A Channel 4 star has announced that he has an incurable cancer and is currently undergoing treatment.
Richard Herring, a comedian who starred in and won the tenth series of Taskmaster, shared the news through a Substack article.
The comedian had previously been diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2021 and made a full recovery after having surgery.
Richard said he has now been diagnosed with leukaemia, a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow.
What did Richard Herring say in his announcement?
In his Substack article, he said: “So I’ve mentioned this to my wonderful Substack paid subscribers, but 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).
“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.
“And I am deliberately stretching this news out as long as possible to punish you for not paying for my blog.”
The comedian went onto joke that his diagnosis can get him “out of doing other people’s podcasts” and “any social event” he doesn’t “fancy”.
He also mentioned how it is “pretty annoying” to be diagnosed with another cancer a few years after his testicular cancer because he “can’t do another show and book about it so soon”.
He went on to detail some of the treatment he has undertaken so far and said: “It was all fairly painless, though it took a while to slowly inject all the cancer killing poison into me. Then they had to wait to observe me to check I was OK.
“There were no immediate problems. I didn’t start puking or become confused and I felt just like I had when I came in. The pharmacist came to give me some drugs. She seemed a bit confused about when I should be taking some of them, but she was at least diligent enough to check.
“And I am very impressed with the care that is taken to make sure everything is correct and they’re giving the treatment to the right person. There were dozens of patients and a handful of staff. I am extremely grateful to live in a country with a free health service, as much as I’d love for it to get the money and resources it requires. Rather than being sold off to Nigel Farage’s mates.”
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Richard started his comedy career while at the University of Oxford and performed for a comedy troupe known as the Seven Raymonds as well as working wit the Oxford Revue.
He has also starred in other TV shows including Have I Got News For You and The Great Celebrity Pottery Throwdown.
The comedian has released many books throughout his career with the latest being released in 2025.
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