is!

If he was doing this with a drug that most people understood was dangerous, that would be O.K., but since almost nobody knows that Vicodin is dangerous, because it's just has a tiny little bit of Narcotics in it, but 500mg to 750mg of a drug that most think is safe, that is NOT, THAT is the problem.

:banghead:

I can see now that most here have no clue how dangerous high doses of acetaminophen and mixing acetaminophen and alcohol is, which is problem I'm trying to point out here.

So let me repeat, If he was doing this with a drug that most people understood was dangerous, that would be O.K., but since almost nobody knows that Vicodin is dangerous, it's NOT O.K.

[blogslut]

25. Then write him a letter

And believe it or not, I am fully aware of the dangers of acetaminophen.

[Up2Late]

29. Excellent, that makes two of us.

And I do intend to write to him, but my point of posting this was to find more like you who do understand the danger to write to him too.

Here's the link: <http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml>

Wow, in ever expected communicating this would be so difficult here, maybe I'll have better luck with the Day crew, but I doubt as many of them watch the show.

[dorkulon]

26. But if you're not saying people will emulate his pill-popping...

then what is the danger? Besides, everyone knows pain-killers are dangerous and addictive, including Vicodin. And everyone knows you can OD on Tylenol. People attempt suicide with Tylenol regularly. Why would they do that, if they thought it was safe? You make no sense to me.

[Up2Late]

31. No, most people do NOT knows you can OD on Tylenol, that's my point and the problem...

...that I'm trying to make here. Intentional Tylenol ODs are a growing problem, but most believe that close to 1/2 of the Tylenol ODs are unintentional, and this where the problem is.

Sorry, I'm tired of repeating myself in to each individual reply, please read what I wrote to some of the others, hopefully I've covered this enough already, I'm going to bed.

[dorkulon]

35. You still didn't answer my initial question.

You called this "a lawsuit waiting to happen."

but when Blogslut asked, "So, you're saying that kids will see him do this and emulate him?"

You replied, emphatically, no: "NO, I'm NOT saying that at all!" and repeated that people are apparently ignorant that they can OD on acetaminophen (a fact of which I have yet to be persuaded, but that's beside the point for now).

So I asked: "But if you're not saying people will emulate his pill-popping... then what is the danger?"

You didn't answer. I'll ask again.

How can Colbert's faux vicodin-addiction be "very dangerous" or "a lawsuit waiting to happen," unless it will cause people to take vicodin? Your argument that it is dangerous for him to be doing it would seem to imply that others will follow his fictitious example. Yet you insist, no, that's not what you're saying.

So: If that's not what you're saying, and even assuming this supposed widespread public ignorance about vicodin and tylenol, how exactly is it dangerous, if it's not going to encourage people to do it?

[dorkulon]

18. What else shouldn't people do on TV?

You know, sex can lead to STDs and even AIDS--better ban any depictions of sex.

All that drinking on TV must be responsible for DWI deaths--nix that too.

No more violence either--this rather explains itself I guess.

No more superheroes flying--kids could get the wrong idea and plummet to their deaths. How irresponsible of the producers of "Heroes!"

I could go on, but you get my drift.

[Poll_Blind]

2. Could it be he's parodying Rush's Oxycontin addiction?

  On reflection and reading your full post again, I'm pretty sure you already know this but fear that someone will emulate Colbert and...die.

  That's absurd.

"I really think we should flood his show and Comedy Central to tell him to stop before he kills someone."

  ?

PB

[dorkulon]

3. It's called a joke.

I'm sorry about your friend's suicide, but if someone ODs because Colbert is doing a piece of shtick, that's called natural selection.

How many fatal eye-gougings do you suppose the three stooges are responsible for?

[Up2Late]

7. It's not the same thing, it's not a harmless joke precisely because...

...people have been mislead into believing that Tylenol is a "Safe Drug" when in fact it's not.

This is in the same league as Celebrities glorifying Smoking to sell produce for their show's advertisers, except that most people already knew Cigarettes were dangerous.

[demobabe]

12. What Colbert is doing is Parody, not glorification

Although it's a good point that Acetominophen is more dangerous than people realize. I'm sorry for the loss of your friend and echo your concern about the drug in general.

[dorkulon]

13. No, the analogy only makes sense if Colbert was comically chain-smoking and hacking away.

He's not glorifying anything. He's faking like he's a developing addict. That has precisely the opposite effect than glorifying it. You're just being silly IMO.

[King Coal]

44. I have never heard that Tylenol is dangerous. Never.

I am not doubting you, but I have never heard that. So, if it's true, I am helping you make your point. I'll check out the link you posted.

[King Coal]

45. Do you have a link supporting your claim that Tylenol is dangerous?

[dorkulon]

46. Are you serious?

Too much tylenol (acetaminophen) will mess up your liver and kidneys, especially if you drink. A serious overdose can kill you, or make you wish it had.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tylenol#Overdose

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002598.htm

[King Coal]

48. Thanks dorkulon. Yep, I'm serious as a you know what you know where.

[Occulus]

60. If you don't know this, you've never read the warnings

Sheesh. It even says so right on the label- which by this point you ought to have read.

[cgrindley]

56. And a funny one at that

I gulp god damn codeine pills all day long to stop from shitting myself to death while awaiting yet another round of tests to see why I'm shitting myself to death. And yet I still find Colbert funny.

[ComerPerro]

6. his viewers are smarter than that, give them some credit

[Ghost in the Machine]

8. I kept waiting to see a Rush impersonator run out and steal the bottle from him

I thought that would be funny as hell to see. Rush charging out and tackling Colbert for his pills... :rofl:

[Gregorian]

9. I love it. (Not to be contrary or disrespectful. )

I love sacrilege, and things that most people would condemn. But when it's done by people who know better.

I think the thing to remember here is that it's time to drop all notions of attachment when one goes to these two shows. Sex, religion, politics. They have to go out the window. Things I get upset about on this forum, I don't get upset about on the Daily Show or Colbert Report. Jon blasts the left as well as the right.

It's a gag. I like to see him get out of character, also. And I think it might just be a jab at Blimp Gasbag. But I don't really think so. I think it's just to be funny.

Having gotten very upset today on this forum because I am so attached to my personal notion on a subject, I also have to say that it's healthy to lose that attachment. To laugh at death, disease, fascism. I mean, who would have ever thought that fascism could be funny. Or torture? I still try to make sense of it in my off hours, and I simply cannot do it. They have the formula to make it work.

Sometimes we have to be inappropriate.

[Up2Late]

19. But see, it's NOT out of his Colbert Report character, that's part of the problem.

And the fact that nobody here understands how dangerous and dumb gulping handfuls of Vicodin is only proves my point. This is very DANGEROUS. LARGE DOSES OF ACETAMINOPHEN will put you into a COMA!

This is very low-brow humor and is NOT FUNNY!

[blogslut]

21. Yes, gulping handfuls is dangerous

But you're beginning to lose your perspective if you believe anyone in this thread has claimed otherwise.

[dorkulon]

27. Now you're just insulting us.

Why do you insist we're too stupid to know Vicodin is dangerous? Is it because your OP holds no water?

[Missy Vixen]

52. Do you think anyone who watches and understands Stephen Colbert's show

would be stupid enough to swallow handfuls of Vicodin in the first place? Anyone who can READ read the recent information about the dangers of OD'ing on Tylenol. Since I bought some the other day, I can also let you know that the dangers of drinking while consuming Tylenol are now ALL OVER THE LABEL as well.

It's. A. JOKE. He's making fun of Rush Limbaugh, and God knows that Limbaugh needs someone to mock him on national television.

Julie

[BlooInBloo]

11. Oh my fucking god.

[Throwing Stones]

15. lighten up dude, it's called satire

If you don't get it, change the channel back to Fox News - you won't be challenged to think independently there.

[RandomKoolzip]

16. Wow. Do you hate Hunter Thompson too?

Maybe we should ban his books, since he talks about doing dangerous drugs and stuff.

Seriously, though: relax.

[Up2Late]

28. No I do not hate Hunter Thompson or what he did! Why?

Because what he did most people knew was dangerous, but we all know that Thompson knew that too, my point is that Colbert picked the WRONG DRUG to use for this bit!

Why? Because he picked a drug that most think is safe due to decades of Corporate Marketing telling us that it's safe, but it's NOT a safe drug. In fact, it's a very UN-safe drug, but what he's doing is adding to the delusion that people have that it is, which is why this is so dangerous.

Get it?

If he had picked OxyContin or Codeine, that would be a good joke, because most know those are un-safe and so should his character, so people would be laughing at his behavior, but since he picked a drug people think is SAFE, he's adding to the problem.

[drm604]

36. I really don't think many people think Vicodin is safe.

It is a narcotic after all. If they aren't aware of the dangers I don't think we can blame Colbert for that.

[RandomKoolzip]

37. .

:rofl:

This IS a joke, right?

[Missy Vixen]

53. Anyone who can read knows Vicodin is not safe or harmless

You might want to refresh yourself on, for instance, Matthew Perry's supposed addiction to Vicodin, which was widely reported in the media during the run of "Friends".

When Vicodin is prescribed, along with the other drugs you mentioned, one must endure a pointed lecture from the doctor's office. The vast majority of doctors are not narcotic pill mills and are very concerned with the ramifications on their practice and on their license if they are overprescribing a narcotic.

Again, It's. A. Joke.

Julie

[AnotherGreenWorld]

63. Not always

I was prescribed Vicodin, and not told anything about it. A lot of doctor's don't tell patient's anything about the drug's they're taking. Doctors try to make as much money as they can: they run from room to room, stopping for no more than 5 minutes in each. As a result, they don't have time to talk about dangers or side effects. That would mean less patients which means less $$$.

[Missy Vixen]

66. I'd love to know where you were prescribed Vicodin and not given any information about it

I was prescribed Vicodin after a surgical procedure. The doctor spoke with me about it. The nurse spoke with me about it. The pharmacist also cautioned me. I had to sign a form stating that I had been counseled on the drug before I could even take possession of it.

It is hard for me to believe that if the drug was obtained by legal methods, at the very least, you were not spoken to by the pharmacist on the subject. Were you asked to sign a patient counseling form as well? In the event you were told nothing, why did you not try to Google the drug name?

Julie

[AnotherGreenWorld]

67. University of Iowa Hospital

I was in the hospital for a week, on morphine; just diagnosed with a terrible disease, I had no fucking idea what the hell was going on. I signed a lot of forms. One might've said that the doctor explained the risks and benefits of the drugs to me. I couldn't say. But he never actually did, even if I signed a form indicating such. I didn't know anything about the drugs I was on until I started doing research on them--in lieu of side effects the doctor denied and blamed on my disease.

[drm604]

17. Are we to censor every possible dangerous behavior?

Should we agitate to have House taken off the air because of Dr. House's Vicodin popping?

Where would we stop with all of this? Television would be very sterile and uninteresting if we removed every dangerous behavior that someone might emulate.

[Up2Late]

32. Sorry, I don't watch that show, so I haven't any idea what you are talking about.

See my replies above, I'm going to bed.

[Phrogman]

20. You can always turn your television set off if this really upsets you

"If thine electronic eye offends the, unplug the M.F."







(edited to remove words found to be offensive)

[Madspirit]

22. I'm Sorry

I'm sorry you lost your friend. :hug:

Still, this kind of parody and satire is very important politically because of all the Right Wing hypocrisy issues...and he isn't going to be what drives a college aged kid to or not to, do these pain drugs. I am sorry it hurts you to see it but I do think it's for a higher good.

Lee

[MichaelHarris]

23. why do you hate

comedians for their comedy? Some people so uptight you could shove coal up their ass and get a diamond back. Sure it may smell but it's real pretty.

[Up2Late]

33. Why do you ask ludicrous questions on a serious topic?

I'm not even going to try to respond to ridiculous questions like this.

[MichaelHarris]

38. serious topic?

Tell me, how many people do you know that think popping pills like they were candy is OK and if so, are they are allowed objects with sharp corners? I could walk across America and not find one person who didn't know the dangers of what S.C. is making light of. Well except maybe your city.

I can tell you what's ridiculous but I don't want my post deleted.

[ruiner4u]

64. Corks on forks!!!!!!! call congress right now!

[Exiled in America]

61. When I see a serious topic here, I'll let you know.

[XOKCowboy]

30. Before he kills someone? Are you kidding me?

It's SATIRE! It's always been SATIRE! Do you also think that the kid that burned his house down was the cause of Beavis and Butthead.

I'm sorry for your loss but you're going a little too far here. Give Stephen's audience a little credit please.

[treestar]

34. Exactly, good heavens!

We can't just give ourselves up to the actions of comedians on TV! People who kill themselves unfortunately made that decision for themselves, ultimately. Nobody HAS to kill themselves because of Colbert's joke!

[tomreedtoon]

39. Might I suggest you're overreacting because of your personal pain?

Look, I have PTSD from a robbery and damn near rape about twelve years ago. Nothing like our veterans will come home with from Iraq, but it affects me. I can't stand gratuitous violence, I hate vampires or people who play vampires or people who write about vampires, and I occasionally want to slam that whore Anne Rice against a concrete wall and go at her face with a cheese grater.

But I recognize that this is my personal problem, PTSD is incureable, and I recognize when these impulses come and walk away from the situation.

It sounds to me that your friend's death has affected your judgment about Stephen Colbert's comedy, and you want to do to him what I want to do to Anne Rice. You need to distance yourself from your feelings about this event.

I believe Colbert is directly attacking Rush Limbaugh by pointing out that drugs are dangerous, and that people who abuse them destroy their lives and those lives they touch. In the case of Limbaugh, a whole lot of other people.

Certainly you don't see it as being funny. But you don't see your reaction as something triggered by your own PTSD. Like I say, the condition is incureable, but it can be managed if you stay conscious of it. I suggest you stop watching Colbert and come to terms with your loss. I'd say psychiatrists could help, but that'd be a lie, since most are incompetent hacks. Find the peace in your own mind.

[Stuckinthebush]

41. You might, and you'd be correct I'd wager

by the way, what's up with Anne Rice being a "whore"? I know she lives in New Orleans but I don't think she works for one of those brothels.

[tomreedtoon]

50. Anne Rice is a "whore" 'cause she made sadism popular.

Sadism and murder as well. Her vampire characters - remember, I hate vampires thanks to PTSD - essentially made being goth, being sadistic during sex, and killing people really popular for teens.

A previous generation would have dressed in black and just been depressed. Now they're in black, depressed, and they knife people. Thanks to Rice.

And since I developed my opinions of her, Rice has turned into a genuine whore. She sensed her vampire novels were warping a generation, so now she's gone Christian Right and is writing her own versions of Jesus-jumping novels. Like this is going to make up for her previous abominations. Sorry, Rice. There ain't no forgiveness for you. You're going to be Satan's hottest cajun dish, whooo-eee!

[Stuckinthebush]

54. Rice went fundy???

Oh, lord that is rich.

I don't know about kids knifing people because they want to be vampires. That sounds like an isolated thing to me, but if it happened to you then I can clearly understand the PTSD issue surrounding it.

Rice is a fundy? Wow. I guess that means she is giving all of the proceeds she makes off of her sleeping beauty series to the church, right? LOL

[Exiled in America]

62. Hey hey! What's this? A voice of reason in the wilderness? :)

Thanks. :hi:

[symbolman]

40. As the great Hunter S. Thompson once said

"There is nothing more helpless and irresponsible than a man plunged into the depths of an Ether Binge.."
One of the best lines ever written in the history of True Literature..
Sorry about your pal, my best pal died of obesity, there was nothing I could do but love him anyway...

I used to joke with him all the time, saying, "I can't control you, Dave.."
and that is how it all works my friend..
:)

[porphyrian]

42. Look, sorry for your personal experience, but give me a fucking break.

There's almost nothing about his show that isn't satire, and everyone should get that by now. Just because your experience makes that unfunny for you doesn't mean it isn't. If you don't like it, don't watch it.

[MadHound]

43. It's a joke, and not a very original one.

There have been literally thousands of jokes just like it over the past forty five years. Everything from doing piles of pills to mounds of coke, the grotesquely large amounts of drugs are designed to get a laugh. I saw the same sort of thing in old SNL skits with John Belushi, and the jokes were good for a laugh. Never did I consider to do drugs in the amounts shown.

The overwhelming majority of people are able to understand that this sort of schtick is a joke, and that it in no way is some sort of endorsement for people to do drugs.

[MichaelHarris]

47. So you're saying

if you fell into a pile of coke you wouldn't go nostrils first?

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

49. I've never heard him identify the pills except to say they taste like Smarties

Which is probably why he can chew them. I would never chew Tylenol. I don't even like to chew chewable aspirin.

You cannot die from too many Smarties. If it was possible I would be pushing up daisies, or Twinkies, or something.

I too am very sorry about your loss, and suicide is no joking matter. But AFAIK Stephen is ingesting one of his Vaxadrin/Vaxadrine/Vaxadrone line of joke meds, aka Smarties.

[demgurl]

51. Don't worry about it.

First of all, you can not get Vicodin without a prescription and that is much harder these days. The most they will give you at any one time is a 30 day supply. Believe me, I have enough pain that it kills me how stingy they are with this stuff. They amply warn you about how addictive it is and that it is a narcotic. I remember going to a doctor in Canada and he flat out even refused to write me a scrip for that stuff and he was horrified any doctor ever woudl write a scrip for it. I tried explaining to him how careful I am with the stuff but he would hear none of it.

Doctors generally keep an eye out for patients who repeatedly come back asking for another scrip (a sign of addiction) and they will stop giving it to you.

Every pamphlet I have ever received for Vicodin has always stated how addictive it is and tells you how to wean yourself off of it.

Even if some people are unaware of the potential dangers of this drug, they would have to make a doctor's appointment to get it. They would have to know to tell the doctor they are in intense pain and they would have to ignore all literature pertaining to the drug. It is not so simple you can just buy it over the counter and never have any idea about the effects of the drug. I believe, if you look at this logically instead of emotionally, you will find that there is no need to worry at all.

[AnotherGreenWorld]

65. Canadians aren't just healthier because they

have a better health care system: they have better doctors, too--more caring certainly. What a great doctor, refusing that Vicodin script.

Doctors in the US will put you on Vicodin without telling you anything about it. My own prescription simply said, "Take as needed."

[mondo joe]

55. Odd, I understood it to be a joke. And a funny one at that.

If anyone is a fool enough to take a handful of pills because they saw a comedian do it as part of an act, it's natural selection in action.

[nini]

57. If someone decided to take a bunch of pills because of colbert's joke

then they were going to do it anyway - they didn't really need and excuse in a comedy show's joke (even if you don't think it's funny)

Your letting your grief over your friend cloud some judgment on this one.

[Exiled in America]

58. Everyone has a sacred cow.

Apparently, he's on one of yours.

College students are responsible for their own behavior. If they can't distinguish between responsible behavior in real life and political satire with a point of mocking certain right wing talk show hosts, that is not the responsibility for fault of Colbert.

Just as much as I don't want to live in a conservative country where the government tries to tell us what to do with our bodies or our lives, I also don't want to live in a political nanny state where we are not expected to be responsible for our own behavior and use common sense.

I like Colbert's shtick and I'm a responsible adult able to responsibly watch comedy. If someone else isn't, that's their problem.

[Exiled in America]

59. PS - it appears that the jury of public opinion has rendered a verditc,

and told you to get a fracking grip. :)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

68. Jesus, get over it.

Vicodin is acetominophen and hydrocodone. The latter's the powerful kicker, it's an opiate, it's addictive, and it's prescription only.

Acetominophen's perfectly safe for responsible adults to take.

Most importantly, Colbert's a comedian. He's joking.

This is like saying the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld is promoting fascism and should be stopped before somebody gets hurt.

[seabeyond]

69. ridiculous to suggest minds are so very weak, colbert has the power

to influence college kids to od. it is like my brother. not wanting his 15 yr old daughter to see another niece preg at 18 and unmarried. fearful of bad example and his daughter running out to do the same thing. with both brothers i have recently had conversation that i do not put ownership of my kids behavior and choices on others and their example. as a parent i give that ownership to my children and a life time of me teaching them the realities of life, their responsibilities and choices and effects it has on their lives.

other brother wants to blame an 18 yr old for selling dope to his 14 yr old son. personally, i put ownership of choice on 14 yr old son.

to suggest a young adult would be influenced in such a manner by colbert certainly make these young adults about powerless. i refuse to do that to others.

i think your outrage over this is not only incorrect but silly.

[NashVegas]

70. I'm Sorry You Lost Your Friend

But I disagree with your attempt to censor someone's satire because of it.