Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast

It was a wet Monday evening in October, my trousers were sticking to my legs and Leicester Square was as rammed full of tourists and revellers as it always is. We were going to watch a live recording for a podcast at Leicester Square theatre. The interviewer was comedian Richard Herring, formerly one half of double act Lee and Herring, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring were writers and performers in cult Nineties T.V programmes; Fist of Fun and This Morning with Richard, not Judy.

Herring presents of series of interviews with other comedians at the theatre and over the past couple of years the podcast have a attracted quite a following. One of the most notable interviews was his one with Stephen Fry, where the latter talked of his recent suicide attempt, (it attracted glaring headlines in the papers).  We were going to see him interview Steve Coogan. There was also a second recording with up-and-coming comedian, Sara Pascoe. (The second interview was great but I'm not going to write about it here.)

I’ve been a fan of Steve Coogan for a long time; I’ve always loved his characters Paul and Pauline Calf and, of course, Alan Partridge. I feel that I’ve sort of, not grown up with him exactly, but, grown into middle age with him. I remember laughing at the Paul Calf sketch where the character derided students for paying for a bag of chips by cheque, when I was a student myself. I remember watching Alan Partridge being dismissed and humiliated by Chris Morris’s savage newsreader character in The Day, Today. The first series of ‘I’m Alan Partridge’ set in a ‘travel tavern’ is one of my all time favourite comedy series. And I felt that he pulled off something really special and quite rare in taking his character to a successful transition from small screen to big with the film, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. But while I’m a fan of his comedy, I’m not a slavish devotee of the man. I’m slightly uneasy with the portrayal of him in the press (probably quite misrepresentative but all too prevailing) as a bit of a womaniser. So I went into the recording with an open mind - looking forward to it but not hopping up and down with excitement.

I wasn’t disappointed. Watching the unscripted interview was a fascinating experience; particularly considering Coogan and Herring knew each other and had collaborated in the past. (Lee and Herring toured with Steve Coogan and a group of other comedians in the early Nineties) There was a strangely intimate atmosphere; as if you could call out and ask a question yourself  (while at the same time being hyper aware that you mustn’t do this). You were not participant, merely an eavesdropper. And you got the feeling that Coogan was marginally less guarded than he would been than if he had been interviewed on National T.V. by someone like Jonathan Ross or (snigger) Alan Titsmarch. It was wonderful listening to them reminisce about their early experiences, together or with other people. But what I particularly enjoyed was Coogan talking about the character he is best known for; ‘Alan Partridge’; how he could have been a bit of an albatross but in fact he’d grown rather fond of him over the years. He found himself looking in shop windows and thinking - What would ‘Alan’ think of this? Other highlights included; him talking about the Levenson inquiry; particularly a memorable line about the humourless cross examiner saying to him (Coogan);

“Piers Morgan said he interviewed you at one of those tiresomely hip, celebrity hangouts.” To which Coogan replied, deadpan; “Chosen by him [Morgan].”

Another one was When Richard Herring said - “You’re sort of like the modern day Peter Sellers.” Coogan replied. “Well; I’m not horrible to my kids...”

I can’t really do the experience justice by trying to remember (accurately) what was said and recount it baldly here; what I would say is that it is definitely worth the £16 price tag. There were a lot of laughs and some very interesting insights and it was a unique experience.

As I said, this series of podcast interviews has attracted some big names; Russell Brand, the aforementioned Stephen Fry, Miranda Hart, Jon Ronson, Jenny Eclair, to name but a few. You can listen to prior podcasts for free or pay a small fee to watch a selection of them - well worth a pound (or however much it costs to do this.)

http://www.comedy.co.uk/podcasts/richard_herring_lst_podcast/