Following last year’s wonderful and intimate set from Mark Morriss of the Bluetones, we now have Richard Herring, one half of Lee & Herring who produced two of the best-ever British comedy shows (‘Fist of Fun’ and ‘This Morning with Richard Not Judy’.) It seems more and more that St Albans has become the spiritual home of the 1990s.

Since then Herring has parted company with his comedy partner Stewart Lee, and become a significant figure in the world of stand-up, both through his own series of shows taking on such weighty issues as God, Love, Death and Yoghurt, and also through his long-running RHLSTP podcast where he talks with both legends of comedy and up-and-coming new voices.

He’s eased off on the touring lately, so it was fantastic to have him in our town, doing an outdoor show at the lovely Roman Theatre.

It was a real family affair, too, as also on the bill was Herring’s wife, Catie Wilkins, also an award-winning comedian. In fact, Herring even kicked off proceedings with a joke from one of the couple’s children. It is surely only a matter of time before the whole family are performing together, like a British Partridge Family.

As well as child labour, Herring also employed long-dead writers to provide material. In honour of his location he performed some genuine Roman jokes, which were surprisingly anti-student and by and large held up well. It was a very nice touch, and most of Herring’s first (mini) set was specifically tailored to the location.

The couple are very local (from Hitchin) which meant that they both had a lot of Hertfordshire-specific material that went down very well.

For Herring this largely meant insulting Harpenden, which is a guaranteed way to get St Albanites on side, as well as referencing the recent historic lamp post scandal broken by this very paper.

After this he tagged over to Wilkins. It was really interesting hearing both sides of the domestic disagreements, and one wonders if, given how hectic it must be raising children when you’re both touring comedians, this show was their equivalent of leaving notes to each other to buy milk and not forget to put the bins out.

It was quite a change in pace, and it took a little time to readjust to the new energy. Whilst Herring had been alternately cheeky and furious, Wilkins is more conversational and exasperated – rather like talking to a friend in the pub. We enjoyed her recurring motif of parenting phrase “We’ll see” throughout her set. She is very good on the unique challenges associated with having children, and a lot of her observations on married life caused meaningful stares from my spouse seated next to me.

After all, if you tell your partner to stop snoring and they claim they couldn’t possibly have been because they weren’t asleep, then either they are lying or there must be something wrong with them.

Wilkins risked turning the crowd when she equated the residents of Hertfordshire to those of Essex, but pulled it back expertly with a section on the impossibility when someone mentioned the town of ‘Ware’ with not responding ‘Where?’ She also used the word ‘Winkie’ which always gets a laugh from us.

After the interval we had a second, longer, set from Herring which also involved the word “Winkie” – nice planning. This largely comprised material from previous shows ‘What is Love Anyway’ and ‘Can I Have My Ball Back’, his most recent.

I’ve seen both of these shows, in fact I believe I first saw his Ferrero Roche routine in Harpenden ironically, but in the same way that you would never complain if a band plays some of their early hits rather than just sticking to their new album (quite the opposite), it was nice to revisit some of the older stuff.

Especially so as Herring is an absolute master of his craft, and when he is in full flow, he has complete control over his audience. At one of his previous shows my wife almost went into premature labour as she was laughing so much, and if anything, time has honed his comedic skills.

He is an expert at fake anger, as well as exposing much of the tragic seediness at the heart of blustering masculinity. If you think he is getting too arrogant he will undercut himself, exposing instead his vulnerability.

This was especially apparent in the section where he talked about his brush with testicular cancer. He used the licence of the comedian to get absolutely filthy, wonderfully personifying his genitals as, variously, the Chuckle Brothers, a novelty music hall act and his pet cat. In amongst the scrotal chat, though, were heart-warming meditations on mortality and family.

He finished with new material from his upcoming show ‘Oh Sh!t I’m Sixty’, dealing with ageing and the inevitable decline of both possibility and physical ability. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the demographic, this was at least as relatable as Wilkin’s parental material, especially when Herring lost his glasses at one point.

Like Shakespeare’s ‘Seven Ages of Man’ speech all human life was here tonight, from naked toddlers wielding samurai swords to hair growing in unfortunate places. Both performers provided thought-provoking material that also made us laugh our collective arses off, and if there had been a roof it would have been blown off. I hope this encourages OVO to book more comedians in future festivals, it is a great venue and fills a gap between the gaping void of the Arena and the room above the Crown. People have been laughing at life’s (and students’) absurdities on this spot for millennia and given the way the world is going we need it now more than ever.