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Edinburgh Evening News review WILA

Review: Richard Herring: What Is Love Anyway?, Udderbelly Pasture, Bristo Square
Published Date: 24 August 2011
By Sarah Nisbet
Richard Herring: What Is Love Anyway?, Udderbelly Pasture, Bristo Square ****
HAVING cultivated the persona of a self-deprecating cynic, it comes as a surprise to find Richard Herring turning to the subject of love as the premise for his latest Fringe show.

"My aim with this show is to destroy love, before it destroys me,
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" he declares. But rather than obliterate the issue, his show serves to deconstruct preconceptions.

Much of the set plays with the idea of how the term is overused. Present is Herring's usual schoolboy humour, delving into his teenage diaries to demonstrate the fine line between affection and pubescent lust to hilarious effect. However, the real laughs occur in the 44-year-old's current romantic endeavours, involving the gifting of escalating amounts of Ferrero Rocher to his girlfriend due to a poor grasp of basic mathematics.

Following on, Herring veers dangerously close to the edge with a routine about his Alzheimer's-suffering grandmother. Nonetheless its climax is a tender and compassionate oration on the nature of unconditional love. As the comic's nuanced material proves, both love and humour know no such boundaries.