Laurence Clark: Health Hazard!

The main thrust of this show—the varying merits of the British and US healthcare systems—has already been covered extensively elsewhere, from highbrow journalism to campaigning satire. It hasn’t previously been explored by a sit-down comedian with cerebral palsy, however, who boasts an intimate knowledge of the NHS and can find out exactly how welcoming US providers are to those in need of a little extra help (take a wild guess).

Clark has forged a campaigning TV career of his own in recent years, after several successful Fringe shows, but remains an entertainer first. His tension-diffusing opening gambit—insisting that his speech difficulties aren’t due to drunkenness—is rather hackneyed, but from there the gags are sharp and his targets eminently pokeable.

Clark has reason to feel deeply embittered about our own health service—avoidable birth complications led to his condition—and his run-ins with health professionals over the years range from the comical to the horrific. But at least he actually got to see someone; one of several excellent filmed inserts features the comic attempting to buy healthcare insurance from those profit-hungry US brokers. He refers to those calls as “pranks” but in fact asks perfectly reasonable questions. Only the answers are laughable.

Further film of the wheelchair-bound comic hawking the NHS concept to US passers-by is of less interest, and the prospect of free US healthcare now seems a distant dream given the nation’s near bankruptcy. But you can’t fault Clark for getting out there and trying to change a few perceptions. All power to his joystick.