Once a doctor, now a BAFTA-winning comedian. Not a bad career hop for the UK's Adam Kay.
Did we mention he's also a best-selling author? One of his books, his first in fact, is called 'This Is Going To Hurt'. The book spent more than a year at number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list, won ten national awards, and sold more than three million copies.
Plus, it's got such a good title that Adam decided to name his show after it.
'This Is Going To Hurt' is about life on and off the hospital wards. It was a hit in the UK, seen by more than 300,000 people, including 50 sold-out nights in the West End.
This will be Adam Kay's first tour of Australia! Before he hits our shores, we thought we'd sit down and have a chat with him.
You’re a former doctor. What drew you to comedy?
There’s a long history of doctors switching lanes to comedy, which I suspect comes down to the old idea of ‘gallows humour’ – a way of coping by looking for the light among the dark. In my case, it was more the fact that I had no other identifiable skillset once I’d left medicine.
Obviously ‘doctor’ and ‘comedian’ are two very different professions. . . But what would you say is their biggest similarity?
Both professions work in a theatre.
You’ve written a best-selling book, the title of which is the same as this show. What’s it been like to witness the acclaim and sales numbers of this book?
It’s been truly humbling that my books have resonated with so many people, not just at home but across the globe. My writing has given me a platform with which I’m able to hopefully make a difference to causes that matter a lot to me, such as the mental wellbeing of healthcare staff. Also, I now travel around in a Swarovski helicopter.
Meanwhile, what can audiences expect in ’This Is Going To Hurt’, the show?
The show is all about my stories from the wards, drawing from my books and beyond – a mix of the funny, the disgusting, the silly and the sad; and I like to think that people leave my shows thinking differently about the healthcare professions. If that’s not enough of a draw, then I can promise audiences that so many doctors, nurses, midwives and paramedics come to my shows that the venue will almost certainly be the safest place in Australia in which to have a medical emergency.
It’s your first tour of Australia. What piques your interest most about Australia, that you’re looking forward to experiencing?
I can’t wait to watch some opera in Mozart’s birthplace, go on the world-famous 'The Sound of Music' tour, eat some Wiener Schnitzel and visit Vienna’s iconic Schönbrunn Palace.
Why should audiences see your show?
Because I’m travelling an extremely long way to perform this tour and it’ll be extremely annoying if nobody turns up. I would say that 300,000 people in the UK can’t be wrong, but 17 million people voted for Brexit, so. . .
Who is the show for?
I think my audience falls into three camps – healthcare professionals who relate to my experiences, people interested in peeking under the hood of the life of a doctor, and people who just like hearing loads of stories about objects in orifices. The third group is by far the largest.
Adam Kay plays Athenaeum Theatre (Melbourne International Comedy Festival) 16-21 April.
