Laughter and MSLaughter and MS
All In The Mind
Comedian Tim Ferguson kept his diagnosis of MS secret for years. Now it's out and he's more determined than ever to keep the world laughing.
28:49•17 Nov 2013
Tim Ferguson on MS, Comedy and Carrying a Big Stick
Episode Overview
- Tim describes years of strange symptoms he dismissed before learning they were caused by MS.
- He explains how MS makes planning uncertain, yet he keeps his life flexible so work can adapt to his health.
- Comedy is presented as a powerful way to address any topic, including disability and mental illness, by mixing laughter with sadness.
- Tim emphasises that MS is a companion, not his identity, and that willpower remains untouched by the disease.
- He shares how MS pushed him to change career direction and focus on teaching narrative comedy to make better stories and scripts.
“Willpower is the one part of the brain that MS can't touch and so I take full advantage of that.”
In this eye-opening episode, you'll learn about how sharp wit and a "big stick" of comedy can sit side by side with multiple sclerosis. All In The Mind zooms in on comedian and writer Tim Ferguson, whose life on the international comedy circuit was interrupted by the unpredictable symptoms of MS. Tim shares how, for years, he dismissed crossed eyes, pins and needles and sudden pain as just part of a hard-partying lifestyle.
Raised by fiercely independent Irish Catholics, he kept his diagnosis quiet, convinced his health "was nobody's business". Yet he now speaks candidly about the uneasy feeling of not knowing if his "wheels will have fallen off" by tomorrow and how heat and fatigue shape his days. There's plenty of humour here.
Tim jokes about his mind being run by a "fascist dictatorship, although its trains don't run on time", and describes MS as a "goofy, unpredictable and occasionally dangerous" passenger rather than his defining feature. He talks about his walking stick, both as a literal mobility aid and a metaphor for the way he likes using comedy as a big stick and "hitting the audience with it very hard".
The conversation ranges through his chaotic childhood, the wild Doug Anthony All Stars years, and his shift from touring comic to teacher of narrative comedy. MS, he says, has sharpened his focus: he's writing faster, planning better, determined to change how Western culture treats the laughing mask instead of just the tearful one. His line, "willpower is the one part of the brain that MS can't touch", captures his refusal to be defined by illness.
Anyone curious about the relationship between humour, disability and mental resilience will find plenty to chew on here. It’s an honest look at how laughter can coexist with fear, pain and stubborn independence—so what might comedy change in how you see your own struggles?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.