"Fist Of Fun", the radio series. Yes, I know, I'm claiming something was better on the radio yet again...

Doubled his "r" input.

Personally I don't think it matters (and I know you said you weren't having a go tim_e) whether "X" is better than TGP, if RH is (rightly) proud of TGP.

I did enjoy the "Maurice Mitchener" digs, though.

I'm not saying that it is the BEST thing Herring has been involved in, but I think that TMWRNJ was probably my favourite, simply because nothing like that had been done in that timeslot before, and it was brilliant.

If the point of this thread is to compare past work to TGP though then it is pointless. TGP is a SITCOM. If you must compare it to something compare it to other sitcoms.

I'm enjoying TGP, and agree with above that it's hard to compare different formats. There's also the feeling that quite often your first exposure to someone/something can easily be remembered as the best, since it was so new and fresh. With that in mind, I think Lionel Nimrod was the best, certainly from a radio point of view.

I enjoyed Hide and Seek with Jesus a lot. I loved (the script of) Punks not Dead (wish I'd actually seen it) and the 2nd series of TMWRNJ was very good too.

And I can't really find much wrong with TGP, especially after having re-watched the episodes - they seem to get better once you get a feel for the characters.

They're all different, they're all good in different ways.

I didn't like Not The End of The World, though I can't exactly say or work out why. It had it's moments, I liked the idea. But.. dunno. Didn't quite work for me.

Julia Sawa......hmmm, actually will this sound offensive?
Hope not.

You're missing the point - that's all the site is ever going to contain. Look at the name of the image that is the presenter : blondy.jpg .

"Come and wank over this one page site, then watch the show later on and you might hear her swearing too."


I was secretly hoping the source code would reveal some sarcastic remakr about the show ("News Huddlines with swearing") but it wasn't to be.

Come on, you can't blame Rich for 11 O Clock Show...

I swear (fuck! ("hahahahaha" -11ocs viewer)) I posted that to the thread about the 11ocs website. Sorry.

>I was secretly hoping the source code would reveal some sarcastic remakr about the show ("News Huddlines with swearing") but it wasn't to be.

Well hold your cursor over the bottom image and you get a word that sums up the 11ocs perfectly.

...just being Rich!


(cue background sound: barfing in bucket)

I feel partly responsible for the 11 o clock show, cos I wrote for On the Hour, which i think is what all the writers of the 11 o clock show are attempting to copy, wrongly.

I agree about It's not the end of the world. Which is the only play anyone has shown any interest in putting on anywhere.There is no justice. I still prefer 13 episodes of TGP to one of my plays though. I am judging it on writing. You may judge it by other factors. It is interesting that you have all chosen different things and that is a mark of my lack of success I feel

Actually, I don't think that the choice of different things relfects a lack of success; in fact quite the opposite. It shows that your work is varying and never merely 'more of the same', and also that it managed to excite different people at different times for different reasons.

Radio "Fist Of Fun" might be my favourite, but I enjoyed almost everything else before and since. It was just that "Fist Of Fun" had such an exciting impact at the time.

Surely the writers of the 11 O'Clock Show aren't trying to copy On The Hour. Each episode of T11OCS show is written and produced in a day - whatever you think of it that's it's brief. each ep of OTH was crafted (brilliantly I might add) over much longer than a day. 11OCS isn't trying to emulate it at all - sorry Rich I think you're wrong. It's got a completely different job to do and I think it's improved greatly this series.

Oh and favourite thing RH has done? Sally Phillips.

My fave: Fist Of Fun 1 (TV) and TM series 2.
But a lot of the radio stuff I never heard, except the 1st R1 one, which I didn't like, apart from a few sketches (man who paints the Apollo rocket, etc.)

I never saw it (apart from the bit on 'Edinburgh Nights') so I don't know about the Oxford Revue stuff, but do you have any regrets about it, seeing as it got bad reviews? What was it like anyway, was it in the same vein as Lee&Herring stuff?

And another thing... I'm sure that in 1989/90 I saw a short item on Midlands Today about shows going round the area, and one of them was for something that came with a terrible review from Stephen Fry ("Bowel-shatteringly awful... over-privileged youngsters making fun of things they don't understand" - that stuck in my memory because it's a memorable quote) and there was a clip of someone talking about how he'd found Jesus.

Years later, I now suspect the show was the 1989 Oxford Revue, and the person in the clip was Al Murray. Am I right?

No offence intended to SLee, Murray, etc. I never saw the show myself. It's just that's what I remember, and reading things on your website about the show made me wonder.

You may be amazed to know Jon that I agree entirely with that review [and every time I have seen an Oxford Review I've felt much the same, maybe Fry was experiencing a similar awful glimpse into his younger self]. I don't think it was me on the clip though. Two reviewers described it as the worst show on the Fringe that year and I tend to agree. Though Harry Hill's Dog Murder One was another contender.

I've read in a few places that the 1988/9 Oxford Revues had awful reviews. Which makes me wonder... what's it like being part of a show getting that sort of reaction?

I've don't bits of amateur acting myself, but we were always showered with critical plaudits.

Tha above is just a variant of something that's always puzzled me : "What's it like to be Ben Elton?"

I mean, what's it like to get the kind of critical treatment that he has received over the years (not that it did any harm; 'Beautiful game' looks like being a hit).

I enjoyed Rich's bits on the late but not lamented Radio 4 extravaganza "Anderson Country". His piece about 'why can't we be more like children?' was ace.

I haven't seen any of the old L&H stuff since it was broadcast, but I have very fond memories of the first series of Fist of Fun. I quite fancied Rich back then. Not that that has anything to do with it (talent, talent). Why were there only 2 series of that, was it a L&H or BBC decision? (11ocs gets FIVE series despite being immesurably inferior....fume, rant...)

No one's mentioned 'Stab In The Dark' yet.

I only saw 1 ep of that. Baddiel was funny on it. Tracey macleod did a monologue about National Music Day. Did you write that, Richard?

We didn't write anything for the first episode. We were drafted in to attempt to save the sinking ship. i didn't enjoy it and Stew did most of the work on that project, bless him. The only clear memory I have is of Tracey mccleod hiding behind a car outside her house with some polysterene to squeak at me (I hate the sound)
Apart from that she was lovely

What was the bloke who wasn't David Baddiel called?

>What was the bloke who wasn't David Baddiel called?


Michael Gove, from The Times.

Fact: series editor was Paul Ross. Who also edited The Word at the time.

Sorry Rich - still can't comment on TGP yet - though I am being promised tapes, and hopefully we are getting digital next week.

Meantime, my five favourite Herring projects:

1) Fist Of Fun book
2) On The Hour audio pullouts
3) TMWRNJ series two
4) Lionel Nimrod second series
5) His sketches for Up To Something... in 1989 with Susie Blake and Shane Richie

While we're massaging Rich's ego, I'd like to put a vote in for Monster Night and Boys Night In. The great thing about these projects was that they were slotted in (or used to link) more or less mainstream non-comedy programming. Seeing Rich & Stu (as I like to call them) alongside regular TV folk reminded me of why I liked them in the first place.

My favourite thing that Richard Herring has done was to buy me a drink in the Pleasance courtyard once. Ta.

PS. Hiya Al. Love to you and the family from us in Melbourne!

Janet where is it possible to see you perform?

Stab in the Dark :

I videod this, and enjoyed it. I remember Tracy McLeod doing monologues (along with others) and thinking it was a refreshing change in comedy. Sadly, my one tape that has "stab in the dark" scrawled on the label no longer seems to have said show on it.

I didn't know who had contributed to it at the time (tho had probably heard Lionel Nimrod by then).

Ah well.

I hated that Radio 4 afternoon thing as well ("Back off John Birt"), but probably never encountered any of Rich's monologues there.

I'm blinkered, me.

>Janet where is it possible to see you perform?

You can see me compering a weekly stand up night called The Planet, Prince Patrick Hotel, Victoria Pde, Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia - currently Mondays, but switching to Wednesdays as of Oct 25. 9pm start. You may need to leave home early to get there in time.
(you can look at our crappy website - www.back.to/theplanet)

Or if you're ever in South Africa, I do a live phone cross to SAfm on the Bruce Millar Show very second Thursday 11am (SA time). Graham Norton used to be my stable mate at SAfm; then he got famous and started making a wage and couldn't be lured any more by the tantallising currency that is the South African rand.

Thanks for the interest KS!
(Sorry for taking over your thread Richard)

Hi Janet! We're all fine here, good to hear from you!!

Take care

>You can see me compering a weekly stand up night called The Planet, Prince Patrick Hotel, Victoria Pde, Collingwood, Melbourne,

Are trips to your shows included in any package holidays Janet? Or are you performing at the Sydney Comedy Festival at all?

>Thanks for the interest KS!

Who without intuition wouldn't be seeking a pilgrimage to see you?

Janet, any chance of you doing a gig in the same continent as where we live?

Hmm, the Trip To Janet package deal...interesting concept KS...
I'll talk it over with my people.

(make that 'person', ie. me)

Jon, not one iota of chance at present. Vague possibility for next year if I accidentally make money this year. [Please post money-making ideas here.]
What am I like onstage? Highly personable, a bit scatty, love a prop, love a pun, love a true story. Stylistically I don't have the polish of, say, your typical Jongleurs type, mostly because I do new material every week (we have such a big return audience at my comedy night I bloody well have to). Mind you, I'd damned inventive as a result. I'm more fringe than slick.
(I recreated the Olympics closing ceremony in minature last week, including Kylie on a flip-flop and prawns riding bicycles. Stupid, yet fun.)

Actually, my favourite is "That's Wiggins Yard". Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Why can't we get live videos of Janet's act in the Britain?

You can get vids of Jethro and Elaine C.Brown.

I shiver at the thought of this forum being able to see, and thus rip the bejesus out of, my act.
One show I do - a trivia night with a multi-media, cabaret edge - garnered the quote "It's pissweak, you'll love it".
I saw a comment on a message board about another project - a comedy walking tour of Melbourne's dodgier alleyways - which read "A bit lame, but really good fun".
I value both quotes highly.

But Janet you're very likeable. The likeable are just funny regardless.

Janet have you ever been to 380 Lygon Street, Carlton? I hear special things go on in there.

Janet, you should get into the hi-tech, multi-media comedy of Noble&Silver or League Against Tedium. You don't have to any good then.

Official announcement: Kinder Surprise is my favourite forum contributer.
Aw, ta.
>Janet have you ever been to 380 Lygon Street, Carlton? I hear special things go on in there.
Ah, the Comedy Club. Only performed there a few times - bit mainstream for me. Last time they just stared at me curiously. A few freakers near the front absolutely loved me, however, and come to my gigs still.
There used to be an alleged - REPEAT, alleged - mafia connection there about a decade ago. One comic, Tony Martin, tells the tale about how he was going to the dressing room and went a different way to the route he normally took.. He opened a door to see a man in a chair with thugs all around him, one with fist poised just above the guy. "Oh, excuse me" Tony said, shutting the door behind him to the dull sound of fist hitting flesh.
Then there was the guy who was found dead at the bottom of the escalators. Police reports said they didn't know if the man had "fell off the balcony, or had been stabbed off". STABBED OFF???!
Anyhow, not like that anymore. Different owners. Pity, I liked the element of surprise.
And the mafia really know how to treat a lady nice.

The Mafia had to quit because their hitmen kept doing open-mike spots and becoming stand-ups.

Histor's Eye is my favourite thing -like a bird's wing.

My favourite actual thing from TMWRNJ is definitely the eggcellent Histor's Eye. Should we start a Histor fan club (although Pliny, the egg (like a bird's egg!)-obsessed bird (like a bird!) is obviously the true star(ling) - like a bird!)?

Egg! Egg! Egg! Ova & Out.

>> It is interesting that you have all chosen different things and that is a mark of my lack of success I feel

I agree with TJ's earlier comment that the way we all seem to enjoy different pieces of work shows a good variety & quality in whatever medium is being produced, be it radio, comedy show, play, sitcom etc. So many writers and performers stick to producing work in a very limited field; it would have been easy for you to continue with, say, radio sketch shows with Stewart Lee, as these were proving highly popular with your audience. To branch out into solo projects and to work with other writers, each with a good deal of success, shows a wider ability. Although the finished products are very different, the underlying style of humour shows through (often in recurring themes of interest or just running gags), which might be why so many of us enjoy most of the different things we have seen.

I haven't seen/heard everything you've produced but I can't think of anything I've disliked as a whole. The plays I saw in the two years I attended the Edinburgh Festival (RH Is Fat & RH Is All Man) I rated as amongst the best couple of shows I saw (out of 40+ one year & 63 the 2nd!). As for TGP, I cannot really comment properly yet until I've viewed the finished item but I certainly consider it as highly enjoyable & the best sitcom I've seen recorded.

My RH Desert Island Disc Choices (assuming an island with unlimited electricity, a radio, TV & VCR) would be:
1) Lionel Nimrod - it was the first L&H product I knew & actually one of the very first radio shows I ever went to see being recorded. I haven't heard it for years & would be interested to know if it stands up to my fond memories of it. Very cleverly crafted - humour at many different levels & a formula that was copied by several shows following it. I still chuckle at the thought of characters such as St Simeon Stylites (so good he became evil) & Ian Cyclops (a great name).
2) Fist of Fun Book - great for just dipping into as a reminder of the radio & TV series, with plenty of favourite bits in.
3) TMWRNJ (or 'This Muff With Richard, Not Judy', as I always like to call it) uncut versions - always a joy to watch, it showed how L&H had developed into a very sharp act over the years. I was particularly impressed at how relaxed you both looked despite it being live; the pressure of that probably gave it extra energy. A rich variety of sketches, again working at many different levels. I love the running gags, recurring characters & can watch it over & over (unusual for me). If I had to pick just one thing, it would be this show.

>>> It is interesting that you have all chosen different things and that is a mark of my lack of success I feel
>
>I agree with TJ's earlier comment that the way we all seem to enjoy different pieces of work shows a good variety & quality in whatever medium is being produced, be it radio, comedy show, play, sitcom etc. So many writers and performers stick to producing work in a very limited field; it would have been easy for you to continue with, say, radio sketch shows with Stewart Lee, as these were proving highly popular with your audience. To branch out into solo projects and to work with other writers, each with a good deal of success, shows a wider ability. Although the finished products are very different, the underlying style of humour shows through (often in recurring themes of interest or just running gags), which might be why so many of us enjoy most of the different things we have seen.
>
>I haven't seen/heard everything you've produced but I can't think of anything I've disliked as a whole. The plays I saw in the two years I attended the Edinburgh Festival (RH Is Fat & RH Is All Man) I rated as amongst the best couple of shows I saw (out of 40+ one year & 63 the 2nd!). As for TGP, I cannot really comment properly yet until I've viewed the finished item but I certainly consider it as highly enjoyable & the best sitcom I've seen recorded.
>
>My RH Desert Island Disc Choices (assuming an island with unlimited electricity, a radio, TV & VCR) would be:
>1) Lionel Nimrod - it was the first L&H product I knew & actually one of the very first radio shows I ever went to see being recorded. I haven't heard it for years & would be interested to know if it stands up to my fond memories of it. Very cleverly crafted - humour at many different levels & a formula that was copied by several shows following it. I still chuckle at the thought of characters such as St Simeon Stylites (so good he became evil) & Ian Cyclops (a great name).
>2) Fist of Fun Book - great for just dipping into as a reminder of the radio & TV series, with plenty of favourite bits in.
>3) TMWRNJ (or 'This Muff With Richard, Not Judy', as I always like to call it) uncut versions - always a joy to watch, it showed how L&H had developed into a very sharp act over the years. I was particularly impressed at how relaxed you both looked despite it being live; the pressure of that probably gave it extra energy. A rich variety of sketches, again working at many different levels. I love the running gags, recurring characters & can watch it over & over (unusual for me). If I had to pick just one thing, it would be this show.
>

Is there room for two on this desert island???

>Is there room for two on this desert island???

As long as it's not one of those cartoon ones with just a palm tree in the middle & some sharks swimming round the outside! You can't even put a hammock up.

Maybe we should make it a RH desert island convention with everything he's ever produced (or, better, a L&H one). Then we could check it all out & see if it's as good as we remember.

Fishing With Herring

Yea Bean.Lets start a Histor's Eye fan club!!

>Yea Bean.Lets start a Histor's Eye fan club!!

A fan (often made of feathers , like a bird has feathers, like a bird) club?
I think that is an egg(egg, like a bird's egg!)cellent i(ei, German for egg, like a bird's egg, like a crow which is a bird - like a bird!)dea. It could turn into an egg(like a bird's egg - like a bird)stravaganza.