Sunday 21 March 2010
Richard Herring Treads A Fine Line With His Take On Hitler’s Moustache
Reclaiming Chaplin's moustache for comedy, Richard Herring - the star of The Headmaster's Son and 90s double act Lee & Herring - muses on iconography, whether racists are closer than Liberals to believing that all people are the same and why an innocent square inch of facial hair has taken the blame for Nazism.
Herring recently justified his show in the Guardian (in response to to an article by Guardian critic Brian Logan) – which contained the following:
"In my show I get into a spiraling argument where, after chastising Carol Thatcher for using the word "golliwog", I comment on her physical appearance, and then ask if that makes me as bad as her. On stage I crumble, unable to give a satisfactory answer.
"Off stage, I think the material is justified, because it is about intent: ultimately, Carol Thatcher thinks she has done nothing wrong, while I am aware of which lines I have overstepped and why.
"But I'm still not sure about everything I am saying. Is it OK to make fun of Nick Griffin's melty face because he is a fascist, or does that make me as bad as him?
"I find out by debating it on stage, both informing my audience and being informed by them. This is the way we reach a consensus, and the way we move onwards."
As one half of the prolific comedy duo Lee & Herring, Richard Herring enjoyed phenomenal cult success as a writer and performer with radio shows such as Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World and Fist of Fun.
Fist of Fun was later commissioned for TV and ran for two acclaimed series on BBC Two.
Lee & Herring followed on from this success to co-develop This Morning with Richard Not Judy, a live comedy TV series for BBC Two.
At the Edinburgh Festival Richard has established himself as a leading playwright, penning and appearing in several critically acclaimed plays including Punk"s Not Dead, Excavating Rita and It"s Not the End of the World.
His one-man Edinburgh shows include Richard Herring Is Fat, Richard Herring Is All Man, Christ on a Bike, Talking Cock, Someone Likes Yoghurt, ménage a un, Oh Fuck I"m 40 and most recently The Headmaster's Son.
His hugely successful riposte to The Vagina Monologues; Talking Cock, has had versions performed in Paris, Berlin, Rome, Antwerp, Oslo and Helsinki.
With Al Murray, Richard devised and wrote 37 episodes of the sitcom Time Gentlemen Please for Al"s alter ego The Pub Landlord.
Richard recently returned to the Edinburgh Fringe with his show The Headmaster's Son which toured nationally tour in 2009.
Richard Herring visits Komedia Brighton on Wednesday 24 March at 8pm.
Tickets are £12.50 available on-line at Richard Herring or from the Box Office on 0845 293 8480.
by: Mike Cobley
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Former Fist Of Fun Comic Courts Controversy
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