Press

Metro Interview

Richard Herring: 'How I made John McCririck angry'
By ANDREW WILLIAMS - Monday, November 9, 2009
Richard Herring
Richard Herring
Richard Herring, 42, found fame with comedy partner Stewart Lee. He appears at the London's Leicester Square Theatre every Monday until December 14 and at Friends of the Earth's Livestock gig at Hammersmith Apollo on Thursday. www.foe.co.uk/livestock

You’re doing a series of gigs and putting them straight on the internet, why’s that?
I write the show on Sunday, perform it on Monday and it’s a podcast on Tuesday. It means I can say whatever I want without any censorship. It’s all untested, which is part of the point. It gets things out there really fast. Radio shows can take two years to get on air and there are so many restrictions about content now. Most people don’t need nannying in that way.

Are things highly regulated now?
It’s got worse since the Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand thing but even on my last show there were battles. I wasn’t allowed to use Schopenhauer’s quote about history being a whore with syphilis as it was deemed offensive. I’m enjoying being able to do what I want. Execs rather than creative people commission TV and radio comedy. There’s a lot of stuff which isn’t very good. Sketch shows are very samey and sitcoms are fairly crappy.

Is it easier to offend people this way?
I can be more contentious. I want to make people laugh, not offend them. The show Hitler’s Moustache is only offensive to racist people.

Did some people intentionally take that the wrong way?
There was someone from a broadsheet who tried to make a point about something and took a lot of what I said out of context. I examine what racists say in the show to make them look ridiculous, I don’t think those things myself. The picture of me with the Hitler moustache is quite in-your-face but that’s what the show was about, I wanted to reclaim it for comedy. Hopefully the audience are capable of understanding what I’m doing. People are keen to jump down people’s throats and call them offensive. I see it as a way to make people laugh and spread ideas.

What reaction did you get to the moustache?
People would just snigger. I thought they would shout at me but they just think I’m a d***. People seem a bit confused – am I being a Nazi just because I’ve got the moustache? I had my iPhone stolen out of my hand and had to deal with the police while I had the moustache. The point of the show is to remind people to go out and exercise their democratic rights. The BNP got in because not enough people voted, so it has a serious point which makes it more bearable.

You’ve said some comedians patronise the audience, what did you mean?
It’s easy to go on stage and say: ‘Isn’t George Bush stupid?’ and everyone cheers. But he can’t be that stupid, he became the president of the United States. It’s very easy just to do crowdpleasing stuff, from liberal stuff to Jim Davidson.

Why do comedians seem to hate Michael McIntyre?
He’s had a rapid rise to fame so there’s bound to be some jealously. I prefer him to Peter Kay. Neither are my humour but I can see why people like him. Ten years ago, I’d have been more cross about the unfairness of it all. I love my job but I’m able to take risks too. I probably have a respect in the industry that Michael doesn’t have. I’d rather do work that I’m proud of.

Who is the rudest celebrity you’ve met?
I interviewed John McCririck on a poker show and he was quite rude, but he’s like a little boy who wants people to hate him to cover up the fact he wants people to love him. I told him that and he got very angry. I feel a bit sorry for him, he tries so hard to be rude.

What’s the worst job you’ve had?
I wrote the west London phone directory for about a month which was very boring but I got to change Stewart Lee’s name to Stewart Wee.