‘I’m still an idiot’: Doctor-turned-comic Noah Szto on success and self-doubt

A few times this year, rising comedy star and junior doctor Noah Szto has felt his two worlds collide. His patients are increasingly recognising him from comedy stages or his television appearance at the industry’s biggest night, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival gala.

“As a med student, comedy wasn’t going that well, so it wasn’t really an issue,” he says. “But this year, when things have started going better for me, it’s become a new dimension I have to try and figure out.

Melbourne comedian and junior doctor Noah Szto is becoming increasingly more recognised, in and out of the consultation room. Credit: Simon Schluter

“I’m still not sure how to approach it most appropriately. I’ve had patients clock me in the middle of consults, which always changes the vibe, though I’m very quick to emphasise I don’t talk about patient interactions on stage.”

The 26-year-old has also found his colleagues are intrigued by his after-hours work. “It’s always so lovely, but it often comes at really inconvenient moments, like you’re running between patients and, all of a sudden, you’re chatting about Tommy Little to someone in the elevator. It’s something I didn’t think would ever be an issue I’d have to face, but here I am.”

Szto is now working in the stroke unit after completing his first rotation in the emergency department. He is relishing his dual careers, even as he acknowledges he may soon have to choose between them.

“They’re markedly different professions and require very different dispositions,” he says. “The hardest part is switching from being as boring as I am in the hospital and trying to maintain my professional facade to being completely unprofessional and outrageous on stage. It’s a very tough thing to juggle, and there’s not many people I can talk to about it.”

While his on-stage persona may be very different from his day job demeanour, Szto’s comedy, including his new show Med School and last year’s debut, which saw him win the Best Newcomer award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, is focused on his life in medicine.

Drawing on his years of studying piano, Med School relates his often-gruelling years of study in all-singing, all-dancing cabaret style. There are also audiovisual elements, a puppet and even a live medical procedure.

“I’m starting to think that’s ill-advised,” Szto says of the latter. “But it’s been such a fun thing to do in front of audiences. People say they haven’t seen anything like that on stage before. So as much as I don’t love having to put myself through it every night, the audience response is so good that I can’t take it out.”

In comedy, it’s much more common for performers to present themselves as bumbling underachievers rather than, say, musically gifted doctors, but Szto says there are elements of his story anyone can relate to.

“I think the knee-jerk reaction from most audiences when you tell them you’re a doctor is, ‘Screw this guy – what is he doing comedy for?’

Noah Szto has to keep his professional and comedic selves in the right place.

“But I think there are points in the show of ‘What am I doing with my life?’ and ‘How did I end up here?’ that are pretty universal. I spent four years really upset about the fact that I wasn’t able to pursue my dream.”

Rest assured, this high achiever hasn’t quite got everything figured out just yet.

“I’m very grateful to be a junior doctor, but I’m no expert,” he says. “In most of my stories, I’m the butt of the joke. I’m still an idiot despite being in a very privileged position. I don’t do a lot of put-downs or stuff like that. [Med School] is mostly about how much I suck and am still trying to figure my life out.”

Noah Szto’s Med School is at The Grand Electric, Surry Hills, on July 19.