Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold - "J Edgar Hoover in a Ballgown"
Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast (RHLSTP)
British Comedy Guide
4.7 • 5.8K Ratings
🗓️ 1 July 2026
⏱️ 46 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
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Summary
RHLSTP #616 - J Edgar Hoover in a Ballgown - Richard has a remote chat with two powerhouses of American comedy Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold. They talk about Tom writing on some of the biggest sitcoms of the last few decades, how the pair met, their failed TV pilot that saw the birth of Spinal Tap, Tom’s conversion from Judaism to Catholicism, their brand new 32 year old project Here Comes J. Edgar! a comedy musical about a terrible man who held US politicians hostage to his will by use of his blackmailing list, how ridicule is the only thing that can hurt men like this. Plus what is Chevy Chase really like, how Paul McCartney is one of the great comedy improvisers and why Harry is still happy working on the Simpsons after all these years and how have these two maintained their friendship for so very long.
Tickets for the show here https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/here-comes-j-edgar-a-comedy-musical-t7zc
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Audio mix by Ben Evans (NTO)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, Richard Herring here. Thanks for downloading my podcast. Now, you may have heard on the grown-up news that I've not been very well. I'm feeling fine. I'm sort of in the middle of treatment for very minor cancer. It's not curable, but it's completely treatable. So please don't worry about me. In the meantime, if you want to become a badger, this is an excellent time to support us at gofastestripe.com slash badges. If you would like to buy a thank you Moriati t-shirt from Rich and Alley's Craven Newsround, then head to go fasterstripe.com. And you should be able to find them on there. They're only going to be available for a couple of |
| 0:37.6 | weeks and we'll print them all up at once when we find out what the demand is. But if you enjoy |
| 0:42.5 | that podcast, particularly, that's a great way to pay us back for that. Look, I'm still coming to the |
| 0:48.0 | Edinburgh Fringe unless something goes horrifically wrong. In August, from I think the |
| 0:53.8 | sixth to the 16th, go to richardine.com slash for |
| 0:59.1 | Hellasper. You can see all the dates and the guests confirmed so far who are Mike Wozniak, |
| 1:05.8 | Susie McCabe and Flo and Joan. There are some big names to come, I'm sure. I'm aiming very high with this. |
| 1:13.0 | And I will be giving some recommends of people you should be going to see at the fringe through |
| 1:17.2 | interviews over the next few weeks as well. Anyway, thank you very much. Let's sit back. |
| 1:23.2 | Thanks to all the lovely messages I've had from you guys and it's lovely to know how much these |
| 1:26.6 | podcasts mean to you. |
| 1:28.5 | And that's worth more than money. I mean, obviously, it doesn't keep us going. But thank you very much for the love you've been giving us and very much appreciate. And I'll do my best to carry on doing these until I get bored. |
| 1:39.6 | Anyway, sit back, relax and enjoy another podcast from the head and mouth of R.K. Herring. |
| 1:49.2 | Hello, welcome to another remote Rahalasthapa this week. I am joined by two men who are probably best known as Mr. Johnson in Outnumbered and Stan in Mr. Mom. |
| 2:01.5 | Very excited about that. |
| 2:04.1 | It's Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold. |
| 2:06.7 | Yeah, you read the wrong credits there, sir. |
| 2:11.2 | I like to be known by my most obscure credit. |
| 2:14.3 | Good. |
| 2:15.5 | I mean, Stan in Mr. Mom, pretty impressive. Well, it's funny |
| 2:20.1 | because one day when my, our daughters were little, they were screaming in the other room. I totally, |
| 2:26.3 | I've been a writer so long. I forgot I did all these acting jobs. And I thought something |
... |
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