The best comedian of his generation GQ
After appearing at 23 of the last 28 Edinburgh Fringes and an unbroken run of a different stand-up show every year for the last 11 years, Richard Herring, The King of Edinburgh, will be spending August in London. But he isn’t slacking off. He will be taking on the not inconsiderable challenge of performing all eleven of his one-man shows, plus a twelfth brand new one, over six weekends from Friday August 7th at the Leicester Square Theatre.
It will be a rare opportunity to see how a comedian develops over a dozen years (in just 12 nights), as well as to catch up on old shows that you may have missed: Christ on a Bike, Talking Cock, The Twelve Tasks of Hercules Terrace, Someone Likes Yoghurt, ménage a un, Oh Fuck I’m 40, The Headmaster’s Son, Hitler Moustache, What is Love, Anyway?, We’re All Going To Die! and Lord of the Dance Settee.
Herring says, “As much as I love the Fringe, it has become an over-crowded marketplace. And last year I found myself competing with new acts charging nothing on the Free Fringe and big TV names. I couldn’t blame people for parting with cash for comedians they knew well and taking their chances on shows they didn’t have to pay for. It made it a lot tougher for all the acts in the middle. But mainly I resented paying £3000 to stay for a month in a flat that might charitably be called “studenty”. It struck me that I could make the market less over-crowded and stay for “free” in my own house, if I premiered my new show in London. And to add to that a retrospective of my entire solo career is an exciting challenge and a chance to assess where I’ve come from and where I am going to. The span takes me from post-BBC2 “fame”, through some wilderness years, where I was directionless, alone and afraid my career might be over, to meeting and then marrying my wife and this year having my first child. My new show, Happy Now? Will question whether complete contentment is possible or desirable and attempt to debunk the argument that having children removes a comedian’s edge. It will be particularly satisfying if you’ve followed my internal struggles in the previous 11 shows. Though I am not looking forward to welcoming back the Hitler Moustache on to my upper lip, even for 90 minutes.”
There are discounts for people booking for 3, 6 or all 12 of the shows (it’s only £100 to see the lot) and those committed enough to see every single one will get a one-off, badly hand-drawn T-shirt created by Richard himself.
richardherring.com
@herring1967
Herring is a superior comedian…hilarious The Guardian
Stimulating and Exhilarating…Utterly Hilarious Chortle ★★★★★
For more information and press tickets, please contact: Lottie Robertshaw:
lottier@avalonuk.com / 0207 598 7222
FULL LIST OF DATES
Friday 7th August, Christ on a Bike
Saturday 8th August, Talking Cock
Friday 14th August, Twelve Tasks of Hercules Terrace
Saturday 15th August, Someone Likes Yoghurt
Friday 21st August, Menage a Un
Saturday 22nd August, Oh Fuck, I’m 40
Friday 28th August, The Headmaster’s Son
Saturday 29th August, Hitler Moustache
Friday 4th September, What is Love, Anyway?
Saturday 5th September, We’re All Going To Die
Friday 11th September, Lord of the Dance Settee
Saturday 12th September, Happy Now?
NOTES TO EDITORS
Richard Herring has enjoyed phenomenal cult success as a writer and performer and is an innovator in the world of podcasts. In 2015 he is touring his show Lord of the Dance Settee,which will also be released on DVD. He will also revive each of his eleven consecutive stand-up shows, for just one night only before premiering a brand new show at the end of this run at the Leicester Square Theatre.
Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast sees him interview top comedians in front of a live audience and is then released online both as videos and podcasts for free. Previous guests include Stephen Fry, Simon Pegg, Armando Ianucci, Russell Brand, Stephen Merchant, Steve Coogan, Tim Minchin, David Mitchell and Stewart Lee. The show regularly has up to 150,000 listeners per episode, won two Chortle Internet Comedy Awards and is the only non-BBC show to ever win a Sony Best Comedy Award. Richard’s audio podcast and sketch showAs It Occurs To Me won a Chortle Award and was Sony-nominated. His latest online ventureRichard Herring’s Meaning of Life was an independently produced web series performed in front of a live audience and broadcast via the internet for free. He writes a weekly column for the Metro newspaper and is has a script in development with Channel 4.
Richard’s has appeared as a guest on shows including Alan Davies’ As Yet Untitled (Dave),Pointless Celebrities (BBC One), Argumental (Dave), Set List (Sky Atlantic), Have I Got News For You (BBC One) and Never Mind the Buzzcocks (BBC2). He also wrote and performed two series of Richard Herring’s Objective for BBC Radio 4.
Richard has written and appeared in a number of critically acclaimed plays that have been performed at the Edinburgh Festival, including Punk’s Not Dead, Excavating Rita and It’s Not the End of the World. His one-man Edinburgh shows include the critically-acclaimed What is Love Anyway?, We’re All Going to Die, Christ on a Bike and Hitler Moustache. Richard’s blog Warming Up has gained a cult following since he started it in November 2002 and he has written an entry for every single day since it began, making it what is believed to be the second longest consecutive daily blog in the world.
As one half of the comedy duo Lee & Herring, Richard Herring enjoyed phenomenal cult success as a writer and performer with shows such as Lionel Nimrod’s Inexplicable World (BBC Radio 4), Fist of Fun (BBC Radio 1/BBC Two) and This Morning with Richard Not Judy (BBC Two). Richard bought the rights to bring out both series of Fist of Fun on DVD with Stewart Lee via independent Welsh company www.gofasterstripe.com.
With Al Murray, Richard devised and wrote 37 episodes of the sitcom Time Gentlemen Please(Sky One/Paramount) for Al’s alter ego The Pub Landlord. Richard also wrote and starred in the comedy drama You Can Choose Your Friends (ITV1).
