Matthew 1.1

From Christ On A Bike: The Second Coming

More Richard Herring videos

CV

Original Review:

He has one truly superb routine, about the childish mime for homosexuality, which cleverly wrings every last drop of humour from its basic inaccuracy; and a couple of decent ones, which very literally overanalyse maxims to live your life by, and a salacious T-shirt slogan.

Routines wrenched from his solo shows and into his set can fall on stonier ground, however. The material is almost certainly better than the audience give him credit for, but it certainly lost impact being out of context.

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I must admit to being a serious and long term fan of Richard Herring (so I might be biased), but in my view Christ on a Bike – The Second Coming, as performed on Wednesday 13 April in Nottingham, was the fastest, funniest and cleverest show I had seen for a very long time. With a surgical precision Richard takes his scalpel and lays bare the bones of Christianity, and then proceeds to deconstruct some of its basic tenets to devastating effect. Intellectually challenging and stimulating throughout, this is a dazzling display of wit which never falters for a moment. Whilst as Richard admits, he is tackling a personage no less important than Hitler, this is a tour de force from beginning to end, and without the occasional over-earnest passages of Hitler’s Moustache.rnrnIt will be hard to cap this one.

Geoff F, April 2011

Almost all the funny lines from Ricky Gervais' 'Inside the Actors' Studio' guest spot - Herring's Christ On A Bike, The way Gervais talks to Pilkington - Herring's comic persona in the 90s with Stu Lee and then Andrew Collins in his podcast. Gervais' standup - a few near-misses of plagiarism from Herring... Herring's The Modern Review a fake fly on the wall doc years before The Office.

Roberto, April 2011

Bumming!

Ted, January 2011

I relegated Mr Herring to the back of my 'must see' list after seeing him do a very disappointing 15 minute stint at a BBC Best of the Fest night at Edinburgh a couple of years ago. However, my friend bought us tickets for his show this year, & I was completely taken by surprise by how much I loved it. We also saw him at Pimms Summerfest last night, and giggled throughout his set, even though we'd seen some of the material such a short time ago. Which proves that its quality stuff. I am now a convert, and thoroughly appreciate the bloke with the child-sized hands. Bravo!

Jo Phelan, August 2008

I see far too many stand-ups. I am a comic tart. In my view in the last two years Herring has strode to the front of the pack in the UK stand ups for innovation. In his comic persona he is polite middle classiness on a stick. He collects for charity at every show, always provides a full free programme for longer sets, and keeps an exhaustive blog for his fans. But and it s a big but, he is no longer an Oxbridge silly chappy he is now replete with a midlife crisis - childish and childless - as he puts it - and a cruel streak. His new Edinburgh show is pushing at what stand up can be. Which in truth is worse he asks - Maxime Carr or Steve Martin's poor comic acting? Steve Martin in Herring's World. The new show has left behind the big themes such as Catholicism but keep an abiding interest with the illogic of blaming the victim. He is not one to work an audience beyond what is expected of a stand up preferring to rely on hammering out wonderful turns of phrases. His is for the most part not our own situation but he is Everyman and more importantly funny enough to interest us. This is not a master at work more importantly he is someone with the guts to take stand up in new and for me funnier direction. Something is rotten in the state of Herring and it s to our advantage. Go and see him you missed Hicks, didn t you he is moving into that league.

Ben Heal, September 2006

Richard is one of the best comics of our generation. I am so pleased he still enjoys doing his shows and stays in touch with his audience, instead of disappearing into the safe world of writing. He does do script writing for a lot of major British comedies but doesn't shy away from the intensity of the stage. Well worth going to see him live if you get a chance.

Tom, July 2006

Saw Richard Herring in Edinburgh last August. Was expecting something good, but he was actually harrowingly piss-poor. I laughed once, and that was at a heckle. If it wasn't for his association with Stewart Lee, he'd be little more than a part-time comic dragging his arse from one students' union bar to another. When I saw Herring he deconstructed some of his material for comedic effect (and probably to show off his intelligence and self-awareness); unfortunately, this is something Daniel Kitson does much, much better. Sorry to be negative, but this man woefully disappointed me.

Colin Smethers, July 2006

Not funny at all, quite embarrassing in fact. The two sixth formers behind me laughed their socks off, but no one else did, which pretty much sums it up

Matthew, June 2006

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