Second major medical issue in two years for Friz Frizzle

Musical comedian Friz Frizzle woke up blind the day before their Edinburgh Fringe run began.

Yet they were on stage just four hours after undergoing emergency surgery to save their sight.

The incident marked the second major medical issue to strike Frizzle before the Fringe in as many years. Last July, the piano-playing comedian lost a finger to a blood infection and gangrene, two weeks before the start of the festival – but again went ahead anyway.

Frizzle has multiple diabetes-related health conditions, including mobility impairment, dexterity problems and – over  the last year – vision problems, with the comic having several procedures to try and save their sight. 

They said: ‘My left eye is completely useless, but the doctors told me that a vitrectomy on my right eye was the best chance to save what vision I had left, so they did that in May. 

‘Unsurprisingly, it takes a while to recover your vision after you have had a knife in your eye, but my two partners helped me through it, and I even managed to do a few gigs while still blind. 

‘I had to leave the piano at home, though, as going blind doesn’t automatically give you the talents of Stevie Wonder.’

By mid-July, Frizzle’s right eye was mostly healed, leading them to expect ‘a much easier Fringe run than last year’.

But on Friday the comedian woke up in their festival accommodation completely blind.

‘I didn’t know what to do, but my partners came to the rescue: one got me to hospital while the other took over pre-show admin duties,’ they said. ‘The staff at the Royal Infirmary of  Edinburgh were fantastic, and got me seen by an eye specialist the same day.’

A specialist at Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion diagnosed a bleed in the eye and recommended emergency surgery for the following day.

Frizzle had one question for the surgery team: ‘Can you do this in time for me to still do my four o’clock show?’

As it turns out, they could. 

So, four hours after having surgery, and still in their hospital pyjamas, Frizzle performed an adapted version of their musical parody and stand-up show, A Certain Appeal at PBH Free Fringe venue Whistlebinkies

‘It’s very lucky that I did those shows while recovering from my last operation, because we had all the backing tracks ready to go,’ the comic explained ‘The PBH Free Fringe community have really rallied round. I’m very grateful to everyone who’s taken time to help me out. I love the Fringe, and I’m determined not to cancel my run. 

‘Thanks to the help of my partners, friends, amazing venue staff, and the NHS, everything is going ahead more or less as planned.’

Medics say that Frizzle will regain sight in that eye eventually,  but most likely not during the Fringe, with a usual healing period of two to six weeks.

Frizzle is also performing a second show – the improv panel game, What’s In The Box? – at Southsider each day at the Fringe. 

Published: 10 Aug 2026