Richard Herring has ‘incurable’ but ‘entirely treatable’ blood cancer

Comedian Richard Herring has said he has “incurable” but “entirely treatable” blood cancer.

The 58-year old Taskmaster star revealed the news in a Substack blog post – nearly five years after he said he “defeated” testicular cancer.

Herring said was not “too worried or upset” – however, he is not “delighted to have had two cancers before the age of 60”.

He said: “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 (HCL).

“The other bad news is that it is incurable.

“The good news is that it’s entirely treatable and will not kill me.

“It’s pretty annoying to get another cancer just after the other one is basically at the all-clear stage, not least because I can’t do another show and book about it so soon.”

According to Cancer Research UK, HCL is a rare type of chronic leukaemia that develops slowly from white cells, called B lymphocytes.

It is named after the hair-like outgrowths on the cells as seen under a microscope.

Herring went on to explain that the blood cancer had been “bubbling under for a few years” after doctors found a few of the cells in his bone marrow about 12 years ago.

He said: “It didn’t get any worse and after five years of being tested the doctor said it was probably going to be OK. I’d sort of forgotten about it to be honest.

“It’s not linked to the testicular cancer. Someone up there just doesn’t like me. But they don’t hate me that much. So keep giving me the flimsiest and easiest to live with and funniest named cancers available.”

Accompanied by his wife, comedian Catie Wilkins, Herring started treatment this week and received his first jab “of essentially chemo”, expressing his “admiration” for the NHS as well as “bewilderment” at how “inefficiently” it runs.

He added: “I don’t mind waiting for my free cancer treatment.

“There just seem lots of ways to make the NHS a bit more efficient if only someone would invest properly in the thing.

“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.”

Herring formed one half of a double act with Stewart Lee before penning a string of solo shows and beginning Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast.

In 2020 he was named Taskmaster champion and claimed victory for the game show’s 10th series.