Craig Coombes is dying from terminal cancer. He knows it will claim his life but he will not let it claim his sense of humour.

"I'm sure if cancer was a living entity itself it wouldn't like to be laughed at and it wouldn't like people laughing," Coombes told 7.30.

"It doesn't want you to do that, it wants you to crawl up in a corner and die. Not this time."

Craig laughs by getting his clothes off once a week — the day he calls Naked Tuesday — and uploading a photo to a Facebook page viewed by thousands every week.



"It's just a way for me to get out of my comfort zone, to find a way to cope," he said.

"I know it's a bit different, it's not everyone's cup of tea but it's how I deal with this illness and I'm the one who's got it, so I think it's fair that I do it my way."

The Naked Tuesday version of an Anne Geddes baby photo. ( Nakedtuesdays Facebook )

Coombes had made a bucket list that included going to see a gig by comedian Adam Hills and making it backstage.

The two men became great mates and Hills challenged Coombes to try his hand at stand-up comedy.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 6 minutes 35 seconds 6 m Craig Coombes turns cancer into comedy through naked ambition

"He's prolonged my life," Coombes said of Hills.

"You can't give anyone a better gift than life. A box of chocolates is handy, but life is better — or Shakira.

"But he's extended my life by the things he's done for me."

Hills and Coombes have performed together a number of times and the respect is mutual.

"He was just one of the guys you meet in life that kind of fills you with the joys of life," Hills told 7.30.

"I said to him look if there's anything I can do for you, I'll do it. I don't know what I can do, but anything I can do, I will do. So that's how it started."

Adam Hills and Craig Coombes have become great friends and both say they have enhanced each other's lives. ( Nakedtuesday Facebook. )

Hills even tried to take Coombes to perform at the famous Edinburgh Festival, but Coombes was too sick to fly.

It has now been 500 days since doctors predicted Coombes would die and Hills does not believe his friend when he says he has performed his last gig.

"I really think Craig is one of the most enlightened people I've met with his attitudes towards death and dying," Hills said.

"The idea of just laughing in the face of cancer and doing that by getting nude, I mean, I've said it on stage, I've met Americans who have cancer and say well I'm going to motivate people, and English people with cancer who say I'm going to start a foundation.

"Only an Aussie would say I've got cancer and I'm getting nude."

The Naked Tuesday version of 'Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima'. ( Nakedtuesday Facebook )

The two men have just performed a series of gigs that ended with them stripping down while performing a song called In Your Face Cancer.

Coombes believes there is a serious message in Naked Tuesday that everyone should embrace.

"I say to people, I'm too busy to die and I'm dying but I'm living," he said.

"It's a weird feeling to think I'm more alive now than what I was when I was well. I do more things now but I'm forced in to it.

"Please, if you're well don't take it for granted, don't wait until something bad happens. It's a precious thing, life. Don't throw it away."