Australian Labor MP Graham Perrett is sporting a nasty black eye and three stitches after laughing so hard at TV show Veep, he choked on his sushi and knocked himself unconscious.
Perrett, a parliamentarian from Queensland, told BuzzFeed News it all went down last Sunday night while watching the first episode of the new season of the political comedy.
Perrett was eating sushi and started laughing during the scene where congressman Jonah Ryan gets caught by his friend and TV host Dan Egan shaving his head in order to fool people into thinking he still has cancer.
"I was laughing so hard when Jonah then gets interviewed by Dan," Perrett told BuzzFeed News. "And then he delivers the first shaving pun, like, 'you recently had a close shave with cancer'.
"Some of the rice went down the wrong way, I started choking and I kind of stumbled forward and knocked my head on the corner of the kitchen cabinet.
"My wife walked in to find me knocked unconscious on the ground, with blood everywhere.
"I must have been out for only a few seconds because when I came to again, I was still laughing at Jonah."
The incredible story was broken by The Australian's Strewth column. When news of Perrett's incident made its way to the actor Timothy Simons, who plays Jonah, he found it hysterical.
@KateAurthur @MarkDiStef hahahahahahaha oh my god. oh my god.
Maybe, as a safety precaution, Perrett needs to watch Veep episodes that have had the funniest bits edited out.
@KateAurthur @MarkDiStef Awesome thanks. We'll tone it down a bit next year for this guys sake or maybe send him some edited eps
Even Julia Louis-Dreyfus couldn't believe it.
I mean, c'mon, I'm actually having a hard time believing it. But the real question is - what episode? https://t.co/sqGyRT8e0z
After BuzzFeed News assured Veep showrunner David Mandel that the story was true, he apologised to Australia and Perrett.
"I would like to make an official statement on behalf of Veep and the United States," Mandel said. "We would like to apologise to Australia, our key ally in the Asia-Pacific region, for writing something that would cause bodily harm to your people."
Perrett also sent BuzzFeed News a photo he took in the hospital emergency room, showing off the nasty Veep-induced gash. Warning – it's pretty savage.
Mandel said Perrett's incident actually sounded like a Veep plotline.
"You realise if I wrote that Selina Meyer was laughing, got caught choking on sushi and hit her head, people would say, 'yeah right, that doesn't happen, you can’t do that'," he said.
"It really does seems like something in the show, so I guess I’ll have to wait a year now to use it."
For the record, Perrett's favourite character is staffer Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky). He said the show is "the most accurate representation of politics". Just make sure you're not stuffing your face with sushi while you're watching.
