This August the Edinburgh Festival celebrates its 70th anniversary.
To mark the occasion, we have asked a plethora of performers about their
personal Fringe experiences. Today King Of The Fringe Richard Herring.
TW: What was your first ever experience of the Edinburgh Fringe?
RH: I first came up in 1987 with the Oxford Theatre Group doing a kids
show called ‘Old King Cole’ and a lunchtime revue called ‘The Seven
Raymonds Present KMnO4’. We were big fans of Potassium Permanganate. It
was a rollercoaster of emotions, but I met and worked with people who
are still amongst my best friends 30 years on. Lots of the experience
hurt, but something keeps drawing me back to be punched in the face
again. Because the Fringe sometimes leans over you and kisses the
bruises that it has made.
TW: What’s the best thing you’ve ever seen performed at the Fringe?
RH: Arthur Smith is the true King Of The Fringe and the show he did in
the Botanical Gardens in 1998 was wondrous and sprawling with a cast of
thousands and, within an hour, it had lifted my broken spirits and made
me glad to be alive.
TW: What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen performed at the Fringe – so bad it was good?
RH: I saw a student play about rape that really misjudged the subject
matter. Sometimes being serious about something can be more offensive
than joking about it.
TW: Which of the Fringe shows you performed in do you most fondly remember – and why?
RH: ‘Christ On A Bike’ (the first time) was a very important show for
me, as it was the first time I’d done anything here completely solo. I
had not previously seen myself as a stand-up comedian and thought I
needed other people to bounce off. To be getting rolling laughs on my
own – and to see people in pain with laughter, knowing I hadn’t even got
to the really funny bit yet – was a rare treat.
TW: Name a Fringe performer – past or present – who you’d like to join on stage?
RH: Thanks to my podcasts I get to join nearly all my comedy heroes on
stage. I’d love to work with Michael Palin, but there isn’t much chance
of that. I’d also like to work with Peter Cook. There’s about an equal
chance of that happening.
TW: Other than performing and seeing shows, what is your favourite thing to do in Edinburgh during August?
RH: I like watching terrible old quiz shows on Challenge TV. It feels
positively wicked to be missing the greatest arts festival in the world
cos you’re watching a marathon of ‘Bullseye’.
Richard Herring performs ‘Oh Frig, I’m 50!’ at the Pleasance
Courtyard until 26 Aug and hosts ‘Richard Herring’s Edinburgh Fringe
Podcast’ at the New Town Theatre on 11 and 18 Aug.
