For a man who’s on a tour entitled Oh F***, I’m 40, veteran comedian and acclaimed comedy writer Richard Herring seems remarkably untainted by the onslaught of age.
“My life hasn’t changed significantly since 40,” he confesses, in his characteristically upbeat tone. “It just has a way of making you suddenly think: ‘hold on, where’s my life going?’”
“The tour is really just about the confusion of that watershed moment when you realise you’re that old.”
After admittedly battling the unwelcome arrival of the big 4-0 by “behaving childishly and trying to dress younger” for fear of being considered uncool, Herring says he’s slowly accepting it.
Looking back on such a lively career, Herring has witnessed a turning point with the onslaught of maturity. He lacked confidence in his twenties, felt critical about his own work, and famously battled alcoholism.
“I wish I knew then what I know now,” he muses. “I’d have liked to have been doing proper stand-up at 30 – I was quite self conscious and didn’t really enjoy stand-up at that age, but now there’s nothing I’d rather be doing. I kept putting it off but I’ve got over my demons.”
Herring says he loves having an outlet to perform every night (“I can literally just do as many nights as I want – there’s a lot more freedom with stand-up”) but has most enjoyed the social life that comes with knowing other comedians he’s met through the Edinburgh Fringe festivals.
“It keeps you in touch with what’s going on in comedy, so you know whether your own stuff is a bit hackneyed,” he says.
He’s certainly found his niche in stand-up. His 2007 Menage a Un tour was met with critical acclaim, while the current OFIF tour has been well received by fans and critics alike.
Richard’s worked with and written for some of the country’s best-known comedians over the years, including Al Murray, Harry Hill and the Little Britain boys, who Herring fondly terms “a great laugh!”.
His longest and best-known partnership happened through a chance meeting at a Christmas party, when fellow fledgling comic Stewart Lee spotted Herring dancing on his own to a Sex Pistols song.
Together they notched up a cult collection of comedy classics, such as This Morning with Richard Not Judy, Reasonably Scary Monsters and Fist of Fun.
It isn’t surprising he doesn’t get much time to relax, but when he does… “I read, go travelling, play scrabble and poker - in fact I nearly went semi-professional with poker playing - and I’m really interested in history and archaeology.”
Herring says if he wasn’t a comedian he’d probably be a teacher (”All my family are teachers!”) but finds it difficult to imagine doing anything else.
“I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t doing this.”
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