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The Boy whose skin fell off

Chubby P

08:46 / 26.03.04

Did anyone else see this amazing show? It was about a man, Jonny Kennedy, with a rare genetic condition that meant his skin kept falling off and regrowing constantly. It meant that he was in constant pain. Then it turned cancerous and they gave him a year to live. During the last 4 months of his life he got Channel 4 to film what he was up to. He had an extremely dark sense of humour and so much personality. He organised his own funeral and promoted his charity that donates money into research into his skin condition. He even went to Number 10 on the last days of his life and succeeded in getting Cherie Blair to be a patron for his Charity.

The programme was tragically sad as well as surprisingly uplifting since Jonny Kennedy really lived his life to the max.

How can you not like a man that puts a picture of a baked bean can on his coffin just so that people at his funeral will be confused.

Lazlo Woodbine [some call me Laz]

12:56 / 26.03.04

Indeed, i did watch one of the most moving pieces of television for some years, i laughed, especially at Jonny's 'This is a bad condition to have if you're an obsesive wanker' and i welled up with the under his breath 'cunt' when he failed to put his cap on.
But for all that Jonny had endured you just had to admire him for being one hell of a human being, for who of us can honestly say we'd veiw cancer as 'just another annoyance' or face death with a smile and a Heinz baked beans label.

Sax

13:13 / 26.03.04

Agreed, incredibly moving, funny, warm and not in the slightest bit sentimental. I blubbed when he was sitting in his house with his mum, recalling when he was told he had cancer and came out of the hospital and started thinking about where he wanted to be. The way he just dissolved as he started talking about the wind and the trees killed me.

Sleepy

13:54 / 26.03.04

I missed this, but I've been told some outlandish rumours that it was an evil hoax.

If I'd heard this about a show featuring a man trapped in a prepubescent body due to his skin 'falling off' -

He lamented the fact he could not wank.
He had a Heinz beans label on his coffin (?!)
He died on a train slumped in his chair.
He gawped at Nell McAndrews cleavage.
A couple of 'celebrities' were on the show.
It was on channel 4.

- I'd say 'Chris Morris?'

Any likelihood it was all a ruse?

Chubby P

14:42 / 26.03.04

If you had watched it then there would be no way that you would consider it to be a hoax.

If anyone wants to know more about this show and the condition that Jonny had then this is quite a good starting point. DEBRA UK Jonny Kennedy's page

Spaniel

14:47 / 26.03.04

Chris Morris is a satirist not an arsehole.

Turk

18:19 / 26.03.04

For me, as somebody who doesn't buy into spirituality, I found the way he explained his theory that we all come down here to learn something, something it would seem is very personal to and different for us all, very persausive. I guess that'd be the sympathy effect he himself found amusing.
He was a cool guy, and it seems he did what he truly wanted to. That's an example to follow.

foot long subbacultcha

06:33 / 30.03.04

Why was it called The "Boy" Whose Skin Fell Off?

Why not "man"?

The only acceptable reason I can think of is to bring attention to the fact that it was a life-long condition.

Turk

15:19 / 30.03.04

Or perhaps it was because he never went through puberty, and therefore lived and died in a child-like body. The frankness of the title rather emulating Jonny's unsentimental approach to his condition.

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