Jimmy Carr said he ‘nearly didn’t make it’ when he was diagnosed with meningitis as a child.
The comedian, 51, said he was ‘close to death’ while being treated in hospital in Ireland when he was still a toddler.
‘The doctor sort of went, “It’s going to be very painful”,’ Jimmy recalled of fighting the life-threatening infection aged three.
However, he said the experience of surviving the illness made him ‘appreciate’ life.
Speaking on the podcast Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake with Kathy Burke, the stand-up said: ‘You’ve got to be cruel to be kind … I think that is the first thing I ever said that my mother thought was funny.
‘I had meningitis when I was a child. So my first memory is a lumbar puncture in Limerick in the General [hospital].
‘I was three, I think, and … I was always told it was very close to death.
‘The doctor sort of went, “It’s going to be very painful.” And somehow I’d heard the phrase, and I went, “You’ve got to be cruel to be kind,” in a little child’s voice.’
He added: ‘And I kind of appreciated that thing of life, because I was always told, “Oh, you nearly didn’t make it”.’
Meningitis is an infection of the protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord, according to the NHS, and is most common in babies, young children, teenagers and young adults.
It can be very serious if not treated quickly, causing life-threatening sepsis and permanent damage to the brain or nerves.
As per the podcast’s format, Jimmy also shared how he would like to die, saying that he would like to be ‘ravaged by sharks’ on a trip to South Africa.
He joked: ‘I want my kids and the people that love me to (be able to tell a story like), “Oh, Jimmy died… funny story. He flew to South Africa and he went on one of those great shark cage experiences and he forgoed the cage. He said, no cage for me, thanks. I’ll just jump in there with a fish”.’
‘And I was ravaged by sharks. That would be a way to go.’
Jimmy added that he had already had a close encounter with a reef shark after one ‘flipped around’ towards him while he was swimming with a friend in Key West.
He recounted: ‘We’d been swimming with these small sharks all day and we slightly misjudged the size of this thing. It was enormous and it flipped around and came at us.
‘And I remember just thinking of the old joke, ‘I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you’. Just to swim faster than my mate Henry onto the fire coral.
‘And then we got back on the boat and the guys went, “These are just reef sharks”. I went, “Yeah, with the black tip on the fin,” and they went “Oh, mate. Whoa!”
‘But I think (being) torn apart by sharks and wanting it and going “I’ll do that.” That’s a great story for everyone.’
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