Adam McKay’s career has gone from labour wards to sell-out comedy tours – and he’s now beginning to meet babies he delivered in his audiences. 

Doctor-turned-comedian Adam McKay will bring his latest tour Undoctored to the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on February 7th. 

Speaking on The Anton Savage Show today, Mr McKay said he knows many people from his former profession will be at the show. 

“I would say one in 10 of my audience are from some healthcare profession,” he said. 

“A few shows have had random medical emergencies, and the lights go up and you say ‘Sorry, are there any doctors in?’ - hoping there’s someone who practiced medicine more recently than me. 

“Turns out there is no safer place in that particular city to be in than that audience. 

“So many doctors stand up and the precise medical specialty you want is available. It’s like, ‘Oh no, I think we need a gastroenterologist’.” 

Adam McKay the doctor

Mr McKay graduated in 2004 before choosing to become a gynaecologist. 

“It’s the only specialty where you end up with more patients than you start with,” he said. 

“Healthy people come in and, all things being well, leave happy and it’s the most magical moment of their lives. 

“The other reason is I reasoned it was within my intellectual capabilities... I realised it’s not one of the hardest things to do.” 

Despite this expectation of relative ease, Mr McKay found the obstetrics career to be more than he bargained for. 

“When the days are good, they’re good, but when the days are bad it’s awful,” he said. 

“All you ever want from every case is a healthy mum and baby. It was one of these awful situations where we ended up with neither. 

“I wasn’t supported particularly well but more importantly I didn’t have the emotional armour to deal with it.” 

Adam McKay the comedian

Mr McKay resigned a few months after this incident, taking up a career in writing – including his own memoir This is Going to Hurt. 

While the comedian expected to “launch the book in a bookshop, drink one glass of warm white wine and sell 200 copies”, the book became a best-selling paperback. 

The book was later adapted into a BAFTA-winning series starring Ben Whishaw. 

Ben Whishaw and Ambika Mod in This is Going to Hurt (2022), Directed by Lucy Forbes and Tom Kingsley. Credit: BBC/ Amc Studios / Album

Now on a comedy tour for his book Undoctored, Mr McKay has realised discussing his previous career in public means meeting some familiar faces. 

“I’m now up to three times that people have come up to me and say ‘Well you’re not going to remember Susan, but you delivered her 17 years ago’,” he said. 

“That’s amazing but also depressing that I'm old enough a paying member of my audience is someone who I delivered. 

“Maybe that’s a good business model, actually.” 

You can find last-minute tickets for Mr McKay’s Bord Gáis performance here. 

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