Richard Herring review

Exclusive to IndyBlogs, a review of Richard Herring's 'Menage A Un' at The Arts Theatre, London

Herring is altogether much more boisterous than his former comedy partner Stewart Lee, although, as he points out himself, after a fifteen year partnership it's inevitable that they share some traits. There are subtle similarities in their coy phraseology but Herring's choice of material is much more laddish such as rambunctious stuff about promiscuity being the right answer (that you forget in your later twenties and rediscover in your thirties) and some brief ponderings on threesomes.

Despite the suggestive title of the show there are plenty of routines that venture out of the bedroom area, including a pedantic, studenty one about potatoes (Who pronounces it 'potart-o' as in the song? and Why do the French call it and 'apple of the earth'? and so on) that sound a lot more lame on paper than they actually are live. In fact they are a pleasant romp that Herring can digress from at any point without losing his thread and the routine throws up some sweet lines, for example if potatoes are 'apples of the earth' then is lasagne "the lion bar of the oven?"

The latter third of the show finds the comic a bit stuck in a pool of post-modern irony of his own making, where he splits into two characters commenting on his own act. Again it's reminiscent of Stewart Lee, (but also of Daniel Kitson), as it smells of mock self-destruction teetering on the brink of actual sabotage. Sometimes comedy gold can be mined, but often this way tedium lurks and just because the artist knows he is going down a blind alley doesn't make it any more entertaining, especially if he can't get the rest of us to follow. However, it was probably only a segment that lasted ten minutes at most, though it clearly felt longer. Among the routines to commend the latter part of the show was a nice anecdote about how Herring was once mistaken for saying "I love you" when in fact he was saying the name of a well known butter substitute!

Leaving aside a bumpy ride towards the end, Herring's show was an impressive one and it whetted my appetite for the two comedy dramas that he is making with ITV. A space worth watching, one hopes.

Julian Hall