#398 Stump - Richard is still obsessing over the Cat in the Hat, though his greatest moment of theatre happened in bed. His guests are the singing spinsters, Flo and Joan aka Nicola and Rosie Dempsey. They talk about whether musical comedy can ever be cool, the perils of dating apps, who will be the first person to have sex with an alien, being made of stone, whether sex with a robot is cheating, the tensions of a double act and how to tackle serious subjects with comedy songs. Plus the Royal Va...
Aug 19, 2022•54 min•Season 23Ep. 27
#397 Stump - Richard has been to the Museum of Scotland and knows which exhibit he’d like to be gifted. He’s also bemoaning how left wing the Fringe has become. His guest is the indestructible force of nature that is Janey Godley. They discuss their somewhat different experiences of cancer and chemotherapy, how having cancer doesn’t make you brave, writing a love letter to the 1970s women of Glasgow, how to cheat your electricity meter, how Janey got cancelled before getting cancer and whether w...
Aug 17, 2022•57 min•Season 23Ep. 26
#396 Dubbed - Richard has seen a piece or theatre that has made him question everything, but also a fantastic stand up show by today’s guest Vir Das. They chat about how a passionate speech at the Kennedy Centre led to Vir being in danger of arrest in his native India, how the world is split between those looking to the future and those wanting to stay in the past, the difference between patriotism and nationalism, how terrible events are great news for comedians, ghostly experiences, working wi...
Aug 15, 2022•56 min•Season 23Ep. 25
#395 Koch and Ball - Richard is still trying to come to terms with the fact his first Fringe happened 35 years ago, as well as how much his landlord is making from the show. Never mind - his guest(s) today are Conrad Koch and his little friend Chester Missing. They talk about what makes a normal human being turn to ventriloquism, how a puppet can be the best medium to discuss huge political issues (or they can be a carrot that fails to do double entendres properly), how Chester because a huge hi...
Aug 12, 2022•55 min•Season 23Ep. 24
#394 What’s The F****** Point - Richard’s children are being exposed to the artistic posters of the Fringe, whilst Rich is wondering why anyone is bothering (already). His guests are Rachel Fairburn and Kiri Pritchard-McLean. They chat about how podcasts are rubbish now everyone is doing them, dodgy tummies, Gollum’s suit case, whether you can eat a rescue chicken and whether the working class have more challenges to face when it comes to stand up. Come and see a show in Edinburgh or london - ht...
Aug 10, 2022•59 min•Season 23Ep. 23
#393 Vibrator Kettle Mum - The King of Edinburgh is back for his 26th Fringe and another dirty dozen shows at the Edinburgh Fringe. His first guest is bipolar comedian and nearly Big Brother contestant Harriet Dyer. They talk about her fantastic autobiography Bipolar Comedian, turning terrible events into comedy and channelling mental illness into something positive, poisoning a contestant on a TV dating show, a coat full of farts, becoming Richard Herring and how the other Harriet Dyers have im...
Aug 08, 2022•1 hr•Season 23Ep. 22
#392 Pegged - RHLSTP has travelled to Yorkshire to be part of the Deershed festival and is taking place at the unGodly hour of 11.10pm, but at least it’s Gareth’s birthday. Richard’s guest is Malawian comic and bronze medal winner of Britain’s Got Talent, Daliso Chaponda. They discuss the weirdness of performing at festivals, what it’s like to play a Royal Variety show with no audience, believing in everything, which is the best angel, dinosaur fellatio and the inexplicably different experiences...
Aug 05, 2022•52 min•Season 23Ep. 21
#391 Where Did We Get Our Porn? - Richard has surprisingly found himself being bigged up by a Ukrainian MP for his humanitarian efforts, which is very exciting. His guest is circuit veteran, ex-celeb stalker and writer Meryl O’Rourke. They talk about the comedy scene of the 90s, writing for Frankie Boyle, waiting for your break, scaring Stephen Fry, why it’d be nice to have a Tinder for friends, finding humour in the family traumas of the Holocaust and confronting your abuser, how much the world...
Aug 02, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 23Ep. 20
RETRO RHLSTP #50 A Fan Who’s Won a Competition - It’s the last show in series 7 and there’s an end of term atmosphere and a lot of good natured heckling from a slightly inebriated crowd. Richard’s final guest is Peter Dickson impersonator and product of 1988, Joe Lycett. The podcast largely turns into the vehicle for a RHLSTP clips show as Joe quizzes Richard about his favourite and least favourite guests and what the future might hold for the valuable RHLSTP franchise. But there’s also time to ...
Aug 01, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 50
RHLSTP Book Club 20 - The Ruin of all Witches Richard talks to academic Malcolm Gaskill about his incredible and fastidiously researched history of the Springfield Witch Trials. A period of a clash of cultures and ideas and a doorway from a world of superstition to one of science (and let’s face it a fair amount of superstition), why losing a trowel might be a witch’s curse and how conformity was so important to community in the 1650s. Book Club will return in September. SUPPORT THE SHOW! Watch ...
Jul 28, 2022•45 min•Ep. 20
#390 Paperboy - Richard can finally reveal the greatest achievement of his (or anyone else’s) life and had decided to think about making a change to his attitude to the job. His guest is the mysterious, crude, offensive and hilarious Kunt from off of Kunt and the Gang. They chat about how this incredible act gained traction, why he retired in 2016 and what brought him back, the inspiration for his comeback and how subversive and satirical his childish work has become, whether he could or should ...
Jul 27, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 23Ep. 19
RETRO RHLSTP #49 No Man Is Faster Than a Cheese - Richard has just had his third sixteenth birthday and has returned from Amsterdam with a hangover that might just last two weeks. His guest is former milk-maid, fellow West Country cheese enthusiast and Russell Brand lookalike, Bridget Christie. They discuss webbed toes, being the responsible one in a gang of Hell's Angels, John Inverdale's slip of the tongue, the deferred creative revenge on the tedious admin of life and who of the two of them i...
Jul 25, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 49
RHLSTP Book Club 19 - Don’t Forget To Scream - Richard chats to journalist Marianne Levy about her new book of essays about motherhood, Don’t Forget To Scream. They discuss intrusive thoughts and the awful things they imagined happening to their own children, the way children destroy the parents’ identity, difficult birth stories, how parenting isn’t as innate as many might think and why it’s important that we talk openly and honestly about the whole horrifying process of having kids. Plus what ...
Jul 22, 2022•49 min•Ep. 19
#389 Kiss - Richard is mourning the loss of his best friend, but he has to carry on working through his grief. His guest is Strictly love rat, Seann Walsh. They discuss his incredible new stand up special and whether people overreacted to his admittedly selfish behaviour and why people are so keen to judge and don’t seem to care if they will be judged themselves. It’s a powerful conversation about the consequences of his self-defeating actions and a story that sounds like a Biblical morality tal...
Jul 19, 2022•1 hr 30 min•Season 23Ep. 18
RETRO RHLSTP #48 Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan - Richard has broken his mirror, but wondering if that gives him 7 years bad luck or frees him from the ghosts of the past. His guests are the non British writers and stars of Britain's most exciting sitcom this decade, Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan. Does their onscreen sexual chemistry spill over into real life, even when Rob's genitals are in a bag? Does a filling make you a robot? How exactly do you kill a turkey? Is there a wrong way to try and ...
Jul 18, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 48
RHLSTP Book Club 18 - The Man Who Tasted Words - Richard Herring, the man who can’t pronounce Leschziner, chats to Guy Leschziner about his fascinating it unsettling book about our senses, The Man Who Tasted Words. They discuss why there are more than 5 senses, which sense is the best one to lose, why a superpower like feeling no pain is actually a terrible curse, whether aphantasia is curable, how speech is a telepathy, what it’s like to taste words and see colours with music and how Bill Oddie...
Jul 15, 2022•31 min•Ep. 18
#388 Just Dust - Richard’s 7 year old has been ripping him a new one, but at least he’s back in the big time…. His guest is Twitch sensation and brilliant stand up Bilal Zafar. They chat about creating content online and how improv is not the preserve of the posh, what happened when Bilal pretended to be a cake shop that only served Muslims, the balance between ambition and creativity, the pressure of Edinburgh and Richard proposes a fantastic West End Musical which is sure to be a huge hit. Wat...
Jul 13, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 23Ep. 17
RETRO RHLSTP #47 Johnny Vegas - Maniac in a Suitcase. Giving away a prize to a lucky audience member, Rich reminisces about schoolday bags and realises how much work he has got to do to re-learn his 11 old stand-up shows for his insane attempt to do them all at the Leicester Square Theatre in August and September. His guest is a man who has done Chekov, Dickens and Celebrity Juice, Johnny Vegas. It's a truly fascinating discussion about the duality of the stand-up and where a Johnny ends and Mic...
Jul 11, 2022•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 47
RHLSTP Book Club 17 - Pivot - Richard talks to brilliant stand up Laura Lexx about her assured and joyous first novel, Pivot, which is partly about netball, but mainly about friendship and changing direction in life. They chat about where the idea came from, why writing doesn’t have to be planned out, why Laura doesn’t describe her character’s appearance and why most men don’t read books by women (and why they should) Buy Pivot here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Pivot/dp/B09X241NR5/ or wherev...
Jul 08, 2022•41 min
#387 Treading in Bovine After Birth - We’re back at the Phoenix in front of an audience who are also about to witness the first ever live Twitch of Fun (and are thus just as strange as you’d expect). Rich has played an amazing prank on his wife and tells you all about it. His guests are Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood aka Dick and Dom. They discuss how the pair met and the genesis of their Da Bungalow show, how they are haunted by Bogies, the steam roller delights of working with Brian Blessed,...
Jul 05, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 23Ep. 16
BONUS #1 - Okapi Tongue - It’s number one of the monthly bonus pod, hosted by Ally Sloper. Find out whether Rich ever considered being a dentist, his favourite member of Blazin’ Squad and his real feelings about Keith Allen. Ally is a great interviewer and really opens up his guest and also weirdly seems to know things that Richard doesn’t! Thanks for your support! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 04, 2022•48 min•Ep. 1
RETRO RHLSTP #46 Romesh Ranganathan - Richard has a controversial theory about the recent FIFA controversy and gets paid by a man to call him a fucking idiot to his face before introducing former maths teacher and toilet crier Romesh Ranganathan to the stage of Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre. In possibly the longest RHLSTP they discuss the problems of trying to procure adequate vegan cheese, cost analysis of airline food, whether a lazy eye is really a trademark and what it would tak...
Jul 04, 2022•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 46
RHLSTP Book Club 16 - Storm - Richard chats with journalist and author Stephanie Merritt about her brilliant, dark thriller Storm, where the inspiration came from, how she managed to do field research during Covid, whether men buy books written by women, how men and women react to a beautiful stranger in their midst and whether privilege means you can get away with anything. Buy the book here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Storm/dp/B09XWLYDKF/ and also check out her brilliant historical crime ...
Jul 01, 2022•45 min•Ep. 16
#386 Thirty-Eighth Choice - As the latest run at the Leicester Square Theatre comes to an end Richard is impressed with Adrian Chiles’ bathroom choices. His guest is comedian and actor Alan Davies. They chat about avocado bidets, being called a S****bubble by Liam Gallagher, setting off Neil Kinnock’s burglar alarm, spending a huge amount of money on a chair you might see in an estate agents, how he managed to get the Jonathan Creek gig in spite of intense competition and why he nearly left QI. ...
Jun 28, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 23Ep. 15
RETRO RHLSTP #45 Kay Mellor - RHLSTP comes to the Long Division Festival at the beautiful Wakefield Theatre Royal and Richard is impressed with the commitment the area has made to unpopular fruit and the world's most famous mulberry bush. His guest is the writer, actor, director, song-writer and possible badminton champion, Kay Mellor. It's a writer's masterclass, showing the determination and talent that is needed to make it in the business (with Rich as the perfect example of how not to make i...
Jun 27, 2022•58 min
RHLSTP Book Club 15 - Buried - A return to RHLSTP for the brilliant broadcaster, archaeologist and anatomist Professor Alice Roberts. We chat about her new book Buried and the previous book in the series Ancestors and the amazing science that allows us to piece together forgotten lives from bones, grave goods, language and DNA. Also why Trigger warnings aren’t a big deal and TRIGGER WARNING some chat about baby skeletons, what’s going on with headless corpses, why did a Roman burial have a big p...
Jun 24, 2022•48 min•Ep. 15
#385 Do Not Listen On 2x Speed - Richard is disappointed about his daughter’s Easter egg, because it’s still Easter where we are, in the past and has an ultimatum for Ian Cadbury. His guest returns after just 9 years away. It’s the extremely fast-talking whirlwind of a man, Dara Ó Briain. Chat includes the Irish James Bond, how Stephen Hawking ruined Terminator, the likelihood of Richard speaking fluent Spanish for the rest of his life and the impact of that on the theories of Infinite Universes...
Jun 22, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Season 23Ep. 14
Special - My Time Capsule 200! - Richard was very honoured to be asked to interview Michael Fenton-Stevens for his 200th episode of the excellent Time Capsule Podcast - a neat idea where guests are asked what four items they’d like to keep in a time capsule and which one they’d like to throw away. A great chat incorporating harbouring grudges against games teachers, touring with the HeeBeeGeeBees, memories of doing shows with his dad and the importance of family over work. Check out the other 19...
Jun 20, 2022•1 hr 7 min
RHLSTP Book Club 14 - The Sanctuary - Richard’s guest this week is one quarter of the No Such Thing as a Fish podcast, Andrew Hunter Murray. They are talking about his gripping novel, The Sanctuary, which imagines a near future in a world not dissimilar to our own, where wildlife is threatened by extinction and old people have most of the resources and young people have little to no chance of advancement. They talk about John Wyndham, the process of creating the world of a novel, writing a flawe...
Jun 17, 2022•44 min•Ep. 14
#384 Rolf Harris Tattoo - Alleluia Alleluia, He is Risen! It’s Easter Monday and Rich has been schooled in Christian traditions by his kids. His guest is the best Edinburgh Comedy Prize by at least one metric, Amy Gledhill. It’s an old-school, crazy fun loose chat with a comedian and it’s giddy fun all the way, encompassing what is the best crisp to send you into a coma, podcast listening speeds, why Richard will never advertise Pringles, some strong and maybe shocking opinions about Soleros, ic...
Jun 15, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 23Ep. 13
