Richard recently co-wrote and presented the history based sketch show, 'This Was Then, This Is Now' for Radio 2 and is a panelist on the new Radio 4 gameshow 'Banter'. Last year he returned to standup after a 14-year absence, and is soon to appear at the very first Bottle Rocket Comedy Club on 12 January 2007 at Loughborough Town Hall.
Introduce yourself! Richard Herring - comedian, writer. I used to do things with Stewart Lee but now I do solo stuff and write for other people, I used to write for Al Murray and I was recently script editor for 'Little Britain', and the 'Grumpy old women' stage show. Starting my mid-life crisis about now.
Best place to watch comedy? | "I love the more experimental stuff - Robin Ince's book club, Josie Long. Young comics trying stuff out. " | | Richard Herring, Comedian and Writer |
The best places are the little places. Lovely little clubs. Now I'm successful I can pick and choose, I don't do Jongleurs or the Comedy Store, which are alright for what they are but if you are into comedy they aren't the place to go. I love the more experimental stuff - Robin Ince's book club, Josie Long. Young comics trying stuff out. When you go to these places it's usually 20 minutes of quite tedious stuff, 20 minutes of stuff that hasn't quite worked and 20 minutes of stuff that is great and exciting.
Is it hard to balance experimental work with things that you know will always make an audience laugh? To really do the job you have to do stuff the audience aren't going to like. Take someone like Peter Kay, he's a crowd pleasing comedian, but I look at him and think if that were me, I don't see how you'd get any pleasure out of doing the job. I'm a comedian and a writer, why am I doing this stuff about telling people things they already know to make them laugh? I want to tell them something they haven't thought of that makes them they think "that's true", or something that they don't agree with, or something I don't necessarily agree with. That's obviously more difficult to come up with but I want to challenge people. It's very easy to do an hour about Tony Blair and talk about how the war in Iraq is bad but actually it's more challenging to talk about other things.
What are you most proud of in your career? I'm not not proud of anything. There's nothing I've done that’s been rubbish. 'Christ on a Bike' is the best Edinburgh show I've ever done. Now 6 years later, everyone is doing a religious show at Edinburgh this year. Sometimes I feel like I’m five years ahead. Critically, it's gone ok, I've never been massively lauded, I've never won any awards but within the industry people respect me and appreciate my work.
Will you work with Stewart Lee again? I doubt it. It's our 20th anniversary of our first Edinburgh show next year which seems like the right time to do a reunion.
 | | Stewart Lee and Richard Herring |
If we were to do it we'd be taking a risk of people thinking "this isn't as good as I remember." I've thought of two really good routines we could do but I don't think he’d do it, I think I was more into it than he was.
Does it annoy you that people identify you with the work you did with Stewart seven years ago? No, it's kind of inevitable. If people come up to now and again you and say "I love that thing you did," you have to feel good and say thanks!
What can we expect from your set at Bottle Rocket on 19 November? Jokes, revelations about my fractured life, self-love, self-loathing. Loneliness, only-ness and onanism. Some stuff you agree with, some stuff that you disagree with, some stuff that will hopefully make you think.
Best gig ever? 'Christ on a Bike' in Edinburgh - I had a routine which would have the audience shaking with laughter and with tears running down their face, and I still knew there was a funnier bit yet to come. A rare experience, but this is when comedy is at its best.
Without comedy you would be …? I'd probably be a teacher, all my family are teachers. I'd certainly be unhappy. Whatever I say on stage, this is such a brilliant job, coming back to stand up has been brilliant for me. It's the best job in the world. It's annoying and worrying and there's no security - what will I do next year and what if everyone decides I'm not funny anymore? I think that ultimately if I can keep doing the job until I die, I'll be really really happy. | 
