Rhod Gilbert makes emotional return to comedy as host of Stand Up To Cancer’s Roast after being ‘completely free’ from the disease

Rhod Gilbert made an emotional return to TV on Friday to present the Channel 4 special Stand Up to Cancer: The Takeover.

The comedian, 55, was diagnosed with head and neck cancer after finding a lump in April 2022 and was treated at the Velindre Cancer Center in Cardiff, where he had been a fundraising patron for ten years before his diagnosis.

While joining a live audience at the Francis Crick Institute in London, he opened the show’s comedy roast with some lighthearted commentary about his recent condition after recently becoming “completely clear” of the disease.

He began, “Tonight’s show comes completely live from you, and while the prospect of dying on stage in front of millions of viewers is terrifying.

‘Over the past year I have become increasingly afraid of dying alone on the hospital floor in a puddle of my own urine.’

As the crowd responded, he hit back: “You don’t have to be in awe of me! I’m fine, and you should be too.

“Because it’s a live show, it could go either way, which by the way are the words my doctors used this time last year,” he joked.

‘I’m here because I had cancer for the past year and now I don’t! It was in my tonsils, neck and tongue.’

The live show was kicked off by Davina McCall as she co-hosted with Adam Hills, Joe Lycett and Munya Chawawa.

The evening’s entertainment on Channel 4 included 90 minutes of comedy and music from Rita Ora.

A host of celebrities appeared on the show, including Strictly’s Oti Mabuse and actress Cush Jumbo, known for her role in The Good Wife.

The show was followed by a brand new episode of Celebrity Gogglebox and then a nail-biting finale of Don’t Look Down with Paddy McGuinness.

The end of the evening concluded with The SU2C Comedy Roast, hosted by Rhod.

Over the past ten years, Rhod has raised almost £2 million for cancer care and research.

During a fundraising trip, he noticed some symptoms that later turned out to be head and neck cancer.

Rhod’s experience is captured in his upcoming Channel 4 documentary Rhod Gilbert: A Pain In The Neck.

The program follows the Welshman from his diagnosis and treatment through intimate video diaries.

Speaking about the decision to film his cancer journey, Rhod said: ‘I was in bed on Friday with my treatment due to start the following Monday.

‘I called the team I knew – there was no broadcaster on board, it was all to spec – and I said, ‘How would you like to come on this journey with me?’

‘It was partly for me. I had canceled all my TV work and tours and I wanted to have something other than ‘cancer’ on my agenda.

‘I knew I wouldn’t be good enough to go on stage or on TV, but I thought maybe I would be good enough to lie in bed and talk to a documentary team about how sick I was. I thought, ‘It’ll give me something to do.’

The documentary will air on Monday October 30 as part of Channel 4’s Stand Up To Cancer campaign.

Earlier this year, Rhod revealed that he “ironically” first found the tumor on his neck while in Cuba on a hike to raise money for the Velindre Cancer Center, where he subsequently became a patient.

He returned to screens for the first time since his diagnosis in February as he gave a moving speech at the National Comedy Awards, in support of Stand Up 2 Cancer.

Speaking from his home in the pre-recorded segment, he revealed he was having trouble “speaking or breathing” after finding a lump in his neck.

Rhod said:I couldn’t talk or breathe and I was postponing and canceling tour shows, I had horrible spasms in my face and a lot of tension in my muscles.

‘Couldn’t get to the bottom of it, after a biopsy of this lump in my neck turns out I have something called head and neck cancer, cancer of the head, sounded quite serious.’

Rhod admitted his diagnosis ‘scared’ him, joking that he thought he would have ‘lifelong immunity’ after working as a patron for a cancer center for ten years.

He said: ‘I’ve led five fundraising tours around the world, I do stand-up comedy nights to raise money, I’ve run 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 bullied me endlessly because I thought I would have lifelong immunity! Apparently not.

‘Apparently you are just as likely to get cancer even if you spend your time fundraising for a cancer hospital. Anyway, I got it and it turns out it can apply to anyone.”

He added: ‘The other irony is that I was in Cuba on a hike to raise money for this cancer center when the first large lump appeared in my neck. I literally left as a patron and came back as a patient.”

Last month, Rhod announced that he plans to return to the stage and is planning a comedy tour for 2024, after admitting that “life is too short.”

His last tour, Book Of John, ran from 2019 to June 2023 due to health breaks and the pandemic.

In an interview on BBC Radio Wales, Rhod said he was very grateful to Velindre Cancer Center for ‘getting her back on her feet’.

He added: ‘My new attitude is that life is too short, you have to persevere and do these things.’

He continued, “I’ve been doing some scribbling, I’ve got a few ideas and I’ve been trying some things out.

‘I think I’ll go on tour again next year, it’s all starting to take shape.’

Rhod has also said he will use his cancer diagnosis as stand-up material because he thinks about his cancer 24/7, but added that there is “humor in it.”

Speak with The guard, he admitted, “It does feel weird. I don’t know how much to talk about the cancer. I don’t really know what to say.

‘I’m really aware of mental health now and check in with myself every day. I feel fine, strangely enough. I’m happy, optimistic and hopeful that everything will work out next year.

“If I get through this, the next show will be in the same spirit. I think about the cancer 24/7, but when I’m well enough to write, I jot down a few things. And there is certainly humor in it.’