Comedian and Taskmaster star Richard Herring has shared that he has been diagnosed with an incurable but treatable blood cancer.
The 58-year-old comic, who is best known for his work with Stewart Lee and the podcast Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Podcast, previously received treatment for testicular experience in 2021.
Writing on Substack on Tuesday (16 June), Herring shared the news of his second, separate cancer diagnosis with his subscribers.
“Let me give you the bad news first. I have cancer again,” he wrote. “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.”
Hairy cell leukaemia is a rare form of blood cancer present in approximately two per cent of adult leukaemia patients. It usually develops slowly, and some people have mild symptoms initially or no symptoms at all. Symptoms for others can include swelling in the abdomen, frequent infections or easy bruising and bleeding.
Herring, who won both the 10th series of Taskmaster and the second Champion of Champions edition, explained that while his cancer is incurable, it is “entirely treatable”.
“The treatment has a tiny chance of killing me, but so has loading the dishwasher, so don’t worry about it,” he joked.
“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,” the father-of-two wrote.
“This one has been bubbling under for a few years. They found a few of the cells in my bone marrow about 12 years 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.”
Herring, who has been married to fellow comedian Catie Wilkins since 2012, explained that the leukaemia wasn’t linked to his testicular cancer, which was “basically at the all-clear stage”.
“Someone up there just doesn’t like me,” he joked, adding: “I am not too worried or upset, but I am not delighted to have had two cancers before the age of 60. What treats await me should I live into the next decade?”
It has been five years since Herring was diagnosed with testicular cancer: a process he documented in his 2023 book Can I Have My Ball Back? and subsequent stand-up show of the same name.
Speaking in March ahead of his appearance on Channel 4’s Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer, Herring said that testicular cancer was “a big challenge and scary for a bit” but also an ”incredibly positive” experience.
“It made me want to stay alive as long as I can for my kids, my wife and myself, which is a great lesson in your 50s,” he told The Telegraph.
“Life is finite and it’s weird that sometimes, right in the prime of life, you’re taken away from it. It’s not a bad thing to realise that’s a possibility.”
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