Richard Herring: Christ On A Bike!

Note: This review is from 2001

Review by Steve Bennett

Richard Herring's had a busy year - churning out an unprecedented number of scripts for Al Murray's enjoyable Sky One sitcom.

Yet somehow he's still found time to write this top-notch solo show, in which he compares his life to that of Jesus, humbly hinting that he may be the next true messiah.

It's an excuse, of course, to debunk religion - a theme that will already be familiar to Herring's fans, and done in typically droll yet naive style.

But it's a rich vein to mine, and certainly produces a steady stream of brilliant comedy nuggets as the Somerset misfit justifies his own inadequacies by drawing parallels to the life of Jesus.

The tight show's a textbook example of how to structure a monologue, with recurring themes and joke callbacks incongruously incorporated into the bright narrative.

And anyone who can get seven fantastic minutes of hilarious material out of just one incomprehensible page of the Bible - including an impressive, verbatim learning of the opaque text - must be touched by the comedy God, at least

It's a hugely enjoyable rant - although ultimately revealing very little - underlining Herring's place as one of the finest comedy writers around.

Review date: 1 Jan 2001
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett

Live comedy picks

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.