"My Left Nut": An Irish Comedy about a Giant Testicle

When Belfast boy Michael Patrick was starting puberty in the 2000s, he noticed a swelling on his left testicle  At first he thought it was normal.  Then, when it got bigger and bigger --as big as a giant avocado--  he thought it was cancer.  He was afraid to tell his Mum -- his Dad died when he was eight.  How would she deal with another death in the family?

Plus as the oldest boy, he was expected "be a man."  How would this affect his manhood?  So he hid for three years.

On a positive note, his classmates all noticed the bulge and assumed that he was very well hung.  But of course he couldn't do anything even moderately sexual.

How did he get around showering after gym class?  Swimsuit season?  Doctors' appointments?  It would be interesting to find out.

Finally it sort of fell out of his pants in front of his Mum, who took him to a doctor -- he didn't  have cancer, it was a condition called a hydrocele, where fluid collects in the scrotum. It can easily be drained -- problem solved.  Michael felt like dolt for letting it go on so long.  His mates were...well, relieved that he wasn't hung to his knees.

In 2017, Michael and his friend Oisin Kearney wrote a confessional stage show, My Left Nut, which he performed at the Dublin Fringe Festival.  He performed in other places, too, such as a juvenile detention facility, and was touched by the many men who came up to him afterwards to talk about their own genital problems -- issues that they had been afraid to discuss all their lives.

In 2020, a three-part tv adaptation aired on BBC3, with newcomer Nathan Quinn O'Rawe as Mick and Jay Duffy (top photo) as Danny.

Mick is straight.   I don't know if any of the characters are gay, because it is directed by Peter Gay, which flubs up the searches.  But the promo shows two of Mick's mates hugging, so maybe.  But at least there will be a lot of talk about men's private parts.

Hopefully it will show up on Vudu, Netflix, or Amazon Prime soon.