I’m always happy to come across mentions of the gluten-free diet on television or in film. For fans of the HBO series Bored to Death, you might be interested to know about a recent plot twist from episode 16 in season 2 that didn’t quite make the cut.
The character, Irwin (played by Jonathan Ames, creator of Bored to Death) apparently had a gluten allergy as well as being Kosher. After being sent to prison, he survived on bread and inevitably went nuts. As Jonathan Ames states in an interview:
I later found out that you can actually become bi-polar or something from eating too much gluten, that it reacts oddly with some people’s brain-chemistry. So my idea that Irwin would lose his mind from too much gluten actually had some basis in fact…
- Jonathan Ames
Jonathan’s description for a gluten allergy is a little vague, but he does touch on the seriousness of not following a gluten-free diet and the fact that it can lead to serious health issues, both mental and physical.
For selfish reasons, I’m disappointed that this was cut from the episode, but it’s nice to see a popular television series talking about it in such serious terms — even if Bored to Death is a dark comedy. Let’s hope for more of it.
Watch the video below to hear Jonathan Ames discuss Irwin’s gluten allergy and subsequent breakdown.
(Warning: the video contains language and content that some may find offensive)
