Scottish Comedian Limmy Stopped Drinking 18 Years Ago Today

Limmy has revealed that he is 18 years sober today.

The Scottish comedian – real name Brian Limond – has built up a cult following over the years, with his sketch series Limmy's Show introducing many of us to his unique sense of humour.

But the comic has always been quite open about the struggles he has had in the past with alcohol addiction.

And today (7 June), the 47-year-old announced that he had not had a drink in nearly two decades.

Sharing to good news Twitter, he said: "I stopped drinking 18 years ago today. 18 years off the demon drink. 18 years dry, etc."

Speaking about the milestone on his Twitch stream, Limmy said: "18 years, never would have thought it.

"The day I stopped drinking, I remember how much I wanted to live, that feeling of 'it's not a joke anymore, it's not funny'.

"I was gonna jump in the Clyde, I was gonna drown, it was gonna be horrible.

"It was almost like a punishment of myself, a hatred, just f***ing horrible. And I was like 'no i don't want it, I don't want it', and that is why these days I say I would rather be an a***hole, a d***head... selfish than dead."

When asked how he broaches the subject with people if they ask him whether he drinks or not, Limmy said he's just honest about it.

He said that he just replied 'I don't drink, I just decided to stop. I was turning into a bit of an alchy'. Or these days, if it's a taxi driver, I go, 'I'm an alcoholic', just simple as that.

"I don't consider myself to be a fully-blown part of the club, alcoholic is just shorthand, it feels easy to say, everybody gets it."

In an interview with the Daily Record back in 2012, Limmy recalled the moment he tried to kill himself.

"I'd been on a weekend bender and woke up on the Monday feeling suicidal," he told the publication.

"I'd been feeling that way for years but it got really bad that day. I'd fallen out with my girlfriend, went to Glasgow Green and remember feeling as bad as I'd ever felt.

"I felt like I was nothing, as if I had no name. I felt I'd never beat the booze.

"I wanted to jump in. I remember thinking that I hoped I would regret it halfway down – but that it would be too late by then.

"I just wanted to end my life. It was when I started thinking about how people would tell Lynn, that she'd be told in the daylight that her boyfriend had drowned himself and that someone would have to tell my dad.

"I started thinking that I couldn't have these fantasies anymore. I wanted to live. And that's when I knew I had to stop the drink because I knew I'd never be able to moderate it."

Well done, Limmy!