RTÉ Radio 1 presenter Oliver Callan told listeners that he had to take time off work after undergoing skin cancer surgery as he returned to the airwaves on Monday morning.
The comedian said it was "good to be back" and thanked "the lovely Maura Derrane" for taking over the reins at his morning show "for about nine days there, at short notice, and doing it really well".
Callan said he had been diagnosed with a mild skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma, and had to undergo surgery to remove it.
He explained: "I'd gone off for a very minor procedure which I'd thought would just put me off-air for two days but it turned out to be a longer spell.
"Like thousands of us out there with our Irish skin, I got one of those mild skin cancers - basal cell carcinoma.
"It doesn't spread to your body so it's not that scary, but it has to surgically removed and mine is located on the face, which is a precious place when someone comes at you with a scalpel, just between the edge of my nose and the corner of my lip.
"So I couldn't talk properly, or indeed I was told not to laugh out loud for the last two weeks or I'd end up with a nasty scar."
The satirist said that "fortunately there wasn't a lot to smile about while I was gone with all the American carnage and all that trouble over the immigration element of our housing disaster.
"But look I'm back now, I did lots of research work for the show and I read some upcoming books with authors that we'll be meeting over the rest of the summer."
He added jokingly: "I've also started growing a moustache because I can't shave at the scar yet, so as a result I look like an inept sidekick of a provincial detective in a 1980s Sunday night TV drama."
Listen to Oliver Callan on RTÉ Radio 1, 9am-10am Monday to Friday.
