Roz Laws talks marathons, muscles and moving with comic Steve Day.

Have you heard the one about the deaf comedian? Steve Day hasn’t, but he’s the first to crack a joke about his disability.

The country’s biggest deaf comic – “if there’s another, I haven’t heard of them” he smiles – is based in Sutton Coldfield and looking forward to performing on home ground at the Birmingham Comedy Festival.

His show, Run Deaf Boy Run, is based around his experience running the London Marathon in April, a decision he bitterly regrets.

“I got halfway round and was in such pain, I would gladly have accepted death,” winces the 47-year-old.

“I took up running last year when I moved to the Midlands and by Christmas I had run eight miles around Sutton Park, so I thought ‘Maybe I could do this’.

“I tried running with my hearing aids in, but all I could hear was some fat bloke wheezing. I took them out but then it wasn’t safe to run on the roads, as I couldn’t hear cars coming.

“So I took to the canals and loved it. I went up to Aston and all the way to Spaghetti Junction. It was a great way to get to know Birmingham.

“But then I got injured six weeks before the race. I pulled a muscle in my leg and was told not to do the marathon. But I was running for charity and couldn’t let them down.

“I thought I would walk it, but in the end I ran and I put my hip out. I never thought I would finish.”

You’ll have to watch his show to find out whether he did.

Former IT consultant Steve moved to Sutton Coldfield from London with his wife and family. With Olympic athlete Georgina Oladapo, who competed in the 400m relay at the 1996 games, he has three sons – 12-year-old twins Leo and Cameron, and Dan, 10.

“It was pretty horrid in Lewisham for the kids, so we wanted to move out. I work all over the country so we chose somewhere central. And we have friends in Sutton. It’s lovely here, we have a great quality of life.”

Steve began to lose his hearing as a teenager. “I got a bang on the head playing football. I knew my hearing had gone a bit iffy so I played music very loud on headphones, which made it worse.

“I’ve lost 80 per cent of my hearing but I lip-read and my hearing aids are very good.