» Richard Herring interview
Victoria Nangle spoke to Richard Herring about his new show and his difficulty in growing up
Richard Herring is a busy chap, despite currently lying on his bed talking to me. I say it’s nice to have a job where you can have a nap in the afternoon. “Touring is unbelievable,” he informs me. “It’s harder than most jobs. This week I’ve driven to Scotland and back.” On top of this he has been spending the past few months writing a book alongside touring his most successful stand-up show to date, The Headmaster’s Son. So what’s it all about?
“It’s a look at adolescence really,” admits Herring. “Adultescence, kidulthood – call it what you will. There’s an element of whether we can blame our childhood for how we turned out. I don’t feel any different now to how I did in my 20s. It’s a quite open and honest show, but it also pushes back the boundaries of taste and people still leave thinking I’m a lovely man.” I suggest that his rigorous touring schedule could be a difference between the current him and the one of 20 years ago. “It is,” he concurs. “We used to have a curry and get wasted after every show. I can’t do that now,” he adds with a smile.
Richard Herring is referring to his earlier work in the 90s with former comedy partner Stewart Lee, with who he had several successful television programmes, including Fist of Fun and This Morning With Richard Not Judy. Both have now moved on to successful independent writing and performing careers, with Herring’s writing including Time Gentlemen Please and You Can Choose Your Friends for telly and That Was Then, This is Now and Banter on the radio, as well as a highly successful run of podcasts with Andrew Collins.
“It’s a quite open and honest show, but it also pushes the boundaries of taste and people still leave thinking I’m a lovely man”
I tell him I saw The Headmaster’s Son last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. “The show’s now longer,” he informs me happily. “There’s an extra half an hour of performance in it. There’s more stuff from the diary (Herring has rediscovered his actual teenage diary) and more stories of youthful stupidity.” Is he still enjoying the show? “By constantly gigging a show it either gets better or you get sick of it, and I’m not sick of it. In fact, the best show of the entire show was last night. I can’t wait to come to Brighton. The Brighton audience are a great comedy audience and I just love the place.”
The last time I caught him in Brighton was at Brian Gittens and Friends when someone loved his material about his hands so much they heckled he should include it in his podcasts, to which he rightly replied that it wasn’t the medium for physical comedy. He chuckles at this. “Yes, generally the things that happen are bizarre. The same week as that, a woman at a show with candles around leant back and set fire to her hair. Luckily it was quite thick and she didn’t burn her head, but I couldn’t carry on with the show. I was trying to pat her out and she had no idea initially that she was on fire. I came up with all these ad libs afterwards of what I could’ve said. But that will never happen again.” He laughs at the lost genius ad libs.
And who does he reckon are the faces of tomorrow to watch out for? “Josie Long and Isy Suttie. There are some great female comics at the moment.” Both have shows can be found in the current Fringe brochure. “Also, Terry Saunders; Matthew Crosby of Pappy’s Fun Club; Pappy’s Fun Club of course. Jack Whitehall, he moved into telly quickly but he’s very good. Holly Walsh; Christina Martin.” Again, have a butcher’s at the May line-up to catch some more of these. He reels out the names of some of the best and the brightest on the circuit. “I feel that I fit in quite well in the current stand-up scene. But that’s because a lot of them grew up watching us,” he chuckles. And then he disappears off, hopefully to have a nap before tonight’s show. Wallowing in the massive advantage of never growing up properly; the toys; the mates; the gigs discussing it – the Peter Pan of comedy.
Richard Herring, The Headmaster’s Son, Komedia, 23 April. Richard Herring and Andrew Collins, podcast and stand-up at The Duke of York’s, 28 May.
