Ted Danson appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show the other day to promote Mr. Mayor. I keep thinking I shouldn’t like that show but there’s something about it that keeps me watching. They certainly have the LA superficiality down. I already loved Ted, Holly Hunter and Bobby Moynihan but I quickly fell for Vella Lovell as Mikeala and she plays really well off Mike Cabellon’s Tommy. It’s silly but darn it, I’m kind of here for it. And Ted did speak about Mr. Mayor while he was on Kelly’s show, but he spoke a lot more about farting. Why? Because he can hear his own farts now. Ted has just recently gotten hearing aids, which he was not wearing during the segment because he admits he’s “still a smidge vain.” However, he said that he loves them, and they’ve changed his life. For instance, for years his wife, Mary Steenburgen, told him people could hear him breaking wind, which he pooh-poohed. Then he got the aids and guess what – he heard them too.
Kelly: So you recently got hearing aids. So are you into this or not into this?
Ted: I wear them, I love them. I love my hearing aids they’re brilliant. They’ve changed my life.
Kelly: Yeah, what do you hear now that you didn’t hear before?
Ted: All the wind that I break that I used to think was (silent). Mary would say, “Ted, people can hear you”. I go, “Come on, they can’t hear me, of course not.” And the first time I went on, had them in it was like, “Oh my God, I’m sorry”. For years. Yeah.
[From YouTube via OMG Seriously]
I feel like this is a man vs. woman thing. If a hard of hearing woman passed gas and didn’t hear anything, she’d worry, “I wonder if people heard that?!” But a man, of course, dismisses it as whatever his reality is, “I didn’t hear it, never happened.” And follow up question, Ted: has your audible wind-breaking died down or are you just apologizing for it now? Poor Mary. And he’s so darn charming, too. Even doing a three minute segment talking about farts, he was simply delightful. He told a great story about how Woody Harrelson is a crop duster. He used to lure Ted closer under the guise of seeking his advice and wait until the silent-but-deadly reached Ted’s nose.
I’d like to know who convinced Ted to get hearing aids, though, because even without them in he can hear a whole lot better than my parents and they refuse to even entertain the idea. Hand to God I come home with a sore throat from screaming at them when I visit. People must think we’re the angriest family on the block.
Kelly also brought up Ted’s environmental work. I didn’t know his organization, Americas Oceans Campaigns, merged with Oceana and Ted sits on their board. AOC was founded in the 1980s. Back then celebrities talked about different causes, hosted fundraisers and such, but Ted co-founded a whole organization to save oceans. It was a small org., but a big deal for an actor. And the good news is, if he farts underwater, the fish don’t care as much.
Here’s the whole segment. Fortunately, its not Smell-o-Vision. Sidenote, I love Kelly’s dress:
Photo credit: Avalon Red, YouTube and Instagram
It’s baffling to me how much hearing aids are stigmatized. People are so scared of seeming old or (god forbid) disabled. My husband has worn hearing aids since he was a small child, his mother’s hearing loss was diagnosed around the same time, but she probably would have benefitted from them growing up as well. Hearing aids are very normalized in our family, I forget that they’re a Big Deal to others.
My hearing aids cost $7,000, so the stigma isn’t the only thing scaring people off.
He should talk to… the dude from the band who needs hearing aids and refuses to get them and now can’t even hear his own band. I wanna say the Foo Fighter guy. Someone help me. Who am I thinking about???
I believe it’s Dave Grohl.
My mom finally got hearing aids last year & difference is night and day. Now my brother plans on getting them too.
Came here to say this. But I’ll bet Dave Grohl prefers to FEEL his farts and really be in tune with them. Hearing them could rob him of that. Do we really want to do that to poor Dave? 🙄
Got a hearing aid several months back. AMAZING. And occasionally also wonderful to take it out and not have to hear the yackity yack of society.
Not being able to hear is so isolating.
Also, been re-watching The Good Place on netflix. He is wonderful in that show- everyone is wonderful in that show.
My grandmother got some when she needed them and loved them, she could hear when she wanted to and take them out when she wasn’t interested or wanted to take a nap (her DNGAF attitude came on remarkably well in her later years).
My other grandparents on the other hand. Nope, my grandfather had terrible hearing towards the end but said they were a waste of money and while my grandmother isn’t as bad yet communicating with her is a challenge, especially over the phone (she’s in an other country). I always used my other grandmother as an example but they just weren’t/aren’t having it.
Just here to honk for Ted Danson. Love him!
I enjoy Ted!
It’s a lot easier to deal with some people with hearing aids in, lemme tell ya.
I second the “the farts didn’t happen if I didn’t hear them” thing with men, sigh.
I wasn’t sure about Mr. Mayor at first but I’m starting to really like it.
They are delightful. I always think about that episode of Curb your enthusiasm where Larry develops a crush on Mary and resents Ted. Comedy gold
Hahaha still he is so charming, I’m sure everyone forgave him his farts.
I legitimately teared up the first time I cleaned the bathroom after I got my hearing aids. I had forgotten that the little suds in the sink make noise when they burst.