I caught malaria on purpose to fund my Edinburgh Fringe show

When comedian John Tothill set his sights on performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, he knew he had to take radical action to pay the bills up front.

Attracted by the prospect of increasing his savings, he entered a medical trial that would see him infected with malaria – a deadly disease that causes around 600,000 deaths each year worldwide.

This causes a few days of fever, aching joints and hallucinations – which we are lucky enough to treat in a controlled environment with medication.

The whole process helped fund his festival debut as a stand-up.

“I was paid around £2,500 in total and if I’m being honest with you, I would have done it for less,” he told BBC Scotland News.

A malaria medical trial is funding a solo show in Edinburgh in 2023.

And he has returned to his experience with the disease to provide material for the 2024 race.

He “really, really” loves Edinburgh in August and is still prepared to make huge sacrifices to indulge his love to perform at the festival.

“What’s bad if it’s more expensive, I’ll still come and do it and I’ll try another malaria test,” said the 27-year-old.

“I probably shouldn’t have had a (life-threatening) illness to come and do this, but I don’t regret it, you know.”

John saved money for his first solo Edinburgh gig from a series of jobs, including as a teacher’s assistant and a bag packer at a coffee factory.

But he realized he still needed a cash injection and signed up for a malaria trial that investigates how the body reacts in the early stages of infection.

“They said the reason the trial was well paid was not because it was risky, because it was scary,” he said.

“It’s a disease that everyone hears about, and it’s probably still one of the biggest killers in the world.”

Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes and is mostly found in tropical countries. Preventable and treatable, but causing an estimated 608,000 deaths by 2022, according to the World Health Organization.

Doctors told him that he would be infected with the virus, and if he developed symptoms of the disease, they would treat him with effective medicine.

Two weeks later he started getting really sick for about an hour.

“It’s definitely the most pain I’ve ever felt,” she said.

He was closely monitored at the medical facility when he developed fever, difficulty sleeping and concentrating, and “pains” in his fingers and joints.

“Then as my temperature rose, I had nightmares that turned into waking hallucinations,” said John, who lives in London.

“At one point, I thought there was a demon in my room dragging me to hell or something, which was bad.”

After four days, the medicine started and he quickly got better.

“What’s really, really, really strange about this is how much the physical pain of malaria is actually offset by the certainty of knowing exactly what’s wrong with me, knowing exactly what the schedule is, and the doctors knowing exactly what’s wrong with me,” he said. .

The fee covers the start-up costs of the Edinburgh 2023 show, which will cost around £9,000.

That pays for accommodation, venue hire, marketing and PR materials, and expenses for producers and directors.

They break even, which means they have the funds to return this year Thank God This Is Forever at Pleasance Court Beside.

“This is about the malaria trial and what I want to do for myself and most importantly, I think about prioritizing your pleasure in life over anything like a career or any idea that is important about keeping time or things like that.

“It’s a great privilege to be in a situation where I’m never afraid of what could happen because I know exactly what’s wrong with me, and I think that affects the way I see time, which seems very high, but it’s true. explained during the hour-long show.”

As an up-and-coming stand-up, he knows it’s important to be seen in Edinburgh hoping to make a full-time career in comedy.

The success of the Netflix hit Baby Reindeer – a series based on Richard Gadd’s 2019 Edinburgh show – proves that the investment can be worth it.

“This is a place where you know you have a chance to be seen (by TV producers and commissioners).

“It’s also a place where more people will see you than in London, because of the infrastructure there are tourists who come to see comedy.” But the Fringe’s spiraling costs have priced some performers – like Richard Herring and Gail Porter – out of the market. Jason Manford says he expects to make a financial loss this year.

John insists that going to the Edinburgh Fringe is “not a human right” but depends on local government policy makers to make accommodation more affordable.

“I believe it can be done and what I will say is that if it is a sporting event, it can be done.”