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Rhod Gilbert has returned to stand-up comedy after battling head and neck cancer.
The 54-year-old comedian recently performed at Swansea Arena for the first time in a year, admitting that he was delighted about his return to the stand-up scene.
Rhod – who announced last year that he was being treated for stage four cancer – expressed his joy to be back on stage in a Facebook video ahead of the show.
While signing the wall of the arena, he spoke about finally being able to perform his rescheduled Book Of John tour.
‘It is wonderful being back doing stand-up again for the first time in a year,’ he told the camera.
‘Lovely to be here, lovely to be back in Swansea, lovely to be alive, and lovely to be back on tour.’
Rhod Gilbert made his return to the stage last night at Swansea Arena (Picture: Facebook/Rhod Gilbert)
The star said ‘It’s lovely to be alive!’ In a video posted to his Facebook page (Picture: Facebook/Rhod Gilbert)
Rhod previously admitted that he felt ‘p****d off’ when he was diagnosed with head and neck cancer.
The TV star also revealed that he was left struggling to ‘speak or breathe’ during the early days of his battle with the disease.
In a pre-recorded segment for the National Comedy Awards, which were held in aid of Stand Up 2 Cancer, he said: ‘I couldn’t speak or breathe and I was postponing and cancelling tour shows, I had terrible spasms in my face and a lot of tightness in my muscles.
‘Couldn’t get to the bottom of it, turns out after a biopsy of this lump in my neck that I have something called head and neck cancer, cancer of the head, sounded pretty serious.’
The comedian was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in 2022 (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Rhod joked that he assumed he would have ‘life-long immunity’ from cancer after spending ten years as a patron of Velindre Cancer Centre.
He said: ‘I’ve led five fundraising treks all over the world, I do stand-up comedy nights to raise money, I hosted quizzes … it’s been a big part of my life for the last ten years, so imagine my surprise when I was diagnosed with cancer.
‘Which p****d me off no end, because I thought I’d have life-long immunity! Apparently not.
‘Apparently, you’re just as likely to get cancer even if you spend your time fundraising for a cancer hospital. Anyway, I did get it, and it turns out it can come for anybody.’
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He’s back doing stand-up for the first time in a year.
