The funniest presenting duo ever at the BAFTA Awards last year featured comedians Chris McCausland and Lee Mack. With over 1.3 million views on YouTube alone and a new army of fans all over the UK, it’s understandable why the video became extremely popular.
Liverpool-born Chris is now really excited about coming to star at the first ever Salt & Tar Comedy Weekender in Bootle on 26th – 28th May 2023.
Chris will appear in the Comedy Night on May 26th, along with Patrick Monahan and Nina Gilligan, as part of an outstanding lineup.
Fellow comedians Jason Byrne, Jo Caulfield and Scott Bennett, Steve Royle, and Martin ‘Bigpig’ Mor also on the bill during the Bank Holiday weekend.
All the gigs will take place at Salt and Tar, Bootle’s brand-new events space.
At the BAFTAs, Chris opened the act next to the podium with Lee Mack, saying:
“Just to let you know, this is the first time somebody blind has been asked to present at the BAFTAs so Lee is going to tell me my bits from the autocue…”
Hysterical laughter followed from the audience as gag followed gag, with a superb chemistry between the two.
It’s no wonder. Chris, who grew up in Liverpool, and Lee, who grew up in Southport, both now live in the London area, and are great friends.
They often bounce ideas off each other, and love collaborating. Chris is due to appear in an episode of Lee’s BBC One comedy Not Going Out later this year.
Chris has been on tour for the past few months, with sold-out shows across the UK, and he can’t wait to star at the Salt & Tar Comedy Weekender.
He said:
“It is going to be nice to come home! I have been away on tour for over a year!
It’s great to be on the bill with Patrick Monahan and Nina Gilligan. This will be the first show for a while where I’ll get to be with other people. We are definitely ending the current tour in May.
We originally planned on arranging 30 to 40 dates for the tour. I’ve ended up doing 142! I’ve just been enjoying it.
I’ve done a lot of TV appearances in the past few months and the more shows I’ve been on, the better ticket sales have been, and the more dates we’ve put on.
It sounds like a lot of gigs. But when I was doing the circuit, trying to make my name, I did so many more.
Relatively speaking, this has been quite a chilled out year compared to what I used to do. The tour has been loads of fun. We were originally going to do the tour in March 2020, but then the Covid pandemic happened. It got re-arranged, and re-arranged. It’s good for people to be able to go out and see live comedy again after being in lockdowns for so long. But I’m looking forward to when this tour finishes. My next tour starts in July! I am a glutton for punishment.”
So what can people expect when Chris arrives in Bootle?
He said:
“What they can expect is a happy me having finished a tour and getting straight back into it!
I will be using some stuff from the tour but I will also be looking forward to saying some new things too which people haven’t heard before.”
Chris was born in West Derby in London but moved south when he was younger. He loves returning to Merseyside and seeing how much the area has changed over the years.
He said:
“I was at Kingston University in 1996 and then stayed in the area afterwards after uni, as many people do. I have been living in Surbiton.
I love coming home. Liverpool has changed so much in the past few years. The amount of redevelopment has been fantastic. I love gigging in the North West and getting back to Liverpool, although it’s also one of my real anxieties.
On tour you are terrified about what if you know that your teacher, or your auntie, or someone else you know, is in the audience?”
Chris is the proud Dad of a nine-year-old daughter, who gives him a great mine of comedy material.
He said:
“There is a lot in my show about being a Dad and about family life. The good thing about parenting within comedy material is that everyone can relate to it. Being a parent and being blind brings a little added twist to it!
I am very lucky at the moment, she’s at a very cute age. She tells me ‘Make sure you talk about me in your show!’
I am sure that in a couple of years’ time I’ll become an embarrassing Dad and she’ll be saying ‘Don’t you dare mention me!’”
Presenting the BAFTA Awards with his close friend Lee Mack was one of the highlights of Chris’ career.
The two chatted together and came up with the idea, and hoped it would work on screen as well as they’d hoped.
Chris said:
“It was a relief when we heard the first laugh from the audience! Lee and I are so much on the same wavelength in terms of comedy and our sense of humour. But that doesn’t mean what we like is funny to other people, except in our own heads!
We wrote the script together and were really hoping it was going to be funny. I walked on stage thinking ‘I just hope they laugh at the first joke!’ I have done a lot of work with Lee this year. We get on really well.
I have just filmed an episode of Not Going Out with him which will be screened later this year. I am quite an anorak about comedy, and about jokes, and so is Lee, we are quite similar in that respect. I turn up with pages of jokes and Lee says ‘this is what it must be like for other people to work with me!’”
Next up for Chris is his show in Bootle, and he can’t wait.
He said:
“I am really looking forward to performing at the Salt & Tar Comedy Weekender!
What the organisers of the event, Brendan Riley and Val Brady, do for live comedy in Merseyside is fantastic. It was great to be asked to get involved in this festival, the very first one.
People should come out and support the Comedy Weekender and get involved!”
The first Salt & Tar Comedy Weekender will take place at Salt & Tar in Bootle on 26th – 28th May 2023. Tickets can be purchased here.
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