Standup Comic Hospitalized, Emergency Surgery Planned: Latest on John Tothill’s Condition

John Tothill is on the road to recovery after he was forced to suspend his production Thank God This Lasts Forever due to a medical emergency. After recently cancelling several performances due to a mysterious illness and undergoing “a battery of tests,” the standup comic recently underwent emergency surgery due to a burst appendix, his team announced Monday.

“We can confirm that John and his appendix have today made the difficult and painful decision to separate due to this dichotomy in creative vision,” the statement read, per Playbill. “John has announced his absolute determination to have the operation today (Monday 12th Aug) and be back on stage as soon as he is medically and legally allowed; an ambitious goal but one which John says is in-keeping with his long-term aim of being an infirm and frail national treasure. This will, of course, only be with the approval of his doctors and he will, of course, take the whole thing day-by-day.”

The comedian’s health scar came amid his performance at 2024 Edinburgh Fringe. During his third performance at the festival, Tothill, who previously made headlines after he deliberately contracted malaria in a clinical trial to fund his 2023 debut at the festival, began to fall ill during his third performance at the 2024 festival, “found himself standing on stage with a feeling that was strangely reminiscent of his bout with malaria only…somehow… worse,” according to Beyond the Joke. The comic was forced to cancel three performances of his Thank God This Lasts Forever production as he “underwent a battery of tests which confounded doctors.” IT was only later, after he returned to the stage and performed five more shows “with the air of a sickly Victorian child,” that it was discovered his appendix had burst.

“An update on all this tummy drama. It turns out that I had appendicitis. In fact, hilariously, my appendix had actually fully burst a few days ago,” Tothill wrote on his Instagram Story, per the Daily Record. “So, if you saw my standup show in the last four days, you saw a man performing with a perforated appendix – which means you’re entitled to a refund, I think, since I know a lot of you come to the shows JUST to witness my appendix.”

Tothill hasn’t shared n update on his recovery just yet, but in his post, he told fans doctors were “keeping me in hospital for the next couple of days.” However, he promised that he would “be back as soon as possible!” Once he recovers, John Tothill: Thank God This Lasts Forever will be performed at 8.45 pm in Pleasance Courtyard (Beside) until Aug. 24.