Usually, you expect stand-up comedians to talk. Not so with Lee Ridley, better known as Lost Voice Guy. Starting in comedy in 2012, Lost Voice Guy, who has a form of cerebral palsy that renders him unable to speak, uses an iPad synthesizer with voice communication to deploy his punchlines. A winning run on Britain’s Got Talent in 2018 gave him a mainstream audience, but he’s been a popular standup on the circuits for a while.
His current tour, I’m Only In It For The Parking is a ‘best of’ all of his material since his start, he says, to give the audiences unfamiliar with him before his TV-show success a chance to catch up on what they missed. But where did Lee start from and when did he realise he could ‘do’ standup?
“I don’t think there ever was a moment when I realised I could ‘do’ standup,” he says, writing via email. “It came about because my mate thought it would work well. Of course, I thought he was mental but the idea stuck in the back of my head. Eventually, a few months later, I decided to give it a try because I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t. It’s just grown from there.”
His voice communication module is set to a monotonously dry Received Pronounciation style of English, giving Lee’s punchlines a deadpan edge. “Sounding like a posh version of Robocop does add an extra dimension… it’s just funnier if a posh bloke swears, isn’t it?”
Most comics have some horror stories about some notoriously bad gigs. For Lee though, this has not been a regular occurrence. “I think the uniqueness of my act gets people on my side very early on. You just have to use the bad gigs as a learning curve and try to be better next time.
“Most of my bizarre moments happen afterwards. You would be surprised at how many people come up to me after gigs and ask if I really can’t speak. Because of course, it would totally be acceptable to pretend to be disabled for a laugh. I have lived in Newcastle all my life, but I still haven’t picked up the accent. If you are trying to place my accent, it’s from PC World.”
words Fedor Tot
Lost Voice Guy, Glee Club, Cardiff Bay, Wed 20 Feb; Y Ffwrnes, Llanelli, Thurs 21; Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Fri 22. Tickets: £14-£16.50. Info: www.lostvoiceguy.com