School of Herring

I am often found sat in my high-backed armchair, with my semi-circular toilet mat, ready to catch any resulting man-mess that may result from watching a Richard Herring DVD or listening to one of his many podcasts. Not quite at the Andy McH standings, but I often frequent his shows, follow his daily life on his blog and generally filling a minted cumpkin over everything he does.

I remember watching ‘Fist of Fun’ in the mid-Nineties, though probably remember Kevin Eldon’s Simon Quinlank character and the girl in boxing gloves on the title sequence more than anything its two stars did. But with the second coming of Stewart Lee in recent years, the names Lee and Herring popped back into my consciousness.

Numerous DVDs have since been purchased and shows attended, but with the sheer amount of work that he puts in, it has been Richard Herring that I have been to see do his stand-up routines, more so than his smug, on telly partner.

For the last couple of years I have now found myself having spurts of repeatedly seeing Son of Keith over a two-month period. This time last year, I went to three of his ‘Richard Herring’s Objective’ recording, as well as an AIOTM (AIOTM) recording and his live show ‘Christ on a Bike’, all while reading his latest book: ‘How Not to Grow Up’.

Earlier this year, saw all six (count them) AIOTM (AIOTM) recordings attended; and now once again, I find myself attending 75% of his ‘Richard Herring’s Objective’ recordings, alongside seeing him at the Lyric in Hammersmith with old pal Mr Stew Art Wee, and his new tour ‘What is Love, Anyway?’ And why not read a second hand copy of his beautifully-titled first book, ‘Talking Cock’, while I’m at it?!

The thing that makes Richard Keith different from other comedians is the public nature of his life. With his daily blog, ‘Warming Up’ and regular (or sometimes irregular) podcasts with Andrew Collings (sic.), pretty much everything that goes on throughout his days is captured on some medium. The endless DVD extras he provides are testament to this.

Seeing him live feels like seeing an old friend you have been following on Facebook rather than a famous stand-up. His cast of regular audience members always down in the front, there for support.

Maybe this is at the detriment to his wider career, with his calls to ‘just wanting to be on the telly’ thwarted by a small, but obsessively loyal fan base. His act though, while at times being a little unfriendly for a mainstream audience, is always good, if a little rough around the edges, like TV’s Emma Kennedy’s clackerlackadackdack. His second series of ‘Richard Herring’s Objective’ feels like a good progression from the first, which was more a watering down of his ‘Hitler Moustache’ routine, and his storytelling is reaching its peak.

So, enter the months of October, and later November, and it all starts again, and with the aforementioned shows attended recently this means that I have seen him perform the Ferrero Roche routine around five or six times these last few weeks, two in one day, and it keeps getting better. Oh yes, the ‘Motorcycling Clothes Shop’ sketch has nothing on this! I also now have shit loads (count them…well, two) signed copies of the ‘What is Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurve, Anyway?’ programme. I now also have a signed copy of a ‘Complete Cumpkin’; literally hours of fun.

With the first series of ‘Fist of Fun’ due out on DVD in December, I doubt there will be any waning of my Herring obsession anytime soon. I’m sure he will be in my dreams all Christmas…in a high-backed armchair…with a semi-circular mat you put around the toilet…

Every 14 Days...(1)

‘Give a hoot, read a book’ (Krusty the Klown)

For some time now, I’ve been wanting to challenge myself to read more. A far cry from my days in the Robinson Library at Newcastle University – where I could consume an academic text in a day – but of late I have been reading a little more again. Mainly due to various work travels on planes and trains, as well as the pilgrimage up to Villa Park of a weekend and the need for entertainment that doesn’t include the prefix i. There’s nothing quite like rolling up to the Holte End with a copy of the complete novels of Kafka under your arm.

               

Around the time of my 27^th birthday, I thought of setting myself the challenge of reading a book every 2 weeks. However, work, beer and endless evenings of masturbation have always seemed to get in the way. But now maybe there should be no more room for excuses. And so the challenge was set.

But a book every 2 weeks is quite the challenge; especially for someone that can work long hours, drink long hours and try to study Japanese, particularly as A Tale of Genji is on my to-do list. At well over 1,000 pages, I’d have to take 2 weeks off work. I’m, therefore, prepared to let some less heavy works into this challenge. Nothing by Dan Brown, but some art, photography, pretentious culture books may slip in; a conclusion that came about after my deliberation as to whether or not to include Graffiti Japan. But as this is a New Year’s resolution that I’d like to keep, mainly as it started in November, I’m going to have to give myself a little leeway here and there.

So, inspired probably by Richard Herring’s blog, Ash Miller’s weekly diatribe and some drunken conversations, I thought I would document how I get on. That way, any failure is made public. So, sit comfortably, crack open a Special Brew and enjoy... starting with Richard Herring’s ‘How Not to Grow Up’...

How Not to Grow Up (Richard Herring)

Being an avid Lee and Herring fan and having recently completed Stewart Lee’s ‘How I Escaped My Certain Fate’, I thought I’d give Richard Herring’s attempt a try. Both looking and sounding like a novelty Christmas book that you buy for someone you dislike enough to put absolutely no effort into thinking about the present you buy for them, I was a little surprised and sceptical about this title. But thankfully a comedy hero didn’t let me down.

Documenting his life in the days leading-up-to and subsequent period since his 40^th birthday, ‘How Not to Grow Up’ is a mini-autobiographical piece about a man struggling to come to terms with whether or not he wants to have kids or still be a kid. A large focus is around his ‘Ménage a Un’ tour, in which he suggests the desire for a threesome to any willing young ladies in the audience. The consequential anecdotes provide a lot of the humour, but also an insight into the life of a travelling stand-up the still knows the meaning of the term ‘tour’.

Maybe a little contrived and arrogant at times, the book is an honest account of Herring’s life during this period and is an entertaining enough read about the life and times of a long-serving stand-up.

Days to read: 20

Sputnik Sweetheart (Murakami Haruki)

Thankfully, my Mum had decided to order the German edition of ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ from Amazon as a 27^th birthday present. And while this serves as good a reason as any to take up Deutsch, being that I’m trying to stick to a 14-day average and the loss of my B at GCSE German over the years, I thought I’d best buy the English translation instead.

Typical of my favourite novelist, the story focuses around a 20-something male, often a loner, in pursuit of a young lady that will inevitably lead to a myriad of musical descriptions, masturbation sessions and voyages of discovery.

Part set in a holiday destination, ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’ is a holiday read, in that it is relatively short, easy to read and pick-up and won’t require you to think too hard. Hardly as impressive as ‘The Wind-up Bird Chronicles’, nor as inventive as ‘Kafka on the Shore’, this won’t break any ground, but is a nice, quick read to boost your 14-day average.

Days to read: 7

Days per book:  13 (Oh yes, I’m keeping a spreadsheet of this)

Lost Japan (Alex Kerr)

Bought by my friend Caroline for my 27^th birthday, I took a couple of months to get round to picking this one up. A work of non-fiction, ‘Lost Japan’ is a collection of essays published over the years in Japan written by America Alex Kerr. Originally written in Japanese – his adopted country – struggled to translate the work into his mother tongue after it won the Shicho Gakugei in 1994.

Now translated and updated, ‘Lost Japan’ is a document of Kerr’s experiences around more traditional elements of Japanese life and culture that he feels are now quickly becoming lost after waves of foreign influence, concrete and pachinko halls. Ironically, Kerr sees Japan’s inability to fully incorporate and understand modernisation that has led to many of these losses. But this is very much a love-hate relationship, and Kerr still finds beauty and intrigue in the small parts that maintain what was once sacred.

Paradoxically, the culture and arts that have made Japan Japan being lost is very much a Japanese phenomenon; and the Japan of today is as Japanese as it has ever been.

Days to read: 20

Days per book: 15