Richard Herring

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Richard Herring

Herring backstage of the Comedy Store, London
Born (1967-07-12) 12 July 1967 (age 44)
Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire England
Medium Stand up, Radio, Television, Podcast, Weblog
Nationality British
Years active 1987–present
Genres Black humour, Satire, Irony, Wit

Richard Keith Herring (born 12 July 1967) is a British comedian and writer, whose early work includes his involvement in the double-act, Lee and Herring. He is described by the British Theatre Guide as "one of the leading hidden masters of modern British comedy".[1] He has written and performed in a body of live one-man comedy shows including the acclaimed Talking Cock and the resulting book of the same name. He has collaborated with the broadcaster Andrew Collins, initially on the radio series Banter, then on Collins' BBC 6 Music show and Collings and Herrin Podcast.

During the 2000s, Herring has toured with a new stand-up show almost every year. His 2009 show Hitler Moustache was the subject of much controversy, but also received critical approval and sold out for the entire Edinburgh Festival.[2] His 2010 show Christ on a Bike: The Second Coming received several 4 and 5 star reviews[3][4][5][6][7][8] and was taken on a 94 date tour of the UK in the Spring of 2011.[9] It was the subject of protests from Christians in Glasgow. [10] and Lowestoft [11]


Contents

Career

Herring was born in Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire, but grew up in Cheddar, Somerset. He was educated at St Catherine's College, Oxford, where he wrote and performed for a comedy troupe known as the Seven Raymonds as well as the Fringe favourites the Oxford Revue. He attained a 2:1 in History.

Richard Herring performing his show Someone Likes Yoghurt at the Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh, during the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe

With Stewart Lee, Herring wrote material for Chris Morris and Armando Iannucci's On the Hour (1991). It was during this time that the duo contributed to the creation of the character Alan Partridge. In 1992 and 1993, they wrote and performed Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World for BBC Radio 4. For Radio 1, they wrote and performed one series of Fist of Fun (1993), which was later remade for television. They also hosted a series on Radio 1 in 1994 and 1995, simply called Lee and Herring. A final television partnership with Lee, This Morning With Richard Not Judy, was a victim of BBC management reshuffles.

In 2002 Herring played the role of Renchard in the Doctor Who webcast Real Time, with Stewart Lee as Carey.

Since cordially ending his informal partnership with Stewart Lee, Herring has written and performed one-man shows to critical acclaim. Most noteworthy of these shows were Talking Cock – released as a book in 2003 – which The Guardian described as "man's answer to The Vagina Monologues. " The show was translated into several European languages, most successfully in French. The book was also published in Russian. Like Patrick Marber (a long-standing rival who was described as "curmudgeonly" or "a Cornish curmudgeon" in Fist of Fun), he has also written and produced several plays.

Herring co-wrote and presented the history based sketch show That Was Then, This Is Now (or TWTTIN), a six-part series produced for Radio 2. A second series was commissioned and aired in September and October 2006. On the broadcast of 2 September, he urged listeners to edit Wikipedia's Mother Teresa entry to suggest that she grew up with the middle name "Gonk". It took a whole 3 months before someone carried out his plan, although his own page had been edited in the same manner within days of the broadcast. A third series of the show began broadcast on 29 November 2007.

He has also written for television, most notably penning a large portion of Al Murray's sitcom vehicle Time Gentlemen Please, on which Stewart Lee worked as script editor. Herring has also contributed to the third series of Matt Lucas and David Walliams' popular TV sketch show Little Britain, as script editor. He has also worked for Russell Howard.

On 25 November 2002 Herring started his blog Warming Up as a way to overcome writer's block. He has written an entry for every single day since then, around about 3000 consecutive entries. It is estimated that he has a regular readership of over 3,000. Some of the ideas from Warming Up were used in his 2005 Edinburgh show Someone Likes Yoghurt, his 2006 Edinburgh show Ménage à Un and his 2007 Edinburgh show Oh Fuck, I'm 40!. In December 2008 the first six months of his blog were published in a book called Bye Bye Balham. The blog also proved a useful source for his 2010 book "How Not To Grow Up" and his 2011 stand up show "What is Love, Anyway?"

In 2005, he presented a chat show called Heads Up with Richard Herring on the Pokerzone channel, in which he interviewed professional poker players and celebrities about their careers and their love of the game. There were ten episodes in total.

Performing at the Kings Head pub in Crouch End, London.

Herring also made weekly appearances on Andrew Collins' BBC 6 Music radio show on Saturday afternoons, where the two would discuss the weeks papers. Occasionally he hosted the show in Collins's absence and joined him for the whole of his final show on 31 March 2007. Herring is also a panellist on BBC Radio 4 gameshow Banter, which is presented by Collins.

In January 2007, Herring's live stand-up show Someone Likes Yoghurt was filmed in Cardiff and released on DVD on 16 May by the independent distributor Go Faster Stripe. A recording of an earlier show, The 12 Tasks of Hercules Terrace, was released on 5 March 2007. Herring returned to Cardiff in June 2007 to film his third DVD, ménage à un. This DVD was released on 19 December 2007. He recorded Oh Fuck, I'm 40 on 21 March 2008. This DVD was released by Go Faster Stripe on 9 December 2008. He recorded "The Headmaster's Son" on 2 June 2009 at the Bristol Tobacco Factory. This was released by Go Faster Stripe on 11 February 2010. The DVD of "Hitler Moustache" was recorded on 2 April at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff and was released through PIAS/Go Faster Stripe on 25 October 2010.

In February 2007, filming began on Herring's new comedy drama You Can Choose Your Friends. As well as writing the script, Herring also played one of the characters alongside Gordon Kennedy, Claire Skinner, Rebecca Front, Sarah-Jane Potts, Robert Daws, Anton Rodgers and Julia McKenzie.[12][13] The show was broadcast on ITV1 on 7 June 2007.

In January 2008 he began producing the Collings and Herrin (sic) podcast with Andrew Collins. They celebrated their two year anniversary with a live "100th" podcast (it was actually about the 105th one they had done) at the Leicester Square Theatre. On 30 January 2010 the pair started sitting in for Adam and Joe on BBC 6 Music on Saturdays mornings.

His 2008 stand-up set The Headmaster's Son earned critical respect with four 5 star reviews and several 4 star reviews.[14][15][16][17] The set covers his experience growing up in The Kings of Wessex School in Somerset where his father worked as headmaster and how this may have encouraged him to make puerile jokes. The show was seen by critics as a thoughtful look at his upbringing,[1] and his relationship with his father, to whom the show is dedicated.

"The point of all the routines mentioned, when quoted in full, is vehemently anti-racist ... The show as a whole, far from examining my hatred of Pakistanis (another out of context quote from a routine intended to demonstrate the ludicrous nature of racism) is about trying to change the meaning of the toothbrush moustache so that it is no longer associated with Hitler and to make it into an anti-fascist symbol as a way of encouraging people to vote to ensure that the BNP never get elected again."

-Richard Herring, letter to The Guardian[18]

The original idea behind his 2009 show, Hitler Moustache, was to see if he "could reclaim the toothbrush moustache for comedy – it was Chaplin's first, then Hitler ruined it."[19] The show discusses broader issues, such as fascism and the British National Party.[20] Herring and some of his contemporaries, including Dave Gorman, were angered when comments he makes in his show were grossly misrepresented in an opinion column written by critic Brian Logan in The Guardian. In his piece about offensiveness in comedy,[21] Logan failed to communicate that Herring's line "that racists have a point" is accompanied by a critical commentary of democracy.[19][20]

Amateur video of a stand-up routine interrupted by a heckler was mounted on YouTube and has been viewed by more than 1,500,000 people. In Warming Up, Herring noted ruefully that this was more than had ever seen him perform his prepared material.

On 12 October 2009, he recorded the first episode of As It Occurs To Me, a weekly stand-up and sketch show made especially for internet download. It also features Emma Kennedy, Dan Tetsell and Christian Reilly and had a first run of 10 episodes. The show made a modest profit and a second series of eight episodes ran from 17 May to 5 July 2010. It was nominated for best internet show at the 2010 Sony Awards, though failed to place. An Edinburgh special took place during the Fringe on 17 August and there were three autumn specials in October and November 2010. A third series of six episodes started on 16th May 2011.

On 8 April 2010, Herring made his first appearance on the BBC's Have I Got News For You. He returned to the show as a guest on 13 May 2011 for episode five of the 14th series.

On 14 October 2010, his Radio 4 series "Richard Herring's Objective" was first broadcast. In it Herring attempted to reclaim demonised items, starting with the Hitler moustache. The other episodes revolve around the hoodie, St George's Flag and Dolly the Sheep. An Edinburgh special about the "See You Jimmy" Hat was broadcast in August 2011 and a second series is being recorded in October 2011 with episodes about the Golliwog, the wheelchair, the Page 3 girl and the Old School Tie.

On 27 December 2010, Herring finished second on Celebrity Mastermind with a final score of 35 points. His specialist subject was Rasputin.[22]

He was The Pod Delusion "Comedian of the Year 2010" [23]

On 7 February 2011, As It Occurs to Me won the first Chortle Internet award [24]

On the 18 May 2011 he recorded a live performance of his 2010-11 show, Christ on a Bike: The Second Coming, which is due to be released by Go Faster Stripe on October 31st 2011.

In May 2011 it was announced that Fist of Fun would be released on DVD via Go Faster Stripe. The first series was released on December 5th 2011.

His 2011 Edinburgh show What Is Love, Anyway premiered at the Cow Barn on 3 August, and will be taken on tour between October 2011 and April 2012. Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast topped the iTunes chart for 3 weeks during August 2011 and guests included Adam Buxton, Sarah Millican, Al Murray and Omid Djalili. [25] During the 2011 Festival Richard referred to himself as "The King of Edinburgh".[26] This was then picked up in several Festival focused publications. [27] [28] [29]

At the end of 2011, he started a podcast where he would commentate on himself playing snooker against himself (Me1 vs Me2) in his basement. This was his most successful work to date

Personal life

Herring was formerly in a relationship with the actress Julia Sawalha, according to The Daily Telegraph:

So taken was he that the Oxford-educated stand-up comedian even set up a shrine to her on Fist of Fun, the television programme he wrote and acted in with Stewart Lee. "My ideal woman has the head of Julia Sawalha and the body of Julia Sawalha," went the running gag.[30]

When Stewart Lee pointed out that it would be easier just to say that his ideal woman was Julia Sawalha, Richard added: "No, Stew, you're not listening. I said the head of Julia Sawalha and the body of Julia Sawalha. I said nothing about them being attached."

Herring has raised money for the Scope charity since 2003, and ran the London marathon in aid of the charity in 2004[31][32] as well as the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon in 2011. In January 2011 he was nominated for a Just Giving Life Time Achievement Award for his extensive work in helping to raise money, awareness and support for Scope [33]

Richard is a supporter of York City Football Club and in April 2010 performed a one-off fund-raising gig in aid of the club's cash-strapped youth fund.[34]

In 2010 he was made a Distinguished Supporter of The British Humanist Association[35]

Herring announced in his new Metro newspaper column that he was engaged to marry his long term girlfriend in April 2012.[36]

Selected works

Radio

Television

DVD, Video and CD

  • Lee and Herring Live BBC Video (1996)
  • Time Gentlemen Please (episodes 1–6) (2006)
  • The 12 Tasks of Hercules Terrace (2007)
  • Someone Likes Yoghurt (2007)
  • ménage à un (2007)
  • Oh Fuck, I'm 40![38] (2008)
  • Time Gentlemen Please (both series box set) (2008)
  • The Headmaster's Son[39] (2010)
  • Collings and Herrin: The Best of Earth Wind and Fire * *(and water)[40] (2010)
  • As It Occurs To Me: Secret Stand Up (2010)
  • Hitler Moustache (2010)
  • Collings and Herrin: War and Peace, Crime and Punishment (2010)
  • As It Occurs To Me: The Complete Cumpkin (2011)
  • Christ on a Bike (2011)
  • Fist of Fun: series 1 (2011)

Stand up

  • Richard Herring is Fat (1994)
  • Richard Herring is All Man (1995)
  • Christ on a Bike (2001)
  • Talking Cock (2002)
  • The 12 Tasks of Hercules Terrace (2004)
  • Someone Likes Yoghurt (2005)
  • ménage à un (2006)
  • Oh Fuck, I'm 40! (2007)
  • The Headmaster's Son (2008)
  • Hitler Moustache (2009)
  • Christ on a Bike: The Second Coming (2010)
  • What Is Love, Anyway? (2011)

Plays

  • Ra Ra Rasputin (1993)
  • Punk's Not Dead (1996)
  • Excavating Rita (1997)
  • Playing Hide and Seek With Jesus (1998)
  • It's Not The End of the World (1999)

Edinburgh shows

  • Old King Cole (1987) by Ken Campbell, played Faz. Oxford Theatre Group. Abbey Laird Theatre
  • The Seven Raymonds KMnO4 (1987) OTG. St Mary's Hall
  • The Oxford Revue – Waving at the Pigeons (1988) OTG St Mary's Hall
  • the dum show (1992) with Stewart Lee, Steve Coogan, Patrick Marber and Simon Munnery. Pleasance 2
  • Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World Live (1993) with Stewart Lee, Ronnie Ancona and Alistair Macgowan. Tom Baker on video. Pleasance 2
  • Ra Ra Rasputin (1993) with Ben Moor, Sally Phillips, Andrew Mackay and Claire De Vries. Pleasance Upstairs.
  • This Morning With Richard Not Judy (1994) with Stewart Lee and Sally Phillips. Pleasance Attic.
  • Richard Herring is Fat (1994) with Kevin Eldon and Sally Phillips. Pleasance Upstairs.
  • Richard Herring is All Man (1995) with Sally Phillips and Tom Binns. Pleasance Upstairs
  • Lee and Herring Live off of TV's Fist of Fun (1995) with Peter Bayhnham. Pleasance One?
  • Lee and Herring Live (1996) Pleasance One?
  • Punk's Not Dead (1996) with Paul Putner, Ewan Bailey, Jason Freeman and Paul Reynolds. Dir Jeremy Herrin. Pleasance Upstairs.
  • This Morning With Richard Not Judy II (1997) with Stewart Lee, Richard Thomas, Trevor Lock and Natalie Brandon. Pleasance Cabaret Bar
  • Excavating Rita (1997) with Paul Putner, Catherine Hood, Jason Freeman, Trevor Lock and Natalie Brandon. Pleasance Above.
  • Playing Hide and Seek With Jesus (1998) with Paul Putner, Emma Kennedy, Selina Boyack, Matthew Pidgeon, Amelia Curtis and Matt Wilkinson. Dir. Jeremy Herrin. Pleasance Above.
  • Lee and Herring (1998) George Square Theatre.
  • It's Not The End of the World (1999) with Paul Bown, Rebecca Lacey and Ruth Grey. Dir Jeremy Herrin. Pleasance One.
  • Christ on a Bike (2001) Dir Jeremy Herrin. Pleasance Dome
  • Talking Cock (2002) Dir Jeremy Herrin. Pleasance Above
  • The 12 Tasks of Hercules Terrace (2004) Dir Jeremy Herrin. Pod Deco
  • Someone Likes Yoghurt (2005) Pleasance Above
  • Ménage à un (2006) White Belly, Underbelly
  • Oh Fuck, I'm 40! (2007) White Belly, Underbelly
  • The Headmaster's Son (2008) White Belly, Underbelly
  • Collings and Herrin Podcast Live(2008) White Belly, Underbelly
  • Hitler Moustache[41] (2009) White Belly, Underbelly
  • Collings and Herrin Podcast Live[42] (2009) Belly Laugh, Underbelly
  • Christ on a Bike: The Second Coming (2010) The Ball Room Assembly Rooms
  • Collings and Herrin Podcast Live (2010) GRV Five Pound Fringe
  • As It Occurs To Me Live (2010) Ball Room Assembly Rooms
  • What Is Love, Anyway? (2011) Cow Barn, Underbelly
  • Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast (2011) The Stand One

Writing

References

  1. ^ a b Reviews from the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe (83). Britishtheatreguide.info. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  2. ^ Warming Up. Richard Herring.com (2009-08-26). Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  3. ^ Richard Herring: Christ on a Bike – The Second Coming' review : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide. Chortle. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  4. ^ Press Archive. Richard Herring.com. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  5. ^ Comedy review: Richard Herring – Christ on a Bike: The Second Coming : Scotsman.com. Edinburgh-festivals.com (2010-08-24). Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  6. ^ Richard Herring – Christ On A Bike: The Second Coming – Festivals – Mirror.co.uk. Blogs.mirror.co.uk. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  7. ^ Edinburgh Review: Richard Herring – Christ on a Bike: The Second Coming on Spoonfed – Things to do in London. Spoonfed.co.uk. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  8. ^ Richard Herring – Christ on a Bike: The Second Coming. Broadwaybaby.com (2010-08-13). Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  9. ^ Warming Up. Richard Herring.com (2010-08-24). Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  10. ^ Stewart, Catriona. (2011-03-27) Church group pickets Glasgow comedy show – Herald Scotland | News | Home News. Herald Scotland. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  11. ^ BBC News – Richard Herring's Lowestoft show angers Christians. Bbc.co.uk (2011-04-14). Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  12. ^ Warming Up. Richard Herring.com (2007-01-29). Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  13. ^ Warming Up. Richard Herring.com (2007-02-19). Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  14. ^ Richard Herring: The Headmaster’s Son. Metro.co.uk (2008-08-05). Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  15. ^ Richard Herring: The Headmaster's Son' review : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide. Chortle. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  16. ^ The Six Wives of Timothy Leary | The Skinny. Festmag.co.uk (2008-08-10). Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  17. ^ Richard Herring.com. Richard Herring.com. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  18. ^ Siobhain Butterworth (3 August 2009). "Open door". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/03/theguardian-national-newspapers. 
  19. ^ a b Richard Herring (31 July 2009). "'There isn't a "New Offensiveness"'". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/jul/31/richard-herring-standup-comedian-brian-logan. 
  20. ^ a b Dave Gorman (2009-07-29). "Writing wrongs... : Dave Gorman is angered by a 'dangerously bad' piece of journalism". Chortle. http://www.chortle.co.uk/correspondents/2009/07/29/9369/writing_wrongs.... 
  21. ^ "The new offenders of standup comedy – Brian Logan – Stage – The Guardian". London: guardian.co.uk. 27 July 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/jul/27/comedy-standup-new-offenders. Retrieved 2010-01-30. 
  22. ^ One Programmes – Celebrity Mastermind, 2010/2011, Episode 1, Richard Herring extended chat. BBC (2010-12-21). Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  23. ^ Episode 65 – 27th December 2010 – New Years Special! » The Pod Delusion – A Podcast about Interesting Things. The Pod Delusion (2010-12-28). Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  24. ^ Victoria Wood honoured at Chortle Awards : News 2011 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide. Chortle. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  25. ^ http://www.comedy.co.uk/podcasts/richard_herring_edinburgh/
  26. ^ Herring, Richard (6 August 2011). "Warming Up - Saturday 6th August 2011". richardherring.com. http://richardherring.com/warmingup/?id=3204. Retrieved 3 September 2011. 
  27. ^ [1]
  28. ^ [2]
  29. ^ [3]
  30. ^ 'They told my parents I was dead', The Telegraph, September 2000.
  31. ^ Richard Herring. JustGiving. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  32. ^ Flora London Marathon – Richard Herring Runs The Marathon. Original.justgiving.com. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  33. ^ JustGiving Awards 2011 – donate to charity and raise funds online – Raise money for charity online. Justgivingawards.com (2011-02-10). Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  34. ^ Herring, Richard (9 May 2009). "Warming Up". Richard Herring.com. http://www.richardherring.com/warmingup/warmingup.php?id=2381. Retrieved 2009-05-28. 
  35. ^ British Humanist Association website
  36. ^ Herring, Richard (7 February 2012). "Richard Herring: I'm getting married but my fiancée's way too good for me". Metro.co.uk. http://www.metro.co.uk/lifestyle/889545-richard-herring-im-getting-married-but-my-fiancees-way-too-good-for-me. Retrieved 2012-02-07. 
  37. ^ Comedy – On The Hour. BBC. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  38. ^ "Richard Herring – Oh Fuck, I'm 40". http://www.gofasterstripe.com/cgi-bin/website.cgi?page=videofull&id=5130. 
  39. ^ "Richard Herring – The Headmaster's Son". http://www.gofasterstripe.com/cgi-bin/website.cgi?page=videofull&id=7372. 
  40. ^ "Collings and Herrin". http://www.gofasterstripe.com/cgi-bin/website.cgi?page=videofull&id=7672. 
  41. ^ Richard Herring – Hitler Moustache | Edinburgh Festival Guide. Edinburghfestival.list.co.uk. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
  42. ^ Collings and Herrin Podcast Live! | Edinburgh Festival Guide. Edinburghfestival.list.co.uk (2009-08-23). Retrieved on 2011-05-24.

External links
Stewart Lee · Richard Herring
Lee and Herring
Stewart Lee
Richard Herring
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