Richard Herring - What Is Love Anyway?

Last night, Wolfie and I descended on the charming well-to-do market town of Ilkley to see the other half of the Fist of Fun pairing, Richard Herring.

We saw his hilarious Christ on a Bike tour last year, a tour which was sadly met with protests by a handful of deluded Christians across the country who, of course, hadn't seen the show yet accused it of being blasphemous anyway (it wasn't). This tour followed on from the ending to that show, which questioned the nature of love and whether, like religion, that too is a delusion or just a state of mind. The humour was layered with interesting philosophical points as love was discussed in all forms. The highlight probably was the Ferrero Rocher routine, as eluded to in the free program we were given.

The venue was a nice little provincial theatre - a small, slightly plain venue in pastel shades. Understated would be the word but the bar and balcony area to one side of the theatre hall itself was a nice feeling place where a delicious pint of Tetley's went down well.

So what is love, from obligatory parental love to sexual love and all in-between. Familial love was a theme and I was delighted to discover Herring's family is from Middlesbrough. After the show, when I asked him to sign my copy of the Fist of Fun Series 1 Box Set (released for the first time in 17 years because he and Lee bought the rights off the BBC), I discussed my hometown with him. He thought it was alright, a bit of a shithole and this concorded with my view too. I was delighted. Herring is a very easy guy to talk to, which only increased my love of him (whatever that concept means).

So yep, another good show, perhaps not as strong as Christ but the two venues were very different (we saw Christ in a pub attic) so this probably had an effect. He's in the middle of a long tour at present so see him if you can as the weaving of epistemology, philosophy and humour is a fine craft and he does it expertly.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.