<p>Richard Herring became half of a decade-defining comedy act with Stewart Lee – thanks to a chance meeting in an Oxford cricket pavilion which was the genesis of a 13-year creative partnership which included the cult classic <em>Fist of Fun</em> and the legendary Edinburgh Fringe show <em>‘This Morning with Richard not Judy’</em></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Another important pairing came along in 2008 when he teamed up with the NME journalist and then 6Music presenter Andrew Collins for a new show – but not on the radio or the television – to the dismay of many of their peers they would chat for an hour or so giving away material for free on a ‘podcast’.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>It’s a genre that Richard had helped define. From his decision to host his shows in front of paying audiences (long before podcasts were profitable!) Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast – of RHLSTP to those in the know recently put out its 600th episode, that’s in addition to the multiple spin-offs which help contribute to over a million downloads per month.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>As a comedian he’s been described as “One of the leading hidden masters of modern British comedy” – that’s despite deciding in the early 90s that he wasn’t very good at solo stand-up. In fact he describes his first attempts as <em>“largely humiliating and unsatisfying.”</em> A decade on from his early set-backs he toured shows like <em>Talking Cock, Hitler Moustache, Someone Likes Yoghurt and Talking Cock: The Second Coming. </em>In his show <em>The Headmaster’s Son</em> he focussed on life as the son of the Headmaster – dedicated to his Dad – very much his origin story as a comedian.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Like many in comedy lockdown forced all of his content online – but Richard suffered a second setback when in 2021 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>He wrote about it in his typically dark-humoured book ‘Can I Have My Ball Back?’, where he explored how his diagnosis and subsequent treatment forced him to reflect on his own mortality and masculinity.</p><br><p>With almost 500 episodes of White Wine Question Time, and 600 episode of Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast I wonder if this might be the most ‘capped’ interview on the internet?</p><br><p>Cheers!</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>