#547 The Higher the Hair - Rich has had a bit of trouble getting to the theatre tonight as if he didn’t have enough to put up with being roasted by his kids. But he’s here and ready to give as good as he gets with the fabulous and wise Milton Jones. They chat about bat boxes, falling off stage, turning 60, Sting’s pulling power, what it would be like to be handsome, Tricorn hats, reverse engineering puns. Piers Morgan’s surprising unpleasantness, being a weather girl for a day, 10 second sermons...
Feb 12, 2025•59 min•Season 30Ep. 13
Book Club #127 - The Centrist Dad Handbook - Rich chats to Nico Tatarowicz about the book he cowrote with Jason Hazeley, The Centrist Dad’s Handbook. What is a Centrist Dad? Is it essentially just Rich? Why is this a stereotype that seems both fair and ripe for the picking? Is it really so bad to be someone who compromises and what does it have to say about the state of masculinity in general? Would it be possible to do an entire book of headlines parodying Adrian Chiles’ columns? Also some inte...
Feb 07, 2025•35 min•Ep. 127
This very special episode is brought to you in paid partnership with Cancer Research UK. At the end of last year, myself, Matt Forde and Mark Steel sat down to have a frank, raw, funny and open conversation about something that has affected us all - cancer. We were later joined by Dr Sam Godfrey, the Science Engagement Lead at Cancer Research UK, who gave us invaluable insight into the incredible work Cancer Research UK are doing and why the future is looking bright. Disclaimer for this one - ve...
Feb 06, 2025•1 hr 21 min
#547 Armadillo - Richard is lonely enough to consider taking up cycling, but is he prepared to cycle 47 miles to end up where he started? His guest is posho stand up Ivo Graham. They discuss the biscuity temptations of writers’ rooms, a dangerously unfocused attitude towards Wordle, disastrous appearances on the Weakest Link, how you can’t really dine out forever on a 15 year old competition win, coming last in Taskmaster, whether we should have sympathy for someone who boarded at Eton and why i...
Feb 05, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 30Ep. 12
Book Club #126 - Munichs - Richard dials up Japan to talk to one of his favourite writers David Peace about his book about the Munich Air Disaster, Munichs. They talk about how David’s father made him want to cover this harrowing story, after his funnier books about Brian Clough and Bill Shankly, the delicate balance of combining history and imagination to create this relentless and mesmerising novel, the brilliance of Christopher Ecclestone as an audiobook reader, the magical boots of Tommy Tay...
Jan 31, 2025•45 min•Ep. 126
#546 Smash or Pass? Richard is considering becoming a sex worker, but there’s a line he will not cross. His guest is hilarious newcomer Chelsea Birkby. They chat about what it's like to do support in big theatres (and in your home town), making a gimmick of unusual physical features, the blurred area between objectification and flattery, being made to dress up as a baby by a Frenchman, whether Chelsea is bipolar or not, if the Cheeky Girls know more about philosophy than Plato and attempting to ...
Jan 29, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 30Ep. 11
Book Club #125 - The Peepshow - Dip My Brain In Joy - Richard chats to Yvonne Innes about her fabulous and moving book about her fabulous husband, Neil Innes, Dip My Brain In Joy. They talk about Neil’s amazing and wide-ranging career, his freewheeling personality which may not have made him the greatest businessman, but probably meant he had a lot more fun and joy in his life, the wide range of his work from the Bonzos to Raggy Dolls to the Idiot Bastard Band, the various disputes and fallings ...
Jan 24, 2025•41 min•Ep. 125
#545 Who Chooses The Sperm? Richard is back in Birmingham, after having iodine squirted through his veins (for some reason). His guest is Twitter sensation and fine stand up comedian Josh Pugh. They talk about how lockdown led to his hilarious videos on social media, his many caps for England, the Atherstone Purge, the disappointment of hosting the coverage of the Paris Paralympics, being a bicycle version of a pantomime horse, wanking in a hospital during lockdown, getting stuck in a puffer jac...
Jan 22, 2025•57 min•Season 30Ep. 10
Retro 88 - Carry On Cocaining - Richard is worried that his comments about a royal might lead to his ultimate demise... buy he's more worried about extreme vaginal temperatures. He's got two great gigs to distract his lazy ass, Isma Almas and Tony Slattery. With Isma he discusses how it's possible to tick too many boxes, performing in a burkha, why comedy is the perfect job if you hate working and they hatch a foolproof plan to get back at their critics.. Tony chats about his career and the fact...
Jan 20, 2025•1 hr 2 min
Book Club #124 - The Peepshow - Richard talks to former obituary writer, Kate Summerscale about her fantastic book about murder and post-war London, Kate Summerscale. They discuss whether the crimes of Christie are as familiar to younger people as they were to us in our childhoods, how you approach writing about such a gruesome and sensitive subject and the modern day events that inspired the book, how the 1950s were rather more grim in general than people seem to remember and how misogyny and r...
Jan 17, 2025•45 min•Ep. 124
#544 Is This About Up the Arse? - Richard returns to Birmingham Town Hall for another couple of weeks of Brum based podcasts. His guest this week is Twitter sensation, Ruth Husko. They discuss how she has shared some great comedy on the moribund social media channel and why she got banned from it, the cockfighting of Wednesbury, why Freddie Starr is schmokin’, Richard’s plan to win the lottery, how much the public would give up to save Bob Mortimer, Scooby Doo porn, Richard’s erotic prejudice ag...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 30Ep. 9
Book Club #123 - You Don’t Have To Be Mad To Work Here - In the first of a new series of Book Club Richard talks to psychiatrist and former stand up Benji Waterhouse (if that is his real name) about his terrific memoir about working for the NHS and the importance of prioritising mental health. They discuss how to treat this subject with humour and sensitivity, as well as providing your patients with anonymity, the short-sightedness of underfunding and ignoring our mental health, the difficult de...
Jan 10, 2025•44 min•Ep. 123
#543 House of Losers - Richard has had a worrying dream, but what can it all mean? His guest is an alien from outer space and not a man in an impressive but ridiculous costume, the artist formerly known as Lord Buckethead, Count Binface. They discuss his reasons for travelling light years to take on sitting Prime Ministers in UK elections, some of his excellent policies involving hand dryers and Ceefax, whether snooker is already in 3 dimensions, losing a bind, whether old people should lose the...
Jan 08, 2025•54 min•Season 30Ep. 8
Best of 2024 - Part 6 - And there we have it, the final Best of 2024 compilation episode. This time, guests include Tommy Cannon talking about his partnership with Bobby Ball, and Peter Serafinowicz on his optimism about technology fusing with art. If you're getting tired of all this looking back, don't worry - new episodes start up again next Wednesday! If you prefer this to the normal podcasts, also don't worry - there will be a new compilation in approximately 50 weeks. In fact, just try not ...
Jan 03, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 6
Best of 2024 - Part 5 - IIIT'S NEEEW YEEAAAR'S! Don't celebrate too hard - surely now more than ever we should be looking back on the ups and downs of 2024. But especially the ups, and especially 2024 viewed through the lens of RHLSTP releases. This time, guests include Tommy Tiernan talking about how he thrives in stressful environments like The Tommy Tiernan Show, and Charlotte Church on how her career changed as she grew up. See a live recording of RHLSTP - https://richardherring.com/rhlstp S...
Jan 01, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 5
Best of 2024 - Part 4 - It's not Christmas any more. But here's another RHLSTP compilation! This time, guests include Jon Ronson on the time he stayed up all night with real-life superhero Phoenix Jones, and Neil Hannon talking about his cricket album The Duckworth Lewis Method - plus, the Edinburgh Fringe run begins! See a live recording of RHLSTP - https://richardherring.com/rhlstp SUPPORT THE SHOW! Watch our TWITCH CHANNEL See extra content at our WEBSITE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...
Dec 30, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 4
Best of 2024 - Part 3 - IIIT was just CHRIIIISTMAAAS! Why not take some time to relax, play with your new Scalextric, and listen to your eighth favourite podcast? This time, guests include Bob Mortimer talking about The Satsuma Complex and a new off-the-cuff TV concept, and Rob Brydon on meeting Paul McCarney with Steve Coogan. See a live recording of RHLSTP - https://richardherring.com/rhlstp SUPPORT THE SHOW! Watch our TWITCH CHANNEL See extra content at our WEBSITE Hosted on Acast. See acast....
Dec 27, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 3
Best of 2024 - Part 2 - IIIT'S CHRIIIISTMAAAS! And we are continuing our fortnight-long trawl through every episode that was released this year (2024). This time, we hear about Julia Sawalha's relationship with Rich, and Ross Noble's coincidentally Christmassy game of weed charades - and much more besides. See a live recording of RHLSTP - https://richardherring.com/rhlstp SUPPORT THE SHOW! Watch our TWITCH CHANNEL See extra content at our WEBSITE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more i...
Dec 25, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 2
Best of 2024 - Part 1 - IIIT'S nearly CHRIIIISTMAAAS! And we are choosing to look back on the year as any self-respecting podcast should - by putting out a series of highlights from every episode that released in 2024. That said, this time, we're still within the episodes that were recorded in 2023 - including Lee Mack talking about being in the secret Inside No. 9 episode "3 By 3", and Steve Pemberton on the Christmas he spent in a German hospital. See a live recording of RHLSTP - https://richa...
Dec 23, 2024•57 min•Ep. 1
Book Club #122 - The Anglo Saxons - It’s the last Book Club of the year and we’re heading back to pre-conquest Britain for the history of the Anglo Saxons with Marc Morris. Rich and Marc talk about how little people know about this period and how most of the things they do know never happened, why having very few sources to work from doesn’t make this light and easy work, how Marc discovered the best way to cover this sprawling and tumultuous half a millennium was to tell it through the stories ...
Dec 20, 2024•58 min•Ep. 122
#542 Twirling Scary Spice - Richard has been to the Taskmaster experience and is furious to have broken his perfect record of victory. His guest is another Taskmaster alumni, who has turned her appearance into ticket sales (unlike Richard) Fern Brady. They discuss her triumph at the Sky Arts Awards and why she gave a shout out to Irvine Welsh, magic mushrooms, why her tour poster involves her lactating into someone’s mouth, why she doesn’t want to follow the narrative of TV shows regarding her a...
Dec 18, 2024•57 min•Season 30Ep. 7
Book Club #121 - Impossible Things - Rich talks to Dan Schreiber from off of No Such Thing As A Fish etc about his kids’ book attempting to answer the world’s weirdest questions. They chat about trying to kill the Loch Ness Monster, how sceptical people can see ghosts, Dan’s origin story where he saw his sister levitate and smash a glass, imaginary characters coming to life, Richard’s flirtations with mental illness in some of his work, whether we’re living in a simulation, why time travellers s...
Dec 13, 2024•54 min•Ep. 121
#541 Hairy-legged Cinderella - Richard is fitting in in his new town and is surprisingly not the weirdest person there. His guest this week is On The Hour alumni, actor and campaigner Doon Mackichan. They talk about a show down with Jim Davidson, 1980s feminism, whether it’s possible to carry on swimming after you are dead, how taking no shit seems to have helped Doon’s career, fighting against stereotyping and turning violent crime into entertainment, the revolutionary sketch show Smack The Pon...
Dec 11, 2024•57 min•Season 30Ep. 6
Book Club #120 - The Origin of Football Manager Part 1 - Richard meets one of his childhood heroes Kevin Toms, a pioneer of videogame development and the face on the box of the legendary original Football Manager games. They talk about incompetent careers advisors, loving statistics, the genius of making a game about management rather than playing and text rather than graphics and that never ended, how the game became a phenomenon and how it has reappeared on your phones and computers today (wit...
Dec 06, 2024•34 min•Ep. 120
#540 You Must Think I’m a Terrible Flirt - Richard is trying out material for his Oh Shit I’m 60! Show and surprise surprise, it’s all about his fading genitals. His guest is a man who can inhabit the soul of Nye Bevan, but also talk about his dick, Michael Sheen. They discuss the fantastic interview from The Assembly and how it knocks all of Richard’s interviews out of the park, playing Chris Tarrant and the guilt or innocence the coughing major, the dangers of engendering sympathy for the Duke...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 30Ep. 5
Book Club #119 - Loki - A Bad God’s Guide To Making Enemies - Richard talks to author Louie Stowell about her fabulous Loki series and other children’s books. They chat about writing a kids’ book for kids who don’t like reading, fusing Norse myth with everyday school life, how kids are in some ways little mischivous gods who need to learn empathy, why the UK doesn’t embrace its Viking heritage more, how a sentient diary is the perfect antidote for an unreliable writer, the biggest fossilised hum...
Nov 29, 2024•42 min•Ep. 119
#539 Did You See Me in Ghostbusters? - Richard has been haunted by his smoke alarm. His guest is movie star James Acaster. They talk about his new Sky 1 special “Hecklers Welcome”, revitalising the love of stand up and spinning wheel based trauma, the surprise of being in the latest Ghostbusters film and how Rich plans to trump this, some of the secrets behind Celebrity Hunted (one of which was too juicy to share - come and see the show live), why James is not scared of bats, Springleaf, Party G...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 30Ep. 4
Book Club #118 - All That Matters - Richard talks to the winner of 6 Olympic gold medals (and one silver) Chris Hoy about his fabulous, moving and positive autobiography All That Matters. Although Chris says it’s not Top Trumps his cancer makes Richard’s look like a paper cut and the book is bold and matter of fact about the impact of a non-sugar coated stage 4 cancer diagnosis, but whilst acknowledging the spiral of grief that this inevitably caused, Chris discusses the catharsis of writing abo...
Nov 22, 2024•42 min•Ep. 118
#538 Pocklington - Richard has just moved house and is mourning the items that didn’t make the grade. His guest is another comedy hero, Adrian Edmondson. They talk about bad Brummie accents, the shadow that is cast on his life from the 14 weeks he spent on the Young Ones, cutting Rik Mayall’s head open with a metal jug, the boarding school experience that he’s still recovering from to this day, how the tweenager Ade may have passed the toddler Rich on the streets of Pocklington, how lockdown and...
Nov 20, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 30Ep. 3
Book Club #117 - Jokes Jokes Jokes - Richard talks to old Edinburgh flatmate Jenny Eclair about her cut-above-the-rest autobiography, Jokes, Jokes, Jokes. They discuss how you maintain a career in their weird business over several decades, the envy and bitterness that can eat you up, how getting older changes your priorities, how little either of them remember about Jenny Eclair Squats, how winning the Perrier award left Jenny feeling like a fraud, appearing (though not) in the Karma Chameleon v...
Nov 15, 2024•46 min•Ep. 117
