3 days ago
Chaotic, charming and full of big ideas, comedian Johnny Vegas is the very personification of ADHD
ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and it could be present in about 5pc of the population. That's a lot of missed appointments, unfinished knitted jumpers and lost phones. And that's also why the diagnostic systems both here and in the UK are overwhelmed.
The problem with Do You Have ADHD? was simply this: one programme wasn't enough to contain the sheer range of what is currently known as ADHD. Between the child psychiatrist and the online influencers it was jumping around and, perhaps predictably, kind of disjointed.
We followed a lovely doctor, Clare Bailey Mosley – widow of the telly and radio health expert, Dr Michael Mosley – as she revealed all the classic symptoms of ADHD. Her school reports said she should pay more attention, her late husband's complaints about her timekeeping, the way she had completely forgotten about a saucepan of boiling rice in a friend's kitchen. Although burning rice could happen to anyone?
We had been sitting in front of our televisions going: 'Yeah, Clare definitely has it'. But it turned out that Clare just hadn't suffered enough to be diagnosed with ADHD. Part of the diagnostic process is called 'impairment', apparently. As in, how much has having the symptoms of ADHD impaired your life? How much has it disadvantaged you? Did you have the potential to be a tech bro, for example, but ended up living in a bin?
That doesn't sound very scientific to me. If cancer hasn't had a negative impact on your life – so far – does that then mean you don't have cancer? If you have coronary heart disease but are managing fine, does that mean you don't have coronary heart disease?
The thing is, Clare wasn't living in a bin, but in a very nice house and wearing a lovely green suit. She has had a career in medicine, for God's sake. It was at this point that everyone who suspects that they may have ADHD – and also their parents – was leaning towards the TV shouting: 'How did Clare manage to have such a successful life?' But the programme never provided this vital information. Clare walked out of the assessment room in her lovely green suit and we were none the wiser.
The following night on Johnny Vegas: Art, ADHD & Me, we meet Vegas's personal assistant, Bev. Bev knows a thing or two about ADHD because she's living with it at close quarters. Vegas, with his charm and his chaos and his big ideas, seems to be, as someone said here, the very personification of ADHD.
Bev could actually be that traditional figure, the comedian's wife. She laughs at all Johnny's jokes, jollies him along and generally takes care of all the tough stuff: bookings, phone calls, deadlines. In other words, she's his personal assistant. Johnny was just full of love for his hometown of St Helen's, where he wanted to create a public art project as a way of saying thank you to the population.
Vegas is a funny person. But here he was frequently emotional and often close to tears. His personal crisis looked like much more than ADHD. And the art looked terrible, Johnny seemed to get a lot of hugs from women, and to tell them he loved them. Needy doesn't begin to cover it, and this is a brilliant man.
The most telling scene came when Johnny met three men he went to art college with. These guys actually were artists: thin, hard-headed and terrifyingly practical. They didn't give much for Johnny's chances of finishing the public art project – or indeed of starting it.
With three months to go before his first one-man exhibition, Johnny went out and bought a dodgem car. When he and Bev went out to look for possible sites for the public art project, it was Bev who took the photos. There didn't seem to be much work going on – at least work by Johnny.
'I'm like God, and I've just come up with the tadpole and I'm knackered,' he said.
If he can come out with lines like this you wonder why he's bothering with public art projects. But backstage at a comedy gig, Johnny said: 'I'm not funny, I just crave acceptance.'
Shortly after that Bev had to ring everybody to tell them that Johnny was taking a year off.
In the second programme, Johnny had his new diagnosis of ADHD. Bev had known he had it all along. The new public art project is an iron frame, which looks like a giant Dalek, holding 72 tiles, painted by Johnny, showing aspects of his beloved St Helens.
But only 20 of the 72 tiles actually fit into the Dalek frame. Johnny has been trimming tiles for 48 hours. 'Measure once, cut nine times, that's what I say,' he said.
Then the Dalek frame is too big to get out of the workshop.
It all ended in happy tears.
'Thank God it's over,' said Bev.
