Interview with Richard Herring
Where’s your favourite place to visit in Yorkshire?
I love all of Yorkshire, as it is the county of my birth, so it’s very hard to choose. But I had a lovely break in York with
the family last year and the people at the York Chocolate Story
recognised me from Taskmaster and gave me a free bar of chocolate. So
for that reason alone (as well as being a long suffering fan of the
football team) I will say that York is the best!
Do you have a favourite place to eat in Yorkshire?
There’s a lovely French restaurant in Leeds called Pret A Manger, which I usually visit before gig there.
Have you ever travelled to Yorkshire for sport – if so, tell us a bit about those trips?
I have come up a few times to watch York City
play and one time I did a gig for the club and in return I got to have a
box at Bootham Crescent (which conveniently faced the car park) and to
walk out to the centre circle before the match and was within touching
distance of York City legend Richard Brodie. I also interviewed Jon
Parkin for RHLSTP in 2019, a terrific player, very funny man and gives
anyone with a bit of a gut hope that they might one day be able to play
in the National League!
What sort of accommodation do you prefer to use when performing?
These days I am pretty much straight down the line Premier Inns.
You know what you’re getting and you’re really only there to sleep so
it’s not worth getting anything fancier. If it’s good enough for Lenny
Henry…
Will you get a chance to go sightseeing while back in Yorkshire?
Very unlikely, which is a shame as I would really like more free chocolate. I will see the Pret A Manger in Leeds and
the City Varieties is beautiful enough and has enough history to count
as sightseeing. Might try and get to the National Videogame Museum in Sheffield. Just to confirm that my childhood is now history.
Anything in particular you’d like to see?
I think I am due a visit to Pocklington,
where I was born and lived until I was 4. But last time I went I didn’t
remember anything. To be fair half a century has gone by (though not
sure that will mean many changes in Pocklington)
While fans wait for your dates in Yorkshire, where can they hear from you?
The podcast, RHLSTP goes out weekly, wherever you get your
podcasts and there will be more episodes of my podcast about having
testicular cancer Can I Have My Ball Back? (also a book). And my esoteric podcasts about stone clearing, snooker and ventriloquism usually come out weekly too.
With that, we ended our delightful chat with Richard Herring, a true
comedic icon and an endless source of laughs. Catch him at Leeds City
Varities on 14th October, and if you’re lucky, you might even get to
shout “RHLSTP!” like the cool kids do.
