Adam Kay Brings Comedy Show to Australia 2026
ADAM KAY BRINGS TWAS THE NIGHTSHIFT BEFORE CHRISTMAS LIVE TO AUSTRALIA
Bestselling author, comedian and Britain’s twelfth-favourite doctor, Adam Kay, returns to Australia with his hilarious festive live show, Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas Live.
Following the international success of This is Going to Hurt, Kay is back on stage with a laugh-out-loud celebration of the festive season, featuring entries from his best selling Christmas diaries alongside all-new stand-up, original Christmas songs and the outrageous real-life stories that have made him one of Britain’s most beloved storytellers.
Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas Live is a heartfelt and hilarious tribute to the doctors, nurses and healthcare workers who spend the holiday season on the front line—while the rest of us are unwrapping presents. Packed with jaw-dropping anecdotes from life on the wards, Kay recounts the unforgettable Christmases spent delivering babies, treating bizarre festive injuries and retrieving everything from baubles and chocolate wrappers to remote controls and fairy lights from places they were never meant to be.
Equal parts comedy, celebration and behind-the-scenes glimpse into hospital life, the show is the perfect pre-Christmas night out.
“Funny, disgusting and moving tales with a festive twist.” – The Guardian
“A sleigh-load of ho-ho-horror stories for long-suffering healthcare staff.” – Daily Express
Adam Kay is a BAFTA-winning author, TV writer, comedian and former junior doctor. His first book, This is Going to Hurt, spent over a year at number one in the Sunday Times bestseller list, was translated into 37 languages, won ten national awards, and sold over three million copies. His subsequent adult nonfiction books, Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas and Undoctored were also Sunday Times number one bestsellers. His first novel, A Particularly Nasty Case published in 2025. He is also one of the country’s bestselling children’s authors, with non-fiction titles including Kay’s Anatomy (the fastest selling kids’ non-fiction book of the decade), Kay’s Incredible Inventions (Lollies Non-Fiction Book of the Year), picture books including Amy Gets Eaten (The Week Junior Picture Book of the Year), and the Dexter Procter fiction series.
As a live performer, Adam has sold-out numerous West End seasons and international tours. His live tour of This is Going to Hurt was attended by over 350,000 people and Undoctored was the bestselling show of the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe.
Adam’s awards for TV writing include BAFTA and Writers Guild awards for adapting This is Going to Hurt for the BBC/AMC. His most recent show was Dexter Procter: The 10-Year-Old Doctor for the BBC.
He is very proud to be a patron of The Lullaby Trust, for whom he has raised over £350k, Oxfordshire Mind, The Laura Hyde Foundation and Doctors in Distress, where he founded the National Memorial Tree Planting Campaign for healthcare workers who have lost their lives by suicide. He edited Dear NHS: 100 Stories to Say Thank You, raising £600k for NHS Charities Together.
With Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas Live, Adam Kay delivers a festive evening that’s equal parts hilarious, heartwarming and horrifying—perfect for anyone who’s ever wondered what really happens in hospitals over Christmas.
A Just For Laughs Festival Sydney 2026 event, proudly supported by Destination NSW, Strategic Sponsor.
