CULTURE CLUB
ALEX FICE SPEAKS TO COMEDIAN MICHAEL AKADIRI ABOUT HIS JOURNEY FROM JUNIOR DOCTOR TO TOURING COMIC, AHEAD OF HIS UPCOMING SHOW AT CAMBRIDGE JUNCTION NO SCRUBS Laughter is the best medicine
“As healthcare workers, we have more credence when we talk about these issues, because it’s a system we work for,” he continues. “You’ve got comics speaking truth to power, who also work in the system themselves and understand real life – it’s a wonderful cocktail that gives you an insight into what’s really going on.” Now at a crossroads in his medical career, Michael has decided to take a year out to see whether comedy could be more than just a hobby. “The next stage of my training would be a six-year contract in order to become a consultant in orthopaedics,” he explains. “But because the comedy has been going well – better than I would have ever dreamed – I’ve decided to give myself a year to focus on it; I want to see for myself whether this could be a career. I don’t want to be 60 years old looking back on my life and thinking, ‘Oh, if only I gave that a shot.’ This is my time to find out.” Michael’s debut show, No Scrubs , will be touring all year and is coming to Cambridge Junction on 18 February. Get your tickets from junction.co.uk
all laughing – not at the story, but at the way I was telling it. I thought that perhaps there was something in that – the fact that I seemed to be able to turn something actually quite harrowing into something light-hearted.” To test his theory that he might have a knack for stand-up, Michael signed himself up to an open mic night at a comedy club. After a successful first attempt, Michael felt encouraged to keep gigging and developing his skills. Inevitably, his experience working in the NHS has provided ample material and is a consistent source of interest to audiences. “I think there’s an appetite to find out what it’s really like to work on the front line,” says Michael. Could it also be that this hunger for medical gags also stems from a need to process the fact that our much-loved health service is on its knees? “They say the best art comes from pain,” comments Michael. “I think that there’s definitely a space for laughing at the pain we’re suffering. Comedy is also a good tool for getting political and punching up at the government for the situation that the NHS is in.
British comedy has a long history of doctors swapping their stethoscopes for stand-up. From Harry Hill and Graeme Garden to Dr Phil Hammond and Adam Kay – whose bestseller This Is Going to Hurt has triggered a new wave of NHS-centric humour – the list keeps growing. One of the latest to join the pool of medic- cum-comics is Michael Akadiri, a junior doctor who spent the last five years working full-time for the NHS. “When I was studying medicine at university, I never considered going into comedy,” says Michael. “Looking back, I did enjoy coming up with a funny line, but the concept of comedy as a career didn’t cross my mind at all.” In 2017, however, Michael’s world turned upside down. In his first year working as a junior doctor, he was summoned to the coroner’s court to give evidence after the death of a patient. “There was no foul play at hand; I talk about it openly in my show,” he says. “I remember recounting the experience to my colleagues, and how my mum was a bit melodramatic when I first told her I’d been called to court. As I was telling my colleagues this, I noticed they were
JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED Michael Akadiri lifts the curtain on the medical world
© GARRY CARBON
14 FEBRUARY 2023 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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