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On-line review from Davy James

After writing about Stewart Lee it seems logical to discuss his former partner's stand-up routine. Also of TMWRNJ fame Herring's performance is more rapid-fire and exciteable than Lee's. They are as different from each other in delivery as it is possible to be while sharing the same love of overly wrought out stories and absurd over-analysis of the mundane. This is one of the things that made them such a great double act.

Where Lee (when I saw him at Glastonbury) turned a misunderstanding over a pun to do with Hulk Director, Ang Lee's name ("You wouldn't like me when I'm Ang Lee") into a ten minute routine Herring does the same and more over a supposedly snide insinuation by a checkout girl that he eats too much yogurt.

Herring is frequently very funny but, if truth be told, I was slightly disappointed by some of the act. The main problem was the length of some of his routines. Some people might say that is what makes him unique and that I don't "Get it" but I do get it and usually find it very funny. the trouble wasn't the length, inherently, but that they stopped being funny sometime before Herring stopped talking.

Whether this could be fixed by improving the material or simply reducing the length of each set I am undecided. Probably I would prefer cutting some material and adding some new threads in the added time. That he could keep me laughing for over ten minutes just talking about the Magpie reward system is quite remarkable but after that I began to tire of it and he carried on for another ten. Later in the show he said something about loving to see people not laugh and to see how tedious he could be with them. This struck cold with me, I like to think that the comedian I'm watching wants his audience to have a good time and by reading his blog I'm sure he does. Thus the remark rung false to me and I'd advise him to cut it.

I'd also advise an editing of the routine about christianity. I'm not a christian and in fact I've written updates declaring my disgust for religions and yet I felt somewhat uncomfortable with his relentless bashing. I think intelligent athiests know everything he's saying anyway and people who are already religious aren't going to lose their faith because of a 20 minute stand-up routine. There are some really funny lines and he exposes some logical fallacies I'd never thought of but on the whole I felt like I was watching a bully at work. Even if I'd been a particularlly open-minded christian with an extremely balanced sense of humour I'm sure I'd have laughed for a while but started to resent him as the act wore on.

Despite these negative comments Herring has a very original knack for finding humour where you'd least expect it and with more experience (by his own admission it's the first time he's done straight stand up for a decade or more I believe) I think he could start receiving the sort of 5 Star reviews Lee is consistently awarded.

3/5