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Last weekend teenage comedian Jack Carroll wowed the judges on Britain’s Got Talent.

The 14-year-old who suffers from cerebral palsy cracked up the crowd with a string of quick fire gags.

However, the young prodigy is not the only the comic with cerebral palsy who knows how to tickle the funnybone.

Cardiff comedian Ted Shiress has been carving out a sizeable reputation as one of Welsh comedy’s rising stars.

A finalist in the Welsh Unsigned Stand-Up Award, the 25-year-old has played some of the leading venues on the comedy circuit including The Glee Clubs in Cardiff and Birmingham, as well as major festivals such as Green Man in Brecon.

The former Cardiff University Language and Communications student launched his comedy career accidentally three years ago after sitting in the front row for a gig by award-winning comic Ray Peacock at former comedy venue The Hawaiian in Cardiff.

“I got in to comedy through enhancing, read: destroying, a Ray Peacock gig. I was at the front feeling a bit rowdy and I think Ray took a huge gamble and assumed I wasn’t mentally disabled but would be up for a lot of banter assuming I was,” Shiress recalled.

“The hour that followed probably left everyone bar me feeling massively uncomfortable but I loved it and wanted more!”

The comic, whose first gig at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff – ‘I felt much less nervous than I should have been. Mind you, I did have a crib sheet in my hands!’ – is something of a comedy firebrand who uses his disability as a way to exorcise his everyday frustrations at being a disabled individual.

“I guess my driving force is I have always liked the idea of combining the frustration I feel, mainly at having CP, with comedy and have felt many other disabled comedians try too hard to put a happy face on disability and I think this overlooks a great area for comedy,” he said.

Shiress’ admits his comedy comes from the sort of dark heart as his heroes – Bill Hicks, Dave Chapelle, Louis CK and Stewart Lee.

He certainly seems to enjoy the shock value his stage presence brings.

“Sometimes people genuinely don’t know how to react, I guess it makes the audience more vulnerable in that they have no idea what to think, which means a strong opening line will likely knock them dead and have them eating out of my hands for the rest of the gig, but a bad opening and the atmosphere gets very awkward,” he confessed.

“I’ve had the odd gig when someone just decides I’m not for them (and walks out) – although I do think I like the image of being unpalatable more than I actually am.

“Very few people heckle me as I think they feel it’ll make them look too bad – which is a shame as I’d like the experience,” he added.

“But because they look bad the audience are usually with me when it happens so it’s easy to put them down.”

Living on his own in an adapted apartment in the Roath area of Cardiff and getting out and about using a disability scooter, the comic is fiercely independent, but wished more comedy promoters were open-minded when it came to booking disabled comics.

“Promoters tend to seize up when they hear a word like ‘disability’. I find this especially tricky as my disability is a big part of my act, and I can’t deny that, but my act is predominantly about getting the laughs, as I just find being ‘frustrated and disabled’ a great place to write jokes from.”

Another barrier for the comic is getting around the county to gigs.

“It is possible to do but the extra taxis you need plus the accessible hotels if there’s not a train back get very expensive. It’s ok to shed that money on a big gig – playing to a full-house at the Birmingham Glee probably set me back £80 but was worth it!

“However, to pay that, and more, to get to a tiny pub in Brighton just on the small chance you might have a great gig in-front of someone important is just ludicrous.”

As for being a role-model for the disabled and inspiring other CP comics such as Jack Caroll, Shiress is nonchalant.

“I really have very little desire to actively change reactions – surely just being up there is enough? I just want to be me up there using my personalised formula of how to be funny, and if I change a reaction along the way...well, well done me!”

Find out more about Ted Shiress at www.tedshiress.co.uk