| Chris McCausland | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Christopher John McCausland |
| Born | 15 June 1977 Liverpool, England |
| Medium |
|
| Genres | |
| Children | 1 |
Christopher John McCausland[1] (born 15 June 1977[2][3]) is a British actor and comedian. He is known to television audiences for his role as Rudi in the CBeebies show Me Too!. He regularly appears at comedy venues around the UK, including The Comedy Store. McCausland is blind due to retinitis pigmentosa.
Early life
McCausland was born in 1977 in West Derby Village in Liverpool but has lived in Surbiton, near Kingston upon Thames, since 1996, after moving there to study at Kingston University. He graduated in 2000, with a BSc Honours in software engineering. After a spell as a web developer, deteriorating eyesight prompted a change of direction and he worked in sales for a number of years, during which time he first performed stand-up comedy in 2003.[4]
Stand-up comedy
McCausland first gave stand-up a go at a new act comedy night in Balham in July 2003. Within his first year of performing, he won the Jongleurs J2O Last Laugh competition, came runner up in the Laughing Horse New Act of The Year and placed third in Channel 4's So You Think You're Funny? competition.
Between 2005 and 2012, he took six stand-up shows to the Edinburgh Festival and in 2011 was awarded the Creative Diversity Award for comedy by a Channel 4-led panel of broadcasters which also included BBC, ITV and Sky. He has performed all over the world, including across Asia and the Middle East, and regularly travels the UK playing the country's top comedy clubs. He appeared on the BBC's Live at the Apollo on 4 January 2018 and hosted the show on 7 January 2022.[5]
Television
In 2014, McCausland fronted a national television advert for Barclays, promoting the benefits of their new talking cash machines. Also in 2014, he starred in the Jimmy McGovern drama series Moving On, alongside Anna Crilly and Neil Fitzmaurice. In 2012, he appeared alongside fellow comedians in Jimmy Carr's Comedians Special charity episode of Celebrity Deal or No Deal.
He appeared in three series of At The Comedy Store in 2008 for Paramount Comedy as well as in 2010 and 2012 for Comedy Central. In 2010, he featured in BBC One's end of year spoof news review, Unwrapped with Miranda Hart. In 2011, he appeared in ITV's series Stand-up Hero.
McCausland was also one of the principal characters in the CBeebies series Me Too!, playing Rudi the market trader. Filmed in 2006, it aired on CBeebies and internationally until April 2016. On 20 August 2018, he appeared in the long-running BBC soap opera EastEnders.
On 18 October 2019, he appeared on the BBC comedy panel show Would I Lie to You?.[6] On 2 December 2019, he appeared on another BBC satirical comedy panel show, Have I Got News for You,[7] and also the episode's extended version Have I Got A Bit More News For You.[8]
In February 2020, he appeared on an episode of 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown on Channel 4. Despite his poor eyesight, Chris scored highly throughout the episode, playing by memory alone, and even correctly guessed the difficult end of game "Countdown Conundrum" before the sighted panellists. During the show, presenter Jimmy Carr produced blindfolds for the other contestants and encouraged them to try playing without sight.
On 15 January 2021, he appeared on the BBC One show Would I Lie to You?[9]
In July 2022, Channel 4 announced McCausland would present a four-part travelogue series, provisionally titled The Wonders of the World I Can't See. The series aired in June and July 2023.[10][11]
In April 2023, he was a contestant in the Channel 4 reality television series Scared of the Dark.[12]
In May 2023, he made another appearance on Have I Got News for You.
In December 2023, he was a contestant on Richard Osman's House of Games.
Radio
McCausland appeared on BBC Radio 4's The Museum of Curiosity in February 2023.[13] His hypothetical donation to this imaginary museum was "a vinyl record".
Personal life
McCausland lives with his wife Patricia and daughter Sophie.[4]
He is a supporter of Liverpool FC.
References
- ↑ "Chris McCausland". Plex. Archived from the original on 19 June 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
- ↑ McCausland, Christopher John [@chrismccausland] (15 June 2023). "Cheers mate. Right back at ya!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 19 June 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023 – via Twitter.
- ↑ McCausland, Christopher John [@chrismccausland] (2 July 2022). "Today this 45-year-old bloke is as giddy as a teenager. First concert since before the pandemic. All the way from Hollywood… Gguns N' fucking Roses 🤣🤘🏻" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 19 June 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023 – via Twitter.
- 1 2 Samuelson, Kate (9 January 2016). "The ECHO meets the West Derby stand up who wouldn't let blindness ruin his comedy career". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
- ↑ "Live at the Apollo Series 16, Episode 1 - Chris McCausland, Sophie Duker, Emmanuel Sonubi". Comedy.co.uk.
- ↑ "BBC One - Would I Lie to You?, Series 13, Episode 1". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
- ↑ "Have I Got News for You - Series 58: Episode 7". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2019.,
- ↑ "Have I Got a Bit More News for You - Series 58: Episode 7". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
- ↑ "Would I Lie to You S14 E2. Stephen Hendry, Laura Whitmore, Chris McCausland, Maisie Adam". Retrieved 20 April 2023 – via YouTube.
- ↑ "New four-part travelogue series from Open Mike Productions for Channel 4 starring Chris McCausland". Channel4.com. 8 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
- ↑ "The Wonders of the World I Can't See". Chortle. 8 July 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
- ↑ Henry, Grace (14 April 2023). "Scared of the Dark's Chris McCausland on experiencing show with blindness". Radio Times. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
- ↑ "The Museum of Curiosity - Series 17 - Episode 1". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
Further reading
- Rose, Beth (24 June 2022). "How does blind comedian Chris McCausland play the HIGNFY picture round?". BBC News. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
- Logan, Brian (20 June 2022). "Chris McCausland: Speaky Blinder review – genial gags for midlife grumps everywhere". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 January 2024.