All opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Edinburgh.
Ed Patrick is a 2005 Biological Sciences graduate. He's also an NHS doctor and stand-up comedian. Strange combination? Maybe not as much as you would think...
To say that Ed Patrick is a busy man would be something of an understatement.
In between rehearsing for his upcoming stand up show at the Edinburgh Fringe, producing his own podcast, and promoting his memoir of life during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ed is a working NHS doctor – an anaesthetist to be precise - and we sit down for a chat after he has come off his fourth consecutive night shift at his local hospital.
“I have the social life of a vampire,” says an exhausted Ed with a dry laugh. Although he had taken a year out from his medical career to concentrate on comedy, the pandemic brought Ed back into the profession full time when anaesthetists were drafted in to work in overcrowded intensive care units. He now juggles hospital life with an increasingly successful career in comedy. But how did he come to be doing both?
“It's a classic chicken and egg question,” he explains. “I'm still not sure what came first. One thing led to another and before I knew it I had access to laughing gas – it’s hard not to see the funny side of life at that point!”
Ed actually discovered his talent for comedy when making a speech at his brother’s wedding in 2002. Drawing plenty of laughs from the guests, he was inspired to enrol on an evening class in comedy writing and began working on his own material.
But it was his experiences as a student medic that really began to shape his unique brand of ‘fish out of water’ observational comedy. Ed explains:
“As a doctor, especially in your student and junior years, you're put into these situations that are so strange to the point of absurdity. Think rectal exams, breaking bad news and death. There's humour in the absurdity of dealing with that on a daily basis - albeit a dark humour.
“Comedy is ultimately about tension and release. And then in medicine there's lots of tension too, hence the need for the dark humour to bring the release. I’d say that dark humour is something a lot of doctors share, it’s a natural release from the situations we find ourselves in. If you don’t get that release, you start to feel depressed pretty quickly.”
“There wasn't a lot of joy. We weren't seeing people that were getting better and walking out. It was the opposite. That has a huge impact on staff emotionally...”
And comedy, says Ed, helped him cope with working in the NHS during the darkest months of the COVID-19 pandemic:
“There wasn't a lot of joy. We weren't seeing people that were getting better and walking out. It was the opposite. That has a huge impact on staff emotionally and there is a constant cycle of difficulty with no respite, so we all need something beyond the job and for me that was, and is, comedy.”
In fact, Ed joins a luminous group of medics who have made a name for themselves as comics, including Harry Hill, Phil Hammond and Adam Kay, and his wry take on hospital life has been resonating with packed audiences across the UK and beyond.
His latest stand-up show, 'Catch Your Breath', is described by Ed as more of a “show in the making” as he will be trying out new material at this year's Edinburgh Fringe. It shares its title with his new book and in both he explores the bizarre, tragic and very often funny world of being a self-proclaimed "sleepless anaesthetist".
“I'm really excited about the book and show because I've got a story to tell about life on the Covid wards that is so important. It’s also invigorating to be building the show as I perform it - audiences will literally be part of its crafting.”
“The NHS is fragile. It’s at risk"
Taking the show to the Fringe also means a welcome return to Edinburgh for Ed.
“I fell in love with Edinburgh,” he says. “And I’m still in love. I remember my student days there with great fondness. I even used to be a rickshaw driver on weekends to make some money - that certainly introduced me to handling inebriated crowds! I always dream of going back, and this time I'm even staying in my old student accommodation.
“My student days also helped me cut my teeth in comedy - there were always events where you could stand up in front of a crowd and play around. So it does feel like a bit of a homecoming and I can’t wait to make the Edinburgh audiences laugh.”
But when the subject of the current state of the NHS arises, the conversation takes an altogether more serious tone.
“The NHS is fragile,” says Ed. “It’s at risk and it doesn't reward staff in terms of pay or working conditions, which are nowhere near good enough. I’ve seen first-hand during the pandemic just how stretched staff and resources are. The sheer number of patients in intensive care meant that we anaesthetists had to be brought in because we’re experts in looking after people’s airways – something not all doctors are trained in. So we were needed in those Covid emergencies when somebody stopped breathing for themselves or a machine malfunctioned. The fact that it was anaesthetists that had to take on this role says it all.
“But the NHS is still full of lots of amazing people and we need to work hard to change things so that they will want to stay, since they’re dearly needed. There is a realisation that we don't have enough doctors, so we don't want to lose doctors, we want to keep them.”
“We’re often given a view of doctors as ‘demi-gods’ who are expected to know everything and do everything, and actually people can forget that we’re human beings and that in medicine we’re dealing with a lot of uncertainty."
But Ed can’t resist another injection of humour:
“If I could change one thing about the NHS straight away it would be to introduce free coffee. It's the lifeblood of me and most anaesthetists.”
"You know, we’re often given a view of doctors as ‘demi-gods’ who are expected to know everything and do everything, and actually people can forget that we’re human beings and that in medicine we’re dealing with a lot of uncertainty."
“And since we’re talking about myths, I’d just like to point out that dexamethasone [a drug widely used on Covid-19 patients with breathing difficulties] has been around for decades and we use it daily in anaesthetics, despite Matt Hancock acting like it was a brand new drug discovery.”
"Now I can firmly say that I’m both a doctor and a comedian."
And what about the future for Ed – does he plan to stay with the NHS and continue juggling his two very different but oddly complementary careers?
“The NHS has given me flexible training so I can accommodate all these working arrangements as well,” he says.
“I can manage it at the moment, but I don't think it would have been the case a few years ago. They used to expect you to drop everything, your social life, and just concentrate on the job. But now I can firmly say that I’m both a doctor and a comedian. I love medicine and I love comedy, and in fact it’s the contrast between the two that I’m finding so satisfying.”
Ed will be appearing in 'Catch Your Breath (Work in Progress)' at the Edinburgh Fringe from 4 August 2022. More information is on the Fringe website.
His memoir 'Catch Your Breath' is out now. More information can be found on Ed's website.
Gavin Francis is another Edinburgh medic who combines his career as a doctor with being an acclaimed writer. He features in an episode of our Sharing things podcast.
All photos courtesy of Ed Patrick.
All opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Edinburgh.