Comedy

A-Z

The A-Z of Chris McCausland

The alphabet according to the comedian and Strictly star


A is for Awards

McCausland was awarded the Creative Diversity Award for Comedy in 2011, and when he started out he was a runner-up for the Laughing Horse New Act of the Year. Awards aren’t everything, but they don’t give ‘em to stand-ups who aren’t funny. Or maybe they do. Either way, Chris McCausland is funny, and he’s got the silverware to prove it.

B is for Blindness

McCausland lost his sight due to a condition called retinitis pigmentosa. He’s spoken a lot about his experience of being blind, whether in interviews or in his stand-up act; and his 2023 sell-out national tour was, incredibly, titled Speaky Blinder.

Chris McCausland Live at the Apollo 2018

C is for Countdown

McCausland has twice been a contestant on 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, where because of his visual impairment he played the game from memory – and he had his fellow contestants join him by playing a round blindfolded.

D is for Scared Of The Dark

In 2023, McCausland took part in the reality show Scared Of The Dark, in which eight celebrity contestants – among them, the likes of Chris Eubank and Paul Gascoigne – had to live in complete darkness for eight days. The Guardian described it as “the stupidest reality show of all time” in a one-star review. Gazza won.

E is for Eastenders

Chris had a minor role in a 2018 Eastenders episode as a character named Karl, who plays chess. It seems like that’s pretty much it.

F is for family

Chris has been married to his wife Patricia, a psychologist, for 12 years, and the couple have a daughter named Sophie.

G is for Guide dog

McCausland once had a guide dog called Mr Jenkins, but he “wasn’t very good,” he’s said. “He would notice someone throwing half a sandwich on the floor and suddenly that’s where we’d be headed,” he told The Telegraph.

H is for Have I Got News For You

A panel show regular, McCausland has made several appearances on this show, the first blind comedian to do so.

I is for MI5

Before he was a comedian, McCausland once applied to be an MI5 spy – yes, really! Not only that, but he made it to the last 1% of applicants… but in the end, it was decided his blindness would be too much of an impairment. “Basically, if there had been a bomb it would have taken me a little bit too long to find out who had it,” McCausland explained.

J is for Jobs

Besides espionage, McCausland had a series of day jobs, including in web development and in sales, before eventually giving stand-up a go.

K is for Kingston University

He studied software engineering here in the late ‘90s – though he did end up admitting, “I probably knew more about the pubs in Kingston than I did the subject.”

L is for Liverpool

McCausland was born in West Derby, Liverpool, and while he now lives in South West London, he’s a lifelong fan of Liverpool FC.

M is for Me Too!

That’s the CBeebies show that Chris McCausland appeared on before finding fame as a comedian. He played a singing market trader named Rudi, as you can see in this quite delightful compilation.

N is for Not Going Out

Chris appeared in a recent episode of Lee Mack’s sitcom, Not Going Out, titled ‘Train’. He and Mack are good friends, having appeared as a double act in 2022 to present a BAFTAs award to much acclaim.

O is for Outsiders

He also starred in the third series of this survival challenge series presented by David Mitchell where he was partnered with fellow comedian Laura Smyth. The pair competed for badges in Rationing, Smuggling, and Couples Counselling, among other things.

P is for Pearl Jam

Rock fan McCausland proposed to his wife Patricia during a concert by the Seattle grunge band at Hyde Park. The old romantic!

Q is for QI

Chris McCausland once appeared on an episode of QI, the panel show that always saves our arses when we need something for the letter Q.

R is for the Royal National College for the Blind

McCausland completed his A-levels at this college in Hereford, and last year, he went back there to perform a benefit gig in recognition of its 150th anniversary — raising £6500 and meeting some of the current students.

S is for Strictly

Of course, this is what Chris has been up to most recently, and he’s become a firm fan favourite over the last few weeks. The first blind contestant in the programme’s history, he’s been seriously impressive – as have his cutting retorts to Craig Revel Horwood’s criticism.

T is for The Chris McCausland Show

McCausland hosts this morning chat show on ITV, which has featured stars such as Pixie Lott, Rachel Riley and Paul Whitehouse.

U is for his unusual waking up technique

He told us all about this on an episode of Would I Lie To You. Before he goes to sleep every night, instead of setting an alarm, he bangs his head against the pillow X number of times to represent the time he needs to wake up. And this was, in fact, the truth!

Chris McCausland's Unusual Wake-Up Technique | Series 17 Episode 1 Spoilers | Would I Lie To You?

V is for the Royal Variety Performance

McCausland performed a stand-up set at the 2021 Royal Variety Performance, where William and Kate could be seen cracking up as well as a few thousand others.

W is for Wonders Of The World I Can’t See

This is the travel programme McCausland starred in, in which he ventured to Athens, Rome, Petra and Niagara Falls alongside a host of guest comedians. Of course, sightseeing isn’t much fun when you can’t, well, see sights, so much hilarious grumpiness ensued.

X is for Foxtrot

We got lucky with this one… Chris and his Strictly partner Diane Buswell performed this dance the other week, scoring 29 points out of a total 40, and Chris was in a fetching pink shirt.

Chris & Dianne Foxtrot to Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy by the Tams ✨ BBC Strictly 2024

Y is for Yonks!

That’s the name of his latest standup tour – a reference to the fact that while many have called him an overnight success, he’s actually been doing this for yonks. He’s added dates throughout 2025, and tickets are selling fast.

Z is for Zoo

God, it makes our life easy when these comedians have done a stand-up segment about the zoo… In this one he actually says farm, but it says zoo in the TikTok caption and after 26 letters that’s good enough for us. Chris explains the pitfalls of taking his daughter for a day out as a blind person: “Do you know what the farm is to me? Just a series of fences over which are different smells of shit.”


Chris McCausland takes his show Yonks! on a UK tour throughout 2025, kicking off in January – find tickets here