Richard Herring Creates Chaos...
White Wine Question Time
Biscuit Jim
4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 12 March 2026
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Richard Herring became half of a decade-defining comedy act with Stewart Lee – thanks to a chance meeting in an Oxford cricket pavilion which was the genesis of a 13-year creative partnership which included the cult classic Fist of Fun and the legendary Edinburgh Fringe show ‘This Morning with Richard not Judy’
Another important pairing came along in 2008 when he teamed up with the NME journalist and then 6Music presenter Andrew Collins for a new show – but not on the radio or the television – to the dismay of many of their peers they would chat for an hour or so giving away material for free on a ‘podcast’.
It’s a genre that Richard had helped define. From his decision to host his shows in front of paying audiences (long before podcasts were profitable!) Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast – of RHLSTP to those in the know recently put out its 600th episode, that’s in addition to the multiple spin-offs which help contribute to over a million downloads per month.
As a comedian he’s been described as “One of the leading hidden masters of modern British comedy” – that’s despite deciding in the early 90s that he wasn’t very good at solo stand-up. In fact he describes his first attempts as “largely humiliating and unsatisfying.” A decade on from his early set-backs he toured shows like Talking Cock, Hitler Moustache, Someone Likes Yoghurt and Talking Cock: The Second Coming. In his show The Headmaster’s Son he focussed on life as the son of the Headmaster – dedicated to his Dad – very much his origin story as a comedian.
Like many in comedy lockdown forced all of his content online – but Richard suffered a second setback when in 2021 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
He wrote about it in his typically dark-humoured book ‘Can I Have My Ball Back?’, where he explored how his diagnosis and subsequent treatment forced him to reflect on his own mortality and masculinity.
With almost 500 episodes of White Wine Question Time, and 600 episode of Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast I wonder if this might be the most ‘capped’ interview on the internet?
Cheers!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Coming up on this episode of White Wine Question Time. |
| 0:06.3 | Weirdly, I started podcasting the same month I started dating my wife. |
| 0:09.4 | So it's 18 and a bit years since I started podcasting. |
| 0:13.1 | I mean, I think it sort of absolutely like changed my life and meeting my wife as well, obviously. |
| 0:19.6 | So it was incredible kind of |
| 0:20.9 | yeah what a year yeah so and what a month i mean it was talking to our alex hoard about this yesterday |
| 0:26.0 | and he compared me to everton which i think it's not you know i think he's over the top saying |
| 0:30.0 | you're always you're always your premier league but you're never going to be the top of the premier |
| 0:34.9 | league but you're never going to get relegated which i'm not sure sure is true, but it's quite a nice place to get. Bob Mortimer is just, you know, is one of my favourite guests, but when you get that connection with Bob Mortar and Bob's a good laugh as well as a good comedian, I mean, if I could just be stuck in making Bob Mortimer laugh, I might take that over meeting my wife. |
| 0:55.1 | That would be terrible, wouldn't it? |
| 0:59.2 | Hello and welcome to White Wine Question Time, the podcast that asked its guests, three thought-provoking questions over three glasses of wine. |
| 1:06.6 | And my guest today, oh, I'm excited to have him on. |
| 1:09.6 | He's an author, an award-winning comedian and a genuine podcaster OG. |
| 1:15.0 | He was born in Yorkshire, grew up in Somerset and was raised as the son of a school headmaster. |
| 1:20.6 | He became half of a decade-defining comedy act with Stuart Lee, thanks to a chance meeting in an Oxford cricket pavilion, which was the genesis of a 13-year creative partnership. |
| 1:31.2 | Another important pairing came along in 2008 when he teamed up with the NME journalist and then six music presenter Andrew Collins for a new show. |
| 1:39.1 | But this wasn't on the radio or on the television. |
| 1:41.3 | To the dismay of many of his peers, they would chat for an hour or so |
| 1:44.7 | and then give away material for free on what was called a podcast. It's a genre that he has |
| 1:50.7 | well and truly helped to define. From his decision to host his shows in front of paying audiences, |
| 1:55.5 | long before podcasts were profitable, Richard Herring's Lester Square podcast, or R-H-L-S-T-P, to those in the know, |
| 2:03.4 | has recently just put out its 600th episode. That's in addition to the many spin-offs which |
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