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A Funny Kind of Life and Death

Episode 1

Duration: 30 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio OrkneyLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio Scotland Highlands and Islands

Cancer, life-threatening illness and euthanasia - not the sort of things you would normally expect to laugh at, but in this programme that's exactly what we'd like you to do.

Host Julia Sutherland introduces the comedians who dare to tackle these taboo subjects, in the hopes of shining light in the darkness, and making it a little easier to talk about and cope with life's most difficult and challenging times.

Stand-up comic Alistair Barrie and his wife Emily found their newly-wed bliss shattered by a traumatic diagnosis; Scott Gibson came face to face with his own mortality and it profoundly altered his life's course; Mel Moon became so ill she considered euthanasia; and cancer survivor Toby Peach gave as an extract of his self penned Eulogy... to life.

Their personal pain is diffused by laughter, and the transformative nature of comedy explored in the process. Recorded onstage in front of a live audience at the Edinburgh Festival. Show less

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