What is it with comedians and their prescription glasses? From Eric Morecambe to Dom Joly, glasses are something of a trademark prop.
Prescription glasses should be no laughing matter. Let’s face it wearing glasses can transform your life. If you had trouble focusing before, it can impact not just on the quality of your life, but on your well being and safety. Being unable to see properly puts you at risk in all walks of life – from crossing the road to chopping a carrot. For children, prescription glasses can make the difference between getting an education or not. If you can’t see the blackboard, how can you learn?
No laughing matter?
But there is a long and rich tradition of glasses being the butt of a joke. Perhaps because at one time kids who wore prescription glasses were bullied – thank to the ugly, thick lenses of the ‘NHS’ glasses, stereotypically held together with elastoplasts. Comedians wearing prescription glasses were telling the world they were vulnerable, quirky or not mainstream. They didn’t take themselves too seriously. Thankfully, all that has changed and prescription glasses have become fashionable, even hip. But prescription glasses are still very much a signature for some comedians. Traditionally, the likes of Ronnie Corbett and Eric Morecambe were known for their prescription glasses. Today, it’s more edgy comedians and personalities such as Chris Evans, Vic Reeves, Alan Carr and Dom Joly who are known for the black-rimmed prescription specs.
Comedy Character: Black-Rimmed Prescription Glasses
In his column in The Independent, Joly writes of his relationship with his prescription glasses. He admitted that he used to look at those wearing glasses with a certain disdain – prescription glasses were indicators of a ‘weak gene pool’. He remembers the bullying at his school towards the ‘four eyes’ and was glad he had 20/20 vision. But then something happened. He writes: “Often, when I was a bit tipsy or a touch tired, I would find it difficult to focus on a menu or a police caution.” This got worse and began to affect his life – he couldn’t even focus on his computer games – and so he eventually visited an optician. He was told he did need glasses and received a prescription for his lenses. He chose the black Prada frames that he had used in his TV show before simply as a prop (with clear lenses). Joly writes: “I am now wandering around in the same glasses for real. It’s complicated, this showbiz malarkey.”
Sight Station – See Things Clearly
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