Adam Kay is a writer and comedian, who used to be an NHS doctor. His new book ‘Undoctored’, is accompanied by a live theatre show. Here’s my Adam Kay ‘Undoctored’ theatre and book review.
Adam Kay ‘Undoctored’ is the name of both Adam Kay’s latest book and also his 2024/25 live theatre show. My Adam Kay ‘Undoctored’ theatre and book review will cover both the book and the theatre show, as the two are so closely linked.
The book by Adam Kay called ‘Undoctored’ is mostly about his life after leaving medicine. Adam Kay was an NHS doctor, working in obstetrics and gynaecology. But after 7 years of working in a hospital, he left medicine to pursue his career as a writer.
Adam Kay’s most famous book, called ‘This is going to hurt’, is a series of diaries from his time as a doctor. ‘Undoctored’ follows Adam Kay’s life after medicine. In ‘Undoctored’ there are some flashbacks to his days at medical school, but the majority of the book is about his journey to find success as a TV writer and comedian.
Overview of ‘Undoctored’ – the book by Adam Kay
Adam Kay’s book ‘Undoctored’ contains a lot of personal details. It feels like a really personal account of his life and struggles after leaving his job as a doctor. In some ways, it feels uncomfortable to be writing a review of this book, because a lot of it felt really personal. I liked how open and honest Adam Kay was about so many aspects of his life. Of course, I don’t actually know if it was all true. But it definitely felt real and personal.
This book definitely isn’t a pure comedy book. Some of it is comedy, but a lot isn’t. There were a lot of sections that were funny. And when Adam Kay writes about his struggles, he writes with self-deprecating humour which I liked a lot. I like his style of humour, and found the book funny at times. But the book also deals with some much more serious issues which definitely weren’t funny.
The book follow’s Adam Kay’s journey from leaving medicine to the present. He discusses things like his family relationships, and how his parents felt about his decision to leave medicine. He discusses his new partner, James, and their relationship and journey to start a family. And there are details about his early career as a writer, and the TV shows he was writing. The book follows his growth to becoming a more well-known writer and performer.
There are flashbacks in the book from Adam Kay’s time in medical school and as a doctor. And there are details of health issues he faces after leaving medicine (and his reluctance to go to see a doctor). The book feels very much like an autobiography, with a lot of humour but also a lot of serious issues.
Overview of Adam Kay ‘Undoctored’ – the theatre show
The theatre show ‘Undoctored’ is an 80 minute live show by Adam Kay. It’s 80 minutes (no interval) of Adam Kay talking to the audience, reading stories, and performing a few songs. Like his book, it’s hard to put Adam Kay’s theatre show ‘Undoctored’ into a genre. It’s sort of a comedy, as there are funny sections and a lot of time when the audience is laughing. But there are some really harrowing moments as well, when you almost feel close to tears.
The theatre show ‘Undoctored’ is split into three roughly equal sections. The first part covers Adam Kay’s time during medical school. In this section, he reads out some of the stories that are included in the book ‘Undoctored’. The second section of the show is about his time as a doctor, with him reading out mostly stories from his previous book ‘This is going to hurt’. I liked this section the most.
The final section was him reading out stories from ‘Undoctored’ about his time after being a doctor. Then there was a nice section at the end, with a story about his daughter, which felt really heartfelt and meaningful. And he brought his daughter on stage at the end which was lovely.
The show also included 3 songs, which Adam Kay played live on stage on a keyboard and sang. The songs were his original lyrics to well-known songs.
The audience was a mix of people, but there were a lot of doctors in the audience. He made a good joke about this being a good place to be if anyone has a medical emergency, as there were so many doctors there.
What I liked about Adam Kay ‘Undoctored’ – the book and on stage
Discussion about mental health
My favourite thing about Adam Kay’s ‘Undoctored’ – both the theatre show and the book – was his openness and honesty talking about mental health. I think it’s so important to talk about mental health. And Adam Kay does this. And he does this with his iconic self-deprecating humour, which makes so many of his stories both funny as well as moving. It makes a lot of the book and the show feel fun to read and watch, while also discussing important, serious issues.
I think it’s so important to be honest and open about mental health, especially in the context of doctors/medicine. It seems like mental health is not openly talked about in the profession. And Adam Kay discussed some really disturbing facts about the high suicide rate among doctors and nurses which was really shocking. These are people who dedicate their life to helping other people, at a huge personal cost to themselves, and have to deal with death and illness on a daily basis. So mental health in this profession is so, so important. What Adam Kay does in his books to raise awareness of mental health in medical field is amazing.
Songs and stories in the theatre show
My favourite part of Adam Kay’s theatre show ‘Undoctored’ was the songs. His original lyrics were so clever and funny. My favourite was the song to the tune of ‘Eternal Flame’, which was about a GP consultation. The ‘drugs’ some that listed all types of names of drugs was funny too. The songs were really clever and great to listen to.
Another highlight of Adam Kay’s theatre show ‘Undoctored’ for me were his stories from his time as a doctor. This is the part of Adam Kay’s writing and comedy that feels the most unique and original – telling us exactly what it’s like to work in a hospital and what doctors go through. It’s amazing to think of the things they have to deal with everyday, and then they’re expected to just keep going and move onto the next patient. Adam Kay tells these stories with such humour that you forget that the story is actually about something really disturbing.
Stories from ‘Undoctored’ the book
My favourite parts of the book ‘Undoctored’ were the flashbacks to medical school. I enjoyed reading more about what it was like to be in medical school, and the years of training he had to go through. The ‘now’ parts of the book were also good, but I preferred the flashbacks. I really loved Adam Kay’s book ‘This is going to hurt’, so the medical school flashbacks felt a bit more similar to the other book that I loved.
What I wasn’t so sure about
The stories in the ‘Undoctored’ theatre show
The main part of the live theatre show that left me slightly underwhelmed was that so much of it was focussed on Adam Kay reading out sections from his book. I’d recently read the book ‘Undoctored’, so I knew all the punchlines to the stories. And judging by the audience reaction, most people there did as well. I think most people who go to the live theatre show will already have read the book, so there isn’t much original content in the theatre show if you know the book. It’s still a good show, and Adam Kay is very good at reading the stories to get the most humour out of them. But it still felt a shame that there wasn’t more original material. It’s probably more enjoyable to make sure you don’t read the book before going to the stage show, so then the stories will feel new.
Most of the stories that he chose to read out in the live theatre show were those that focus on bodily fluids or pensises (or should it be peni? I can never work out the plural version of that word). These stories generally got a good laugh from the audience, but they’re not always the most pleasant. It felt like a fairly easy way to get audience laughs, just because he was talking about slightly taboo subjects. There were other sections of the book that I preferred, so the stories he chose to read weren’t always my favourite parts of the book.
The songs in the ‘Undoctored’ theatre show
I enjoyed the songs, but I was confused about Adam Kay’s introduction of one. He introduced the song ‘Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin’, which was set to the tune of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (I had to Google the spelling of both of those words). But Adam Kay introduced that song by saying he wrote it during the Covid-19 lockdown. But I remember listening to that song when I was at college (although until I saw him perform the song, I hadn’t actually made the link between that song and Adam Kay the author of the books I like). I’m just not sure why he said he wrote it in lockdown when a lot of people in the audience would probably know that it was on Youtube about 15 years ago.
The graphic, triggering stories in the book ‘Undoctored’
I enjoyed ‘Undoctored’ the book. But it was more serious, and slightly more disturbing, than I was prepared for. I think I was expecting the book to be a lot more light-hearted and funny than it was. Although some of the book was funny, there were some completely un-funny chapters in the book as well. And there were no trigger warnings about what details some chapters of the book would contain.
There was graphic deal about his struggles with eating disorders. And also graphic and disturbing details about rape. I appreciated the honesty of including these sections, and also appreciate Adam Kay’s openness talking about them – these are hugely important issues that should be talked about openly. But I also found these sections a bit unexpected and slightly jarring in a book that felt quite comedic in other sections. I think I would have appreciated a bit more warning that the book would contain stories like this, just so I felt more prepared to read the harrowing, heart-breaking details. For any readers who have personal experience of eating disorders or rape, it could feel quite a shock to suddenly read these honest, open accounts.
If you’re expecting a comedy book, this book deals with a lot of serious issues as well as some comedy. I found his first book ‘This is going to hurt’ really funny, even though it dealt with serious medical issues of patients. It was the type of book that I’d keep reading at night, thinking I’d read just one more section, and then realise it was 2am. ‘Undoctored’ didn’t have the same feel for me – I didn’t find it as funny, and while I enjoyed reading it, I wasn’t desperate to read more. But it’s still a good book, and I appreciated the honesty and openness of the author.
Would I recommend Adam Kay ‘Undoctored’ – the book and on stage
Yes, I would definitely recommend Adam Kay’s ‘Undoctored’, both the book and one stage. My Adam Kay Undoctored theatre and book review is positive, and I enjoyed both.
I definitely recommend not reading the book ‘Undoctored’ before going to see the live theatre show, so then the stories in the show will feel original and you won’t know them. So I think you’d enjoy the theatre show a lot more if you read the book after seeing the show. Overall, I still prefer Adam Kay’s book ‘This is going to hurt’ (and I definitely recommend reading that book), but ‘Undoctored’ is still good.
I think it’s hugely important to be talking about mental health and raising awareness of the life of a doctor and everyone working in medicine, and Adam Kay does this amazingly well. I have so much respect for how openly he talks about difficult issues and raises awareness. So I recommend buying the books and going to Adam Kay’s live show just to show support to someone who is doing such important awareness raising work. Doctors deserve better than what they currently have to do.
Hope you enjoyed my Adam Kay ‘Undoctored’ theatre and book review! Check out my other book reviews, and also my other theatre reviews for more shows in the West End, across the UK and the world.
