Explain Richard Herring please

[TommyTurnips]

He said "worrying" because he's reminded of his own age when people say they watched his work when they were kids.  That's all.  Not that you were being some kind of creepy stalker fan or anything.

I didn't think of the stalker angle before. I had a lady with me so I think that might have made me look a bit less like a chain wanking basement dweller. I thought he was saying that it was worrying that I was watching such a show as a kid. I think if I was him I might have responded with something like "really? And would you say it had a positive or negative impact on your world view" but he just clearly didn't want to be there.

[sutin]

This is presumably because he would have put more effort into those episodes, entertained the idea of developing into a good interviewer, and been less self-focused throughout.

The issue is precisely that he has half-arsed his way through a considerable number of things instead of raising the quality of his better projects.

Absolutely. Most of us can agree that when RHLSTP is great it's great, so why does he feel the need to also test our patience with all the other endless crap?

[Replies From View]

Absolutely. Most of us can agree that when RHLSTP is great it's great, so why does he feel the need to also test our patience with all the other endless crap?

I think it has the potential to be great, but it never really is, unless the guest is very self-assured in that moment and doesn't require a strong lead from Herring to make the interview work.

As a body of interviews it's a formidable archive, but I think history will find Herring's self-obsession unfortunate.

[Twilkes]

...he just clearly didn't want to be there.

What was the date and we can look it up in the blog? You might get a mention!

[pigamus]

The best RHLSTP is the Julian Clary one. If Herring annoys you, watch that.

[McDead]

I was all set for Stewart Lee to be surrlish and grumpy when I met him post gig and he was surprisingly and a little disappointedly very engaging and pleasant. When I said my name and told him it was Irish he perked up even more.

When I met Stewart Lee after his If You Want a Milder Comedian... show I asked him if there was another series of Comedy Vehicle on the way (echoing an old Fist of Fun bit). He took it in good part and said there was, but they were putting it out in the coveted Persuasionists slot. Lovely fella, has a very large head.

[TommyTurnips]

What was the date and we can look it up in the blog? You might get a mention!

I just looked it up on the blog and I wasn't mentioned. It would have to be a very slow news day for that to happen. He mentions the "long ride home" after the show but that's it. And it was a show that was postponed by a month due to snow so maybe that was it combined with the long journey home.

[superthunderstingcar]

If you met him after his long journey home then that's the issue right there.

[TommyTurnips]

If you met him after his long journey home then that's the issue right there.

I wanted him to take me stone clearing.

[Magnum Valentino]

Stewart Lee, Tony Law and Simon Munnery were all lovely when I'd the chance to speak to them after shows. Stew was limited for time (bigger queue) but the other two talked to me for ages and Tony gave me a free DVD when I told him the GFS download didn't work.

Rich, on the other hand, encouraged Collins to make fun of me on their podcast because I gave an honest negative review of How Not To Grow Up on Amazon.

[Wacky Homemade Badges]

I'm kind of moderately sceptical about the theory that if Herring cut down his output, it'd be of a better quality. I mean, it might. It might be worse. It could be that doing hours of snooker stuff keeps his creative momentum ticking at a higher level than it would be otherwise. I guess I worry that saying "if he did less, it'd be better" is in the same ballpark as saying things like "if it takes one man three weeks to write a feature, it'll take three men one week." I'm not trying to make writing all mystical, but neither is it mathematically straightforward.

Also - is it really worth it? If the end goal is improving the quality of LSQTP? Someone mentioned his place in history - that isn't going to be materially affected by how well he interviews Lou Sanders, it'll be about his work in the early 90s and the way his blog offers a pretty unrivalled view of the way someone in his industry worked during the early 21st century.

[markburgle]

I remember a great story sent into Text the Station about a nonce getting some young kids to go to his van by telling them he had Skippy's paws and then the nonce chased them on a bike.

I once emailed the show about which of them was most famous, as measured by which of their names came up in the fewest number of letters when typed into wikipedia - I thought it would appeal to their competitive dynamic. Herring read it out as soon as the song ended, and Collins was like "ooh that's interesting" at the premise - which was nice.

Chatted to Stew once after a show. I wanted to ask him if he was still going to do his "TV Comedian" book and he said he'd had 2nd thoughts after SLCV ran to 4 series because the book would be as long as Lord of the Rings. He said some other stuff too but I got too distracted thinking "It's Stewart Lee!" and I didn't take it in. So I just did an awkward "Ok, bye then" and wandered off.

[TommyTurnips]

Here is the one of the autographs that I mentioned earlier. I'm not really an autograph kind of person, it's not something that I seek out. He just kind of did it automatically and seems just a little bit half arsed.

[Replies From View]

Does he know that a signature is meant to be his own name?

[Twilkes]

For balance, this is Stewart Lee's signature:



In-person signatures are a bit like a gang bang, you don't have time to dot the I's and cup the balls, you just have to toss them off as quick as you can and move onto the next one.

[turnstyle]

Hold up, this Stew sig is different to mine. Did I get bamboozled by a Stew impersonator? Mike Yarwood in a Todd Carty mask perhaps?

If so, fair play, he did a whole Stew gig.

[Replies From View]

For balance, this is Stewart Lee's signature:



In-person signatures are a bit like a gang bang, you don't have time to dot the I's and cup the balls, you just have to toss them off as quick as you can and move onto the next one.

Just pop 'anthea' down and rush onto the next person, it's fine

[Twilkes]

Hold up, this Stew sig is different to mine. Did I get bamboozled by a Stew impersonator? Mike Yarwood in a Todd Carty mask perhaps?

If so, fair play, he did a whole Stew gig.

They tend to degenerate over the years, you may have an early example.

[turnstyle]

Pretty sure mine omits the 'ewart' part and just says S Lee, though to be fair he's made up the for the shortfall in his first name with a very elongated 'eeeeee' for the surname, like he wrote it going down a rollercoaster or summat.

Now I'm starting to wonder if it wasn't him, and I happened to meet Sara Lee at a cake stand.

[Replies From View]

They tend to degenerate over the years, you may have an early example.

According to the first of those his surname has a 'y' in it.  The one underneath is very neat, barely a signature at all if we agree a signature has messiness as its very essence.

[willbo]

to be fair to Collins (Regarding the "arrogant memoirs"), they're more about the story of the 70s/80s and their pop culture, through his memories, than about him. I don't think he even goes into any detail about where he was born or whatever.

[Twilkes]

Ha, both of them trumped by Pam Ayres, the pair of washed-up 90s latent adolescent penmanshits:

https://johnbreakwell.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/what-does-a-signature-say-about-you/amp/

[Virgo76]

BAD THINGS ABOUT HIM
1. His acting is poor.
2. Much of his podcast is weak. I usually skip the first few minutes. His manner during the adverts is overbearing and annoying.
3. His emergency questions are good but rely far too much on "Would you rather have knees made of cheese or arms made of ham?' type questions.
4. His Hitler moustache experiment didn't work.
5. He undeniably spreads himself too thin.
GOOD THINGS ABOUT HIM
1. Seen him live six times in the last fifteen years or so. Have never been disappointed.
2. He always comes across as likeable, decent and usually funny. I much prefer him to Stewart Lee.
3. His podcasts are often good, despite what I say above.
4. He was polite and friendly when I saw him after a gig once. The same when I've occasionally sent him short email queries.
5. I enjoyed his book, The Problem With Men.
6. I like Warming Up. I don't read it often, but I'm glad he does it.
7. Fist of Fun and Richard Not Judy were mostly good, weren't they?
I think the good far outweighs the bad. If you really hate him, he is easy enough to ignore (except on here). I ignore weak stuff like the stones or snooker stuff. I think people get frustrated with him because he doesn't live up to their sky high aspirations for him.
But he is a positive presence in the world. I would miss him if he ever went away.

[Magnum Valentino]

The Problem With Men is a great example of what Richard can do when he applies himself. The initial gag of him replying to all those strangers is at the low end of his capability scale, the final book and the points he explores in it are at the high end. All the charity stuff is a brilliant byproduct, but in terms of of the difference between the two types of hard work - Time Spent Doing versus Time Spent Crafting, in this case - that book is a brilliant indicator of his ability.

[pigamus]

It's a shame the top review for that on Amazon is a one-star review from a thin-skinned man.

[Twilkes]

To be fair, some of the 'quality' stuff he seems to have done recently include writing Relativity for Radio 4 and writing his ball book, which to all accounts (i.e. his own) might be the best one he's written. The other stuff (RHLSTP excepted) is just to keep the hardcore fans edging, and if he wasn't doing it he'd be dropping off the radar completely.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Pretty sure mine omits the 'ewart' part and just says S Lee, though to be fair he's made up the for the shortfall in his first name with a very elongated 'eeeeee' for the surname, like he wrote it going down a rollercoaster or summat.

Deliberate Bernie Winters tribute?

[Ray Travez]

would you prefer to explain richard herring or have a finger made of tzatziki that explodes up your bumhole or something

[Ray Travez]

Absolutely. Most of us can agree that when RHLSTP is great it's great, so why does he feel the need to also test our patience with all the other endless crap?

You do realise it's optional? ;)

[Tony Tony Tony]

Seems the right place to post this...

The RHLSTP this week with Armando Iannucci is ace. Rich is back to his best, all it needs is a top guest.