Podcast: Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast
Number of Episodes: 100
Release: Wednesdays, but currently on hiatus
There are so many people in this world that I’d love to sit down and
have a chat with. While I still can’t really do it, someone who can is
Richard Herring. His podcast (RHLSTP) is smart, irreverent,
hilarious and pure bliss. His guest list is one that other interviewers
can only dream of, and it doesn’t matter who’s sitting opposite him,
they’re going to get the same treatment. Herring is capable of asking
really important questions, getting to the heart of who someone is and
what drives them, and where they think their careers are going, but
mostly he just wants to make cock jokes and talk about seventies
television. That’s not a complaint.
It’s currently on hold, and will be back this month, but over the
last 100 episodes, guests have ranked from up-and-coming comedians like
Joe Lycett, Sara Pascoe and Roisin Conaty, to really high-profile guests
like Stephen Fry, Eddie Izzard and Harry Shearer. While the guests are
generally pulled from the world of comedy, there have also
been academics (Mary Beard), TV presenters (Louis Theroux) and fellow
podcasters (Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann). While a lot of it seems to be
Herring asking people if they’d rather have a hand made of ham or an
armpit that produced sun cream, he nonetheless always gets a great
interview.
Particularly wonderful episodes include Stephen Fry (for which the
podcast got noticed by the mainstream press when Fry admitted to
recently attempting suicide), Armando Iannucci & Graham Linehan (if
only for Linehan’s Bob Dole anecdote), Louis Theroux (which contains a
lot about Jimmy Saville), and Miles Jupp (who is distraught at Herring’s
obsession with Balamory). Frankly, if you’ve ever liked anyone in
comedy, chances are they’re in here somewhere.
While I’m a bit too young to have been able to appreciate Richard
Herring the first time round – indeed, I didn’t know he had a lot of
success in the nineties until I started listening to this – it’s clear
that the rest of the comedy industry worships him and he seems to be on
good terms with all his guests. They’re really good fun, but if you’re
listening in public, be prepared to get some odd looks.
https://fellfromfiction.wordpress.com/2016/06/05/podcasts-part-two/
