Who would have thought being a comedian and an NHS anaesthetist could go so well together? Ed Patrick is just that – currently on his debut national tour, he is temporarily swapping his scrubs for the stage, with comic tales of life within the NHS, and a little bit about outside it too. Oh, and it features tardis-like rectums.
As he sets off for his next stop in Newcastle ahead of dates across England and Scotland, we caught up with Ed to find out more about the show…and rectums.
Q&A with Ed Patrick
What’s it like to be on the road for your debut tour?
It’s great fun, seeing lots of cool places and venues, visiting the odd tourist attraction and catching up with folk. Shame the dogs can’t come but they’d just heckle me for treats.
What can you tell us about the show?
It’s about becoming an anaesthetist, working in the NHS, the pitfalls of modern medicine and the power of questioning it. And it features orifices.
What was it like to debut the show in Edinburgh last year?
It was fantastic, I loved doing the second half the Fringe, so much so I’m coming up to do the first half . It was the first Edinburgh Fringe that I didn’t get ill or blisters, what’s not to love?
There are obviously intensely challenging moments in medicine – was humour a way to offset that?
Yes, definitely. Comedy is all about tension and release, so there are parallels when faced with challenging moments. So when there’s high levels of stress humour can be a powerful offset tool, obviously, timing is everything.
We have to ask: what’s more daunting, going to work as an anaesthetist or going on stage in front of an audience?
Both can definitely elicit dread depending on the circumstances, but for both it’s the same skill. Remaining calm under pressure and communicating well, whilst all the while absolutely shitting it.
Ed Patrick tours Catch Your Breath until 6 May 2024
