Santa Gave Him Diabetes

If you've spent much time looking for diabetes song and/or diabetes humor, you've probably run accross this gem:


Andy Stuckey and Jon Murray are a comedic duo; they write and perform funny songs (for adolescents/ adults), such as the one above. They also write ads. In a totally different development, they developed the fuxedo (fake tuxedo- something that looks like more pieces of clothes than it is). They wrote and performed this song about diabetes because Andy Stuckey has it.

Andy Stuckey grew up around diabetes; his younger brother was diagnosed at the age of five, when Andy was about eleven. A few years later, he participated in a screening test for family members and he and his family were told that he was at a higher risk of developing diabetes down the road. More than ten years went by before, at the age of 28, he saw in himself symptoms of diabetes. He was thirsty, he was tired. And so on Christmas, he checked his blood sugar on his younger brother's meter. His blood sugar was 240 mg/dl; Santa had brought him diabetes.

Andy Stuckey has a diabetes blog that was last updated in 2007. His band with Murray (stuckeyandmurray.com) is not about him (but it is a fun website). Googling him didn't get me much further, although it should have- he is the head writer of the tv show Guy Code (on MTV2 on Tuesdays at 11- some parts viewable online). Since I didn't want to write something about him that would be inaccurate because of being out of date, I sent him an email asking if I could write about him- and he wrote back to say that I could call and talk to him. So I did. I didn't do a great job of typing while talking, but here're the most interesting questions and answers:

Jonah Diabetic: What are you most proud of? What do you want to be remembered for?

Andy Stuckey: My kids, definitely. I have two kids, right now they're three years old, and two months- really new.
The show I'm working on right now had the highest premier in MTV2's history.
[note from J: I don't understand ratings- here's an article that's impressed though: http://www.thefutoncritic.com/ratings/2011/11/17/mtv2s-guy-code-delivers-most-watched-p12-34-series-premiere-in-networks-15-year-history-787005/20111117mtv01/]

JD: With your songs, shows, the stuff you write- what's your goal? What do you hope people will get from it?

AS: I want to make people laugh.

JD: There was some talk online about you putting together a diabeetles group- is anything happening in that direction?

AS: We have a whole lot of ideas, but we still need another person- it's not going to happen really soon. It'll probably be just one album, spoofs of Beetles songs with a diabetic twist. When we do it, we'll probably perform for JDRF, try to reach the maximum number of diabetics.

JD: Well, I think the ADA is bigger if you want to include type 2s.

AS: Yeah, type 2s are family too.

JD: In the years that you've been around diabetes, what do you think has changed the most?

AS: How easy it is to check your blood sugar and give insulin. With my brother, we used to have to measure the sugar in his pee, and that only told us what his blood sugar was about four hours earlier.

JD: How are you managing your diabetes? What do you think you'll do differently in the future?

AS: I take Lantus and Novolog and I use the glucose buddy app. [Glucose Buddy] I was just talking to my doc about a continuous monitor- might make things easier. I get in a routine with my foods, it gets kinda monotonous. How many times do you want to eat eggs for breakfast, y'know?

JD: From reading your blog, seeing how your A1cs were [the two A1c measurements there were 5.5% and 4.9%] , I was like, "Whoa, this guy must be honeymooning!" Were you?

AS: Could be. But my blood sugars aren't really higher- my A1cs are still five eight, five nine.

JD: How'd your family react when you were diagnosed?

AS: They were sad. But, y'know, by the time they're thirty (Stuckey was diagnosed at age 28), everybody's got something- a bad back, bum knee, diabetes. For me it was diabetes.

JD: Thanks!