I feel like this is something a lot of people don't talk about when it comes to comedy. Or, at least, it's not something I've seen talked about, and it's certainly not something I've ever really thought about.
Robert goes on to recount a few instances in which his "comedy walks" and funny faces (which he states can also often mimic those with disabilities) have been witnessed by those who are disabled. Some brush it off, others find it funny.
The walk that he chose for Kryten was inspired by a disabled classmate he had during his school years. (The classmate either had MD or MS, forgive me I don't remember right now). This classmate was well liked, according to Robert, and he chose that walk to honour him, in a way.
second lesson in school, a prosthetics professional did a talk with our year about all the different aspects of prothestics, and he talked about red dwarf prosthetics with kryten and what robert thought of the siliconia episode, and having all the other cast members having to go through hours and hours of work too.
and they showed red dwarf: the promised land trailer to the whole year. i loved it. the teachers only mentioned doctor who before the lesson, and never red dwarf since not a lot of people watch it, so at the start of the assembly, i looked at the guys portfolio and saw red dwarf, and i knew they were gonna mention it
Context: this was the last day of filming for series V. Midway through working on this series, Robert had been approached about being in the pilot for the American adaptation of Red Dwarf.
The average contract for filming a TV series in Britain is six weeks. Universal Television wanted Robert to sign a contract for six YEARS. This poor man was thinking he'd have to leave his friends behind and live in LA for six years. He was also thinking series V would be the last series of original RD (they thought this after every series from III onwards).
When he went to LA his girlfriend (now wife) Judy Pascoe was working in Ethiopia. She called him, crying, because she was afraid he would get into the LA lifestyle and start getting plastic surgeries 🥺
As we all know the American RD never panned out, but at the time everyone thought it would be the next big thing. I'm glad we got to keep seeing our Boys together ❤️