by ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Kyle Ayers is working on being present, which is something we all should do but definitely trickier for him.
Why is not hard to say. It’s Trigeminal Neuralgia, a rare nerve disorder that’s also sometimes referred to as Suicide Disease, because his condition means he’s constantly feeling electrocutions in his head to the point that sufferers like him often choose death to make the pain stop. What makes it hard to say is because it really is, quite the inside job. “I don’t look like I have this that’s going on all the time. And that’s kind of the point.”
Ayers began feeling the shooting pains in 2017, and leads us joking all the way through some of the more outrageous early attempts to heal himself before he even knew what was ailing him. He even puts his brain surgery in perspective by telling us all about the man who died getting penis enlargement surgery. And if that still has you down, Ayers has a slide whistle he grants to one audience member to audibly signal when things have gotten too sad.
But you might be surprised at just how much fun you’ll have at a show with this subject matter.
Writing a will forced Ayers to confront how much of his 20s and 30s he had wasted binge-watching TV when he could’ve seen the world. It may come as no surprise, then, that this Fringe marks his first time abroad.
And when his pain began to resurface well after his surgery, Ayers understandably wasn’t sure how or where to proceed. Posting publicly about his plight, though, turned out to be a life-saver. He received an outpouring of support and tons of suggestions, many of which he took, even if sometimes they provoked allergic reactions including writing joke listicles that killed his contract with Buzzfeed.
On the bright side, he learned: “In the chronic pain support group, I’m a tough follow.” At the Fringe, there may be a lot of tough follows, but Ayer leaves audiences laughing as well as present, reminding us that we have no idea what’s going on inside of the stranger next to us. If this all could teach Ayers to become more patient and understanding of those around him, perhaps we can, too.
Kyle Ayers presents “Hard To Say” at Just The Tonic at The Caves during the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe
