McCausland, 47, was registered blind after losing his sight to retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary condition, in his 20s.
He said he started his autobiography, Keep Laughing, with his birth as it was when he had perfect eyesight before it began deteriorating.
“I wanted to frontload the deterioration of the eyesight right at the front of the book so I could casually refer back to it as I was working through the story rather than having to explain it too much along the way,” he said.
He said he began writing stand-up comedy in his mid-20s out of boredom while he was recovering from a bout of shingles.
But he said it was important for him not to “just go and be funny about being blind”.
“I didn’t talk about it onstage for ages,” McCausland said.
“My plan was to …make people forget and surprise people.”
