Richard Herring
Is it decadent post-imperialist arrogance or dicking about in the name of entertaining telly? That was my first thought when I started watching 24 Hours To Go Broke, Dave’s latest comedy travelogue series in which celebrities – mostly comedians – visit various parts of the world with a suitcase full of bank notes and have to spend them in a day or face a horrible forfeit.
Al Murray has always had a thing about the military. There is, of course, the Pub Landlord's wobbly grasp of European history, but before that Murray used to do a precision-tooled sound effects act in which he impersonated various machine guns and rifles. And before that, as Watching War Films With My Dad reveals, his childhood was filled with typical WW2 ephemera, from Airfix models to Sunday afternoon viewings of A Bridge Too Far with his father.
This review first appeared in the Evening Standard here.
Even by Richard Herring's prolific standards he is busy at the moment.
These days it feels as if everyone should be taking notes at gigs and not just if you are reviewing it. A few years ago there was a fear that stand-up was dumbing down. That we were destined to live in a world where we did nothing but put useless odds and ends in our man drawers. This week, however, I've been struck by how often comedy currently opts for the high brow option.
This is one of those crazy busy comedy weeks that makes it worth living in London. You could easily see a top show every night – if you can afford it – and still not catch everything, so without further ado I'll rattle through your options.
Don't hibernate, get out next month and see some live comedy in London. Here is your handy cut-and-paste guide to the essential shows next month. Starting out with one essential show later this month...
David Baddiel's first Edinburgh run since 1998 is proving to be the hit of the Fringe. His show, Fame: Not The Musical, has garnered rave reviews across the board and he has just announced two extra afternoon shows on Aug 10 & 11. Ticket details here.
If you want to get an idea of the sheer sweat, graft and toil that goes into preparing an Edinburgh Fringe show you should follow Richard Herring's daily Warming Up blog at the moment. As well as talking wittily about life in general he entertainingly charts the struggle to get to his preview gigs, the difficult audiences and, most importantly, he also dissects his set as it evolves.
Michael Parkinson eat your heart out. Roll over Graham Norton and tell Alan Carr the news. Richard Herring's "Stephen Fry in suicide attempt" scoop has shown that the biggest stories are not always stage managed and released to the media as part of a strategy worked out with military precision.
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