Comedian Reveals Painful Injury He Suffered During Performance: Harry Hill Opens Up

Bringing his comedy chops to the stage isn’t all laughter and games – for Harry Hill, it’s also dangerous and painful. Opening up about his comedy career with The Times, the English comedian revealed that he suffered several broken ribs in a terrifying live show stunt involving an ironing board.

“The live show stunts are becoming more of a problem as I get older,” the ITV TV Burp star, 60, admitted. “I broke a few ribs falling off an ironing board and it takes longer to recover these days. But I haven’t got the outwards sign of anything, put it that way.”

Despite the painful injury, Hill described himself as “fit as a fiddle,” joking that he doesn’t “do any fitness, I don’t believe in exercise.” According to Hill, “I walk the dogs. Yes, I walk the dogs. There used to be this crackpot theory that the heart is programmed to beat a certain number of times. That’s what I’m subscribing to, for comic purposes. Because if that’s the case then you want to go slow, you don’t want to run everywhere.”

Hill is currently preparing his 2025 New Bits & Greatest Hits tour, which is set to kick off on Feb. 18 with a show at London Wilton’s Music Hall. Following a five-night stint at the venue, Hill will then travel to Colchester Mercury Theatre, Grantham Guildhall Arts Centre, and Loughborough Town Hall through February before taking the show to Horsham The Capitol, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, Bath Theatre Royal, East Grinstead Chequer Mead Theatre, Chesterfield Winding Wheel Theatre, and more. The tour is set to wrap at Salford The Lowry (Lyric Theatre) on Sept. 21.

According to Hill, his New Bits & Greatest Hits tour could be his last. He told The Times that his outlook on his career’s future changed following a recent conversation with one of his friends from his days as a medical doctor.

“This friend has worked as a GP for 30-odd years, delivered babies, seen their parents retire, get sick, die, the full family GP thing,” he recalled. “And he said, the time you need money is between 60 and 75 because after 75, if you’re still alive, you’re probably sick. Even if you don’t have anything, your world narrows, you don’t want to go on holiday, you don’t need any new shoes, clothes…”

Hill said the comment made him think, ”’yeah, you’re right,’” and “completely changed my outlook. With me it’s always jam tomorrow. But at 60 there aren’t that many tomorrows.”

After working as a medical doctor for several years, Hill eventually pursued a career in stand-up. He has gone on to become a radio and TV host, hosting radio shows like Harry Hill’s Fruit Corner and his TV comedy show Harry Hill’s TV Burp, as well as a film actor.