To many British podcast listeners, Richard Herring is most probably the granddaddy of British podcasting, switching formats and projects with an effervescence, enterprise and a consummate ease alongside rare charm. Having gone from a traditional dialogue podcast (Collings and Herrin), to a weekly sketch show (As It Occurs To Me) to more recently playing himself at snooker, (Me1 vs Me2 Snooker) it is little wonder his podcasts often debut at the peak of the British iTunes charts. But as he now broaches a burgeoning fame, probably as in demand as he has ever been, Herring has moved into the interview genre. Last years successful run of ‘Richard Herrings Edinburgh Fringe Podcast’ (RHEFP!) means that we now see the return to his rightful throne as the self proclaimed ‘King of Edinburgh,’ relishing a chance to bother the charts for another month, being excitedly obscene, charming and hilarious.
RHEFP utilises a basic format mostly consisting of an interview followed by a guest stand-up, who performs a shortened set. This simplicity places Herring and his guests in literal centre stage, allowed to get lost, get giddy or become briefly trapped in a lull without concern for boredom. Herring employs this allowance to properly discuss comedy, retrace he or his guests pasts and to simply conjugate the daily realities of the Fringe. With this set up, both Richard and his guests have a lot more freedom than would be allowed by most talk show formats. As an interview show of course, the guests are almost as important as Richard himself; and they don’t disappoint, their various natures and approaches to comedy and life heightening differences as well as similarities with Herring or the audience at large. It is also a tribute to their individuality within the show that more than their sheer variety ensures every show is a different experience from the last. The stand-ups too are as strange a mix as they come, mixing newcomers with well-known underground acts, but giving them all a platform to really showcase their skills in a way that is as much admirable for it’s content as it is as another salute to Richard’s taste. Heartily embracing this odd blend, Herring carrys every show with humour to spare, matching smartness with stupidity and obscenity in a way so charming way it’s almost obscene itself.
I don’t know who snapped this candid picture.
Herring is a thoroughly endearing character, his mild smarm, openness and joy in immaturity make his company a constant delight. He seems to arrive as a creature born for podcasting, wherein smartness needs to be twinned with a love for obscurity and a revelry in the disgusting, which is almost custom built for his talents. The specificity and absolute obscurity of his references is also something to love, most often relating to 70s and 80s television shows that were little watched even then, often almost totally alienating of his audience in a device that works as a delightful anti-invitation, Herring embracing the self-made distance between himself and the audience, thereby only making himself all the more cuddly. And with questions so elucidating, illuminating and logical as: ‘If you had to have sex with an animal… Which animal would you have sex with?’ You can’t really help but love him. Such queries facilitate answers roaming from the bizarre to the strangely thought out, even occasionally veering into the semi-logical. With such questions of bestiality deemed as essentially as far as you can go to be absurd and gross-out, you pretty much nail down both his sense of humour and his core audience. The fact these questions are a signature of the show also gives Richard a guarantee for at least one daily laugh. A daily minimum which he often exceeds within the first five minutes.
Richard. Herring!
Another aspect keeping Richard ahead of his podcast peers is that he is a ‘proper comedian,’ and thus has an unerring knack for comic ‘understanding.’ Rather than the many podcasters who are passionate amateurs or adapted radio personalities, Herring being a de facto comedian gives him an instant advantage in terms of both humour and patter. The combination of his comedic ability and understanding mean that he is more than a simply funny person, though this is what he surely is. But beyond this is where lies his greater magic, that notion of comic ‘understanding.’ The acknowledgement that great comedy is often more than jokes, but the knowledge that it’s about ideas, thoughts and meanings as well. Using the stage to make sense and light of fears, nonsenses or the basic problems of life, rather than just making fun of them. This understanding is what is so evident in Herrings stand-up and inevitably leaks into his podcasting. Allowing him to do more than mock, instead engaging thoughts and ideas as greater than mere jokes
Richard Herring’s Edinburgh Fringe Podcast is more than a mere vehicle for the ‘King of Edinburgh,’ featuring enough giggles and silliness to fill-out even the grumpiest of iPods. His natural charm and affinity meaning that his voice, which has always been a joy to hear, only continues with the grand return of RHEFP.
You can find all Richard Herring’s podcasts on iTunes, or him as an actual human being interface on twitter, @herring1967. Have fun boys and girls!