...and I want to die an intriguing death

Adam Kay wants to be buried in his garden when he dies – and has even written it into his will.

The medic turned comedian and bestselling author also joked that he wanted to die under mysterious circumstances.

Speaking to Kathy Burke on her podcast Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake, Kay spoke about making a will with his husband James and their solicitor over Zoom.

He said:  We had this big, long, relatively depressing session… this harrowing two hour zoom. And then at the end of it, she said, "and is there anything else that you want included in your will? Like if you want to be buried in your garden or…’

‘And we were both like YES! Let’s get buried in the garden. So that’s gone in for no real reason, but it does does fuck up whoever has to sell our house when we’re dead.

Asked about his funeral, he said: '’I’ve been thinking about this knowing I was coming here today and there's a lot of people who say they "I don't want to be a sad affair. I want it to be a celebration of my life".

‘I want everyone to be fucking devastated. They've got an infinite amount of time to celebrate my life and build huge memorials and have seasons on BBC about me. I don't want to skip right to the end of grief. I want proper flailing. Grim. Sad. Devastation.

Burke said: ‘So do you want James throwing himself on the coffin?’

‘Oh yeah. Pounding on it. Yeah. "Come back, Adam. Come back. My life is gonna be pointless".’

And speaking of how he would like to be remembered for the manner of his death,  he said: ‘ So you know you get the BBC news alert or if it's a very famous person or you see them on the website or on a paper. But then the next day it's sort of forgotten, I just like a way that it could string out for a bit. So if there was some sort of mystery to it.

‘Or if I'm found scattered in 300 pieces across the world. Something that's ultimately going to be, you know, a couple of different documentaries. From different streamers about the mystery of how I died. And that's that sort of thing, cos then it stays relevant.

Pressed more about it he, said he wanted ‘something intriguing, something a bit Jonathan Creek, you know? So it's clearly been a murder of some description.

Bit he said there would be a prime suspect: I’m pretty annoying to live with. I'm sure at some point my husband will kill me.’

Looking back on his life so far, reflected that he has also probably already peaked in his achievements.

‘It doesn't really matter what I do for the rest of my career. I'm very unlikely to do something that was read by so many people as This Is Going To Hurt. So I might as well just accept. I'll be that "This Might Hurt person". Yeah, that doctor who wrote a thing. So I'm gonna be that guy.

‘So it's slightly depressing. Every new project I start. Is this going to be the one? No it's not is it realistically.

‘I've obviously been hugely lucky with the success of the book, but you know, I don't think any writer really has the level of success that they're just like, "right, I'm done." And also, if you are a writer, if you're a creative of any kind, you do have that thing in you that wants to keep going and do something else.’

But he added that having peaked ‘takes the pressure off a bit’.

Kay also expressed his concern about the state of the health service, saying: ‘We all have a relationship with the NHS. The NHS I think is the most amazing, precious thing we have in this country, and it's so upsetting to see what's happening at the moment, the lack of respect for the people who work there, who aren't being paid a fair wage for what they're doing.

‘At the moment it's in a pretty, it's in a pretty bad place, isn't it? It's not really been looked after properly by this Tory government,

‘How much you fund the NHS… that’s how much you pay the people who work there, isn't it? The NHS isn't bedpans and MRI machines. The NHS is, you know, 1.3 million people who work there. if they're being treated so badly, they're all leaving.

‘If you're struggling to recruit and re retain them, then that's a decision to wind down the NHS. Other than that it's difficult not to believe that some of these people don't have a vested interest ., I'd like to know, exactly how many of these people making these decisions lives’ will be improved if there's more private healthcare.’

• Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake is available wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to Adam Kay episode here.

Published: 31 Jan 2023