‘Tragic tale’ of close brush with Man Flu proves YouTube hit

Date Published: 08-Dec-2011

by LIAM CORCORAN

Winter brings many ailments and difficulties, with none more serious than the spread of the ‘man flu’, which seems to strike large parts of the male population each year.

Now a Galway man has made a hugely successful video to help raise awareness of the ‘deadly’ sickness. Galway director and stand-up comedian Kenny Gaughan is the man behind the ‘Manflu – The Truth’ video, which has been viewed more than 133,000 times since it was posted on YouTube on November 17.

The video is a satirical sketch on the phenomenon of the ‘man flu’, which is an illness that appears to affect attention-starved males only, particularly during winter months.

“We’ve had a great response to the video, which we hope will continue to spread the message about the dangers of the man-flu,” said Kenny, who explained that the idea for the sketch first came when he was invited to discuss the phenomenon on Tom Dunne’s show on Newstalk radio three years ago.

Galway husband and wife and dramatic duo Johnny and Deirdre Graham are the stars of the video, Joe and Mary Soap, which chronicles Joe’s ‘traumatic’ battle with a bout of the man flu. Mary feels lucky to still have her husband after he was “rushed to A&E” after displaying all the symptoms of the sickness – including a red nose, a tickly throat and watery eyes.

Kenny is also responsible for Galway’s ‘Little Cinema’, a monthly film event upstairs in Kelly’s bar, which screens locally produced films of no more than 10 minutes in length.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.