Belgian comedian Richard Ruben is a regular member of the ‘Run, or Walk, for Parkinson’ team at the Brussels 20k, running the capital’s iconic circuit with other members of the #teambeatparkinson.
He spoke to Anne-Marie Demoucelle, co-founder of the Demoucelle Parkinson Charity, about his experiences with Parkinson’s disease, the pleasure of feeling part of the ‘Run, or Walk for Parkinson’ community and the role humour can play in the face of adversity.
—- If you would like to participate in ‘Run, or Walk, for Parkinson’ this year, you are very welcome! Richard has already signed up! 🙂 Register here!
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Anne-Marie
What is your connection to Parkinson’s disease?
Richard Ruben
When I was 14, I learnt that my grandmother had had Parkinson’s disease for eight years. The disease became visible. I really became aware of it when she had an accident. That really made an impression on me. There were drugs available, but research was not as advanced as it is today, so people deteriorated more quickly. We didn’t know what to do. And as is often the case when something strikes you as a child, it stays with you for the rest of your life. At the moment, someone close to me has Parkinson’s, so I am aware of it again now.
Three illnesses have always touched me. They are enigmas to me, great enigmas. They are Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. I find these three diseases totally unfair and arbitrary. Who will be affected by these diseases? Who knows?! Parkinson’s is one of the three diseases that haunted my youth. These are diseases that frighten me because they diminish you, even though today people are able to live with them.
When I see how optimistic your husband Patrick is, he is a great example to us all. He is still ‘whole’; he will always be free. He’s a free man. If I had to say what he is, I’d say he’s a man who’s free in his mind.
Anne-Marie
That’s a very nice way of putting it. Does the fact that he’s a free man resonate with you?
Richard Ruben
I’m a free spirit, which has cost me time and money in my life. But I’ve never worked with the wrong people for the wrong reasons. I’ve always worked with the right people for the right reasons.
I’m an optimist. I’m an optimist who always sees the worst. And sometimes the situation is even worse than at first thought. But by always imagining the best, it provides a counterbalance and keeps you hopeful.
And over the years I’ve evolved, so if I have a financial setback or something doesn’t go the way I want it to, I say to myself: “Are you healthy? Are you loved and do you love the people around you? Yes. So what’s the worst that can happen? At 56, even though I still feel like a kid, I’m a bit more philosophical. 😊
Anne-Marie
Why have you taken part in ‘Run, or Walk, for Parkinson’ so many times?
Richard Ruben
Because for an hour before the race and half an hour afterwards, you feel like you’re at holiday camp. In fact, what I regret about my job, about my one-man show, is that it’s rarely a holiday camp. Yes, when I take part in TV shows or artists’ studios, we’re a bunch of comedians and we have a laugh. But otherwise, I meet people one by one in my job. I like connection. When I come to (‘Run, or Walk, for Parkinson’), there’s a group spirit. One feels as if one knows the 40,000 or 30,000 people you do the 20km (of Brussels).
Anne-Marie
Yes, that’s true. There’s something about that.
Richard Ruben
I like this feeling. We’re all running together towards the same finish. We have lots of different objectives: time, wellbeing, supporting a cause etc. After the race, when you get home, it’s 1pm, 1.30pm. You feel like you haven’t wasted your time, neither for your health or for the cause you’ve supported. I also like the atmosphere because it forces us to be modest.
Anne-Marie
We’re always delighted to have you with us. You bring extra energy to the team before the start of the race and it’s great to relax in your company afterwards! Thank you for everything you do on behalf of the charity and to support the cause.
Richard Ruben
How can a personality/an artist help? Correct me if I’m wrong but (their presence) can add to the public image. For the sponsors, perhaps it adds a little something. I’m not blowing my own trumpet. I don’t think that Ruben’s or Tartenpion’s participation will bring in that much money, but the fact that you’re there as a public figure adds a little bit to the project. The sponsors may be more interested the following year if we can say that what’s-his-name was there, he came, he ran, it’s a serious event. It’s symbolic, but sometimes symbols are stronger than many things. I’m just one small link in a big chain of elements that means you have sponsors who fund research.
And what do I get out of running with DPC? It makes me feel good to know that I’m not running for nothing. In my profession, you’re always navel-gazing. Artists are a bit egocentric. I’ve always taken a step back. It’s important to serve a purpose.
Anne-Marie
You were talking about your profession: humour. Here we’re talking about Parkinson’s disease – the difficulties, degenerative and incurable diseases, and so on. Where is the humour in that? In your experience, to what extent can humour be helpful coping with difficulties? And I’m not just talking about illnesses. When people are faced with difficulties, what role can humour play?
Richard Ruben
There’s a phrase that sums up humour. From memory, it’s something like: “Humour is a bit like windscreen wipers – it doesn’t get rid of the rain, but it enables us to keep moving forward”.
Anne-Marie
Oh, that’s great!
Richard Ruben
It doesn’t solve everything, but it keeps us going. Humour is the polite side ness of despair. It’s a well-known saying, and I’ve added a bit to it in my show, “Ruben procrastinates”: “Humour is the polite side of despair and stand-up, its’ outlet”. Because stand-up is really the physical expression of that humour. But humour can be expressed in many ways, through stand-up, writing or caricature. Humour has many facets.
For an hour and a half, people forget their worries when they come to see us. We distract people a bit. But I am well aware that if, speaking personally, I was to disappear it wouldn’t change much as there are so many comedians. There are artists who think they have philosophical impact: hey, let’s cool it. But I think humour does have some meaning. Humour can entertain and sometimes make you think at the same time, because most of the time we laugh at misfortune.
Humour starts with observations of everyday life. The first act of intended humour, however small, was undoubtedly the guy who slipped on a banana peel.
Humour can convey strong messages gently, in the way that Coluche did it. He made fun of the living conditions of poor people, but in so doing he made them visible and understood them. Coluche used his humour to represent the underprivileged classes. Humour illuminates many causes. As a result, the people concerned feel a little less alone.
Anne-Marie
You say that when people go to a show, even if they have problems, they forget about them. To what extent would you advise people with difficulties to try and put a bit of humour into their lives themselves?
Richard Ruben
I’ve noticed that people who are optimistic and laugh often have better health than people who never stop complaining. Complaining doesn’t help, in fact.
Anne-Marie
So it’s good to laugh and make people laugh. In principle, everyone can laugh. But is ‘making people laugh’ something you can learn?
Richard Ruben
One has natural tendencies. You may not be very funny, but because you’re a comedian, you have found the trick to being funny. There are also people who have the vis comica. The vis comica is natural laughter. They arrive on a set, say something stupid, and people laugh. I have it sometimes. I don’t know if I have vis comica all the time. I, on the other hand, am a showman.
Laughter and sadness are never far away. Even in the biggest outbursts of laughter, there’s always sadness. Because laughter is a way of hiding our fears, our confusion.
Anne-Marie
… And to talk about things that are sometimes difficult to talk about?
Richard Ruben
Laughter allows one to address many things. Like, for example, themes addressed in films: collaboration with the Germans in “La grande vadrouille”; homosexuality in “La cage aux folles”; marital problems in “Sept ans de mariage”…
Further proof that humour is important: even in serious plays, there is always a moment, two or three sentences of humour where people laugh.
When a lecturer has something hard to say, at some point he’ll use humour to get the point across.
Laughter is universal. As long as laughter is not out of spite, as long as it brings people together, as long as it denounces human stupidity, we can laugh at anything. If laughter becomes an incitement to hatred then it becomes illegal.
Anne-Marie
So to finish: do you have a motto, a mantra that you live by?
Richard Ruben
I’ve adopted a well-known motto and added an ironic addition: “The future belongs to those who get up early… even in my profession”. Even if you go to bed late at 2 a.m. like I did last night, your day isn’t ruined the next day if you stick to a healthy lifestyle. If you go to bed at 5am, your day is ruined. There’s a fine line. I didn’t get much sleep last night but I didn’t waste my day today.
Anne-Marie
So you’re a free man, with a lot of discipline? 😊
Richard Ruben
😊 Yes. That’s sums me up well. I had a fairly classic but whimsical upbringing. So I’ve kept some of that silly craziness.