Comedian and Taskmaster champion Richard Herring has announced he has been diagnosed with hairy cell leukaemia, an incurable but treatable form of blood cancer
Comedian and former Taskmaster favourite Richard Herring has revealed to his Substack followers that he has received a second cancer diagnosis, this time in a different part of his body and described as “incurable”.
“Let me give you the bad news first. I have cancer again. Not ball cancer this time, I can’t afford to lose another one of those (though I will be doing my show ‘The Male Eunuch’ if it does happen),” he shared with subscribers on the writers’ publishing platform.
“This time I have blood cancer. And God is determined to make sure I get the funniest cancers possible and this one is called hairy cell leukaemia. The other bad news is that it is incurable.”
Despite the alarming news, he went on to clarify that while a cure remains out of reach, the condition can be managed with treatment, reports the Mirror.
“The good news is that it’s entirely treatable and will not kill me (the treatment has a tiny chance of killing me, but so has loading the dishwasher, so don’t worry about it).”
“I will of course be using the fact that I have incurable cancer for all it’s worth for the rest of my (hopefully long) life. I can get out of doing other people’s podcasts, any social event I don’t fancy and also set up a justgiving page with me with a sad face, hugging my kids and asking for money to help them once I’m gone.
“Ha ha ha. It’s not even a scam. It’s all true. I just won’t mention that fact that it’s treatable.”
He revealed that his cancer diagnosis was a lengthy process: “they found a few of the cells in my bone marrow about 12 year ago, but it didn’t get any worse and after five years of being tested the doctor said it was probably going to be OK.”
He went on to say he’d “sort of forgotten about it” until his recent consultation with doctors.
Richard proceeded to describe his initial chemotherapy session and his interactions with the NHS in the remainder of his upbeat update, reassuring supporters there “were no immediate problems.”
The funnyman is primarily recognised for his stand-up comedy and in 2020, he triumphed as a contestant in the tenth series of Taskmaster. He subsequently faced off against Ed Gamble, Kerry Godliman, Liza Tarbuck and Lou Sanders in the second “Champion of Champions” special, claiming victory once more that year.
He has devised, written and starred in fourteen solo shows, and co-created the sitcom Time Gentlemen Please. Richard also commands a following of over 10,000 on Substack, where he frequently posts content and personal updates, including this latest health announcement.
The entertainer has featured on numerous other television programmes including Have I Got News For You, and this year appeared in The Great Celebrity Pottery Throwdown. At the conclusion of his Substack post, Richard clarified that the blood cancer bore no relation to his earlier testicular cancer: “It’s not linked the the testicular cancer. Someone up there just doesn’t like me. But they don’t hate me that much. So keep giving me the flimsiest and easiest to live with and funniest named cancers available.
“To have one cancer elicits sympathy, but getting two starts to look a bit like attention-seeking. At least get a properly dangerous one if you’re going to make a big deal about it. I feel a bit embarrassed about it,” he quipped.
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