I’ve mentioned Chris McCausland several times in my blog in recent years, because he’s one of my favourite comedians, and not because he’s blind. He’s very funny, clever and down to earth, a genuine nice guy, and I got to see him live a few years ago, which I hope to do again at some point. Recently I also enjoyed his fascinating documentary Seeing Into The Future, and he’s done great podcast interviews with the BBC, Channel 4 News and Romesh Ranganathan.
And now my mother and I have listened to the audiobook of his new autobiography, Keep Laughing, and we’ve really enjoyed it, so I wanted to do a review here as well. This isn’t sponsored or gifted, I’m just a fan, and I hope you find it interesting.
Contents
Sight Loss
Chris actually narrates the book himself, which he’s described in interviews as being rather a slow process, as given his blindness he had to listen to the text of his book being read to him, so that he could then record it. But you wouldn’t know that from listening to it. He has a very laid-back, conversational manner, even occasionally adding little asides that aren’t in the printed book, as if he was just a mate telling you about his life, and the style suits his story perfectly.
So it’s really interesting, often very amusing and sometimes a little bit emotional, as he covers the major aspects of his life to date. But naturally his experiences and thoughts surrounding his sight loss are of particular relevance to Mum and I, and therefore we did find it quite relatable, sometimes in unexpected ways.
At the very beginning, for example, he gives an anecdote about an episode of Friends, and it’s not clear where he’s going with it to start with. I’ve never been interested in that sitcom, so the episode he talks about is totally unfamiliar to me. But he describes it well, and then throws in a personal and surprising twist which Mum and I can closely identify with in our own way, given the issues she’s been having over the past year, and he also reaches the same conclusion about it that we have. So that’s helped to normalise it a bit, reassuring Mum that it is not entirely unusual for blind people to experience it. I won’t spoil what the twist is, but you can hear it in the preview clip below, and if you’ve been following my story as a carer over the past year, you’ll know what I’m referring to.
Throughout the book he then talks openly about how he felt emotionally, and the coping strategies he experimented with, as his sight deteriorated over the years. He doesn’t focus on the subject all the time, as there are lots of other stories mixed in. But inevitably he mentions it regularly, to keep us up to date on where he is physically and mentally on his sight loss journey, and the impact it’s having on him. So Mum and I can identify with a lot of it.
After the introduction he starts by revisiting his childhood, and what it was like going to both mainstream and specialist schools, a lot of which resonates with my mother and I from our own experiences. In amongst it all there’s a section about glasses, part of which is quite moving as he explains how he was humiliated in front of his peers, but then there’s another part where he recalls a particular style of glasses, which made my mother break down with laughter as she knew exactly what he was talking about.
Then later, when he’s taking us through his adult life and his descent into blindness, he talks about what it’s actually like not to be able to see (dispelling the assumption that it’s just blackness), his reluctance to use Braille and a white cane, the access barriers to employment, the benefits of accessibility software, audio description and the iPhone, the difference between radio and TV football commentaries (including a funny story about him taking his radio into a pub), and a whole chapter about embarrassing but hilarious incidents involving an undertaker, a man down a hole and a concert.
Early Life
But apart from the visual impairment side of things, we found many of his other stories very interesting and amusing too. And he doesn’t rush through each period of his life, so there are plenty of good anecdotes. Early on, for example, it’s fun to hear about the mischief he got up during in his youth, from playing silly pranks to his first experiences of drinking alcohol. And once he reaches adulthood, he talks about his early career and living arrangements, including funny stories about him and his flatmate going for the same position, the worst place he ever lived in, and his application to become a spy for MI5. He also makes sincere points about the big impact his first paid job had on him.
He talks a bit about his adult family life during the book too, explaining how he met his wife Patricia, what it was like becoming a dad, and how his daughter changed his perceptions and worries about himself, which is really sweet.
Comedy
In terms of culture and entertainment, meanwhile, he’s got very good taste in music, TV, movies, video games and obviously comedy. I’m not into all of the same things as him of course, but we do have a lot in common. So I loved hearing him talk about some of my favourite shows and films, including Bottom, Blackadder, Red Dwarf and Back To The Future, as well as some entertainers of yesteryear that I also like.
And once he moved to London he naturally got into the live comedy scene, attending gigs at places like the Comedy Store, which I’ve enjoyed going to as well. We also get to hear about the comedian he loves and feels inspired by the most – Eddie Izzard – and while I’ve never got into Eddie’s comedy in a big way, I’ve always had a lot of respect for him (or indeed her as the now-named Suzy prefers to be called).
When it comes to his own comedy career though, Chris explains how it all came about thanks to a bout of shingles, which set off a chain of events with some chance discoveries that pushed him to give it a go. From there we then hear about his very first night doing an open mic spot, some of his other early gigs, examples of bad gigs that helped to toughen him up, his first ever TV appearance on the children’s show Me Too!, his debut on Live At The Apollo, what it’s like being on panel shows and how accessible they are, the impact of lockdown, and being in the Royal Variety Performance.
He then explains how he got his own shows, including the Radio 4 quiz You Heard It Here First, the Channel 4 travel show Wonders Of The World I Can’t See, his ITV morning chat show, and the Christmas film Bad Tidings on Sky with Lee Mack (whom he had first met during their hilarious spot at the BAFTAs). So it’s interesting to hear about all of those, out of which Bad Tidings is my favourite. The other shows are alright too, but I never got into them much – after all, just because you’re a fan of someone doesn’t automatically mean you get hooked on every single thing they do.
Strictly
And then of course there was an obscure little programme called Strictly Come Dancing… well, alright, a whopping great behemoth of a show… that Chris took part in and won. I’ve never watched the series, and didn’t change the habit of a lifetime on this occasion either, but I did watch his dances on Youtube each week and was very impressed by how well he and Dianne Buswell worked together. They had the perfect chemistry, which is also evident from the social media videos they’ve done together, and despite never working with a blind person before she adapted extremely well, having to teach him the dances in an entirely new way.
So in this book Chris talks at length about why he refused to do it several times, what convinced him to change his mind, how he got paired up with Dianne, the intense pressure of their debut on the first of the live shows, and what was it like for them in training, as well as giving an overview of all their dances (including the waltz that won a BAFTA), recalling what it was like to win that coveted trophy, and being open about the emotional rollercoaster that the series took him on.
As he admits, the amount of space he devotes to the show in the book might be a bit too much for some, yet will be nowhere near enough for obsessive devotees of the programme. But I think he gets the balance right here, with just a few chapters that provide a decent amount of interesting detail without getting repetitive or going overboard.
So even if, like me, you haven’t seen the series, it’s fascinating to learn about his experience. It had such a big impact on him, and without it he wouldn’t have written the book, partly because he didn’t have the mindset for it and also because without it the book wouldn’t have had a proper ending. Sure, the money will have tempted him to as well, but it doesn’t feel like that was the primary reason for bringing this out, otherwise he’d have done it much earlier. He’s put a lot of effort into compiling this portfolio of his life, which is all the more remarkable considering he did it while touring all over the country at the same time.
Conclusion
Chris finishes with a few small updates on life since Strictly, including his recording of Channel 4’s Alternative Christmas Message about how under-resourced Access To Work is (which I know only too well). He then reflects on what it was like writing the book, and he rightfully gives thanks to lots of people. Even the acknowledgements chapter is worth listening to for his amusing remarks, self-made music, and a callback to an earlier joke if you hang on until very end to see if you’ve been paying attention.
So all in all it’s a fascinating, funny, frank and heartfelt book about Chris’ life, celebrating his many well-deserved successes without shying away from the difficulties along the way. Whether you’re a fan of his comedy and/or his dance moves, want to hear about what a blind person can achieve, or just like autobiographies, it’s an essential listen I’d say, it’s genuinely really good.
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