Harry Enfield left 'partially deaf' after years of cold-water swimming.
Harry Enfield has been left with bones growing in his ears after doing daily cold-water swimming for years.
Harry Enfield has been left "partially deaf" after years of daily cold-water swimming.
The 65-year-old comic has exostosis/surfer's ear, a condition that causes the body to grow lumps of bone in the ear canal, triggered by repeated exposure to cold water and wind, and he was diagnosed with it after being fitted for hearing aids.
Harry said on the latest episode of Ed Gamble, 40, and 41-year-old James Acaster's Off Menu podcast: "I'm deaf, pretty deaf."
The Loadsamoney hitmaker added: "Because I swim in the Highgate ponds, I've got stalactites in my ears.
"Stalactites, you grow them. They've got tiny little hearing aids you can get now, and apparently they're very good. Everyone says, 'You must get them. It costs a fortune, but they're worth having.'
"So I went to get them fitted. They said, 'No, you've got big bones – stalactites – have grown in your ears. Do you do a lot of fresh water swimming?'
"And I said, 'Well, yeah.' They said, 'Ah, that's what it is.'"
Harry continued to explain the condition: "You can have them chopped off, but it's very painful and takes a long time. I'd sooner not hear what you're saying.'
The Kevin and Perry Go Large legend described his ears as a "little cave".
Harry added: "It might be the sort of rotting corpses at the bottom."
The star enjoyed success with Harry Enfield + Chums on the BBC in the 1990s, but he thinks TV companies have moved away from sketch comedy because it is too expensive to make.
In 2021, Harry explained on The Andy Jaye Podcast: "It’s much easier to do a panel show than have characters.
"When we were doing our show, if you’re filming five or six characters a day, you’ve got all the make-up, all the costume changes, and that’s half your day filled. It’s about three times as expensive as making a normal comedy show, and every year they cut the budgets.
"In the end, it got to the stage where we just couldn’t afford to do it any more."
