Comedians unite for NHS single : News 2021

'A fun, silly celebration of everything we were missing about normal life'

Thirty comedians including Harry Hill, Jack Dee and Miranda Hart, have recorded a charity single for the NHS.

Can't Wait! celebrates the return to normal after lockdown and will raise money for NHS Charities Together.

It was the brainchild of doctor-turned-comic Simon Brodkin, best known for his headline-grabbing pranks, who sai: ‘Six months ago, in the midst of a lockdown, with all live comedy having ground to a halt and my tour postponed for a third time, I had a fun idea: what if a bunch of stand-up comedians got together over Zoom and recorded a song for the NHS.

‘Partly inspired by Captain Tom, partly motivated by guilt (I was a doctor before I became a comedian and left the NHS years ago) and partly because taking on a big project would be a great way of getting out of homeschooling my kids, I reached out to the very funny musical comedians Huge Davies and Bennet Kavanagh and together we wrote Can’t Wait! – a fun, silly celebration of everything we were missing about normal life.’

He recruited several comics with links to the NHS, including fellow ex-doctors Hill and Adam Kay, former nurse Jo Brand, and several with family connections:  Stephen K Amos’s mum was a nurse, Tim Vine’s mum was a GP receptionist and Nabil Abdulrashid’s dad was a doctor.

Also taking part are David Baddiel,  Lee Mack, Jason Manford, Al Murray, Jenny Eclair, Joel Dommett, Omid Djalili, Josh Widdicombe, Shappi Khorsandi, Seann Walsh, Russell Kane, Lost Voice Guy, Isy Suttie, Omid Djalili, Nina Conti, Alex Horne, Nathan Caton, Joe Wilkinson, Aurie Styla, Nigel Ng, Thanyia Moore and Kae Kurd.

But thankfully they have avoided the cringe of Gal Gadot’s celebrity version of Imagine, released during the first lockdown, with a jaunty tune and tongue-in-cheeks lyrics such as:  ‘I wish life was how it was before - and it wasn’t that great.’

And Baddiel comments at the end: ‘Not as good as Three Lions…’

The video is below, and you can also buy a copy from iTunes  for 99p – or make a donation here. Already more than £4,000 has been raised.

Published: 7 Jul 2021