Credit: YouTube/RussellHoward

English stand-up comedian and podcaster Russell Howard, 46 this month, has frequently discussed his amblyopia in his shows.

“I used to get bullied at school because of my lazy eye. I’d cry a lot, so I’d look like a Picasso in the rain. I’ve had an operation but it’s still bad,” he said in 2011.

More recently, he described making light of his “wonky eye” on stage. “This bloke down the front said, ‘I don’t like it when you joke about your lazy eye, because I have a got a lazy eye!’ Surely, if anyone can, you can look the other way?” suggested Howard. But the audience member disagreed. “Physically and metaphorically, we couldn’t see eye to eye!”

Stopping off in Rotorua on his 2024 tour, Howard said, “How can you not fall in love with a place that calls itself RotoVegas, despite the fact that it has no casino?”