Comedian Lee Evans seen for first time in two years after ditching showbiz

Comedian Lee Evans has been spotted in public for the first time in two years after he quit life in the spotlight.

A rare glimpse of the 56-year-old funnyman was caught in Essex on Thursday.

The joker was spied out for a run in a disguising pair of wrap around sunglasses and baseball cap.

Lee sported an orange Under Armour T-shirt, grey long-sleeved top and pair of black joggers as he stepped out for some exercise.

It is the first time Evans has been seen in public since he briefly came out of retirement in 2018 to star in Pinter Three at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre opposite Martin Freeman, James Norton and Jack Whitehall in the play Wither Would You Go?.

The comedian and actor, who has been one of Britain’s best loved entertainers since bursting onto the scene in the early 90s, retired from showbiz in November 2014 and has been living the quiet life ever since.

Lee stepped away explaining he wanted to spend more time with his wife Heather Nudds and their daughter Mollie.

He announced his plans to retire while finishing up his Monsters UK tour.

The comedian made the revelation on Jonathan Ross’s ITV chatshow, when Ross asked him: “You are a remarkable force of comedy. Are you feeling it in your body? How long will you carry on?”

Evans, who has been married to Heather for 37 years, replied at the time: “I am 50. I am frigging knackered. This is it. Finished. This is the end. I am not doing anything.”

Evans, who was one of Britain’s highest selling stand-ups, said the death of his manager Addison Creswell from a heart attack aged 53 the previous year was one of the reasons behind him quitting.

He said: “Well my manager died last year. All I have ever done is work and Addison always used to put his arm around me and say, ‘Don’t worry, I will look after you. It is OK’.

“My dad always said to me, ‘You have got to work’ so I constantly worked and did comedy tours. And I think I have ignored for far too long my missus.

“And I want to spend a lot more time with her. I am going to go and see my wife, be home and say ‘I’m yours’.

“I know what will happen. In a week it will be ‘Get out. You are getting on my nerves’. But I am deadly serious. I have said to her ‘I am really sorry. I am always away’.

“Every single week I have been doing plays. I have had to say to my little Mo (daughter Mollie) ‘I cant go to the school play as I have got to do this work.’

“But now I can be with little Mo and do the things that we never did when we were kids.”

Lee was known for his anarchic brand of observational comedy played at a furious physical pace.

He enjoyed enormous success in stand-up with his 2011 Roadrunner tour grossing £12.9million alone.

In 2008, his ‘Big’ tour DVD became the highest selling Christmas DVD in the UK, selling over 1m copies.

He went on to enjoy a career in hit films too, starring in the likes of Mouse Hunt, There’s Something About Mary and The Fifth Element before retiring from the limelight.

Despite looking fit and healthy out on his run, Lee’s retirement has not been free from heartbreak as the stand-up star lost his dad and fellow comedian Dave Evans in June 2019.

His death left Lee and the comedy world shaken, as he revealed he got his strong work ethic from his dad.