Lost Voice Guy

Lost Voice Guy is Geordie comedian Lee Ridley. Born in County Durham, he was diagnosed with a neurological form of cerebral palsy when he was a baby, which left him unable to talk. Undeterred, he worked in journalism for several years before embarking on a comedy career.

When Ridley made his debut live appearance in 2012 and used the iPad’s text-to-speech feature, he became the first stand-up to utilise a communication aid. In the years that followed, he took on the moniker Lost Voice Guy and performed in many of the UK’s most popular comedy venues. He’s been a regular on the festival scene as well, appearing at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Liverpool Comedy Festival and others since 2013.

Lost Voice Guy won the BBC New Comedy Award in 2014, but it wasn’t until the 2018 series of Britain’s Got Talent that he rose to national prominence. From his first audition through to the final, Ridley either left judges Simon Cowell and Amanda Holden speechless or howling with laughter. He became the first ever comedian to be crowned the winner of the reality competition.

Immediately after, Ridley toured around Europe before heading across the pond to compete on America’s Got Talent: The Champions, but was eliminated in the preliminaries. He also made appearances on Comedy Central and television programmes like Live At The Apollo, The Last Leg, The One Show and The Royal Variety Performance.

In 2019, Lost Voice Guy took his unique and hilarious brand of comedy across the UK with his critically acclaimed headline tour I’m Only In It For The Parking.

Using his voice synthesiser to deliver his performances, Ridley regularly told audiences that while he can’t talk “he definitely has something to say”.

On 30 September 2020, Lost Voice Guy announced the new Cerebral LOL-sy UK tour for spring 2021, offering a tongue-in-cheek look at living as a disabled person in a post-apocalyptic world.