Manchester Comedy Festival- Richard Herring

The Frog and Bucket
20^th October 2009
4 stars

No one canargue that Richard Herring is ‘mellowing’ as he ages. Most other comedians his age are settling into agreeable routines about the amount of time you have to queue at the Waitrose Deli, whereas Herring has decided to grow his own Hitler moustache and chronicle the trials and tribulations of walking through Shepherds Bush looking like the Führer.
The show has been a controversial success, a highlight of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the focus of a heated debate regarding offensiveness in comedy, sparked by Guardian comedy critic Brian Logan.  He himself has reservations about the validity of this quasi-political statement. Does he just resemble a bullish sixth former making a laboured point about the intrinsic offensive nature of certain symbols, like the Hitler Moustache? The show centres around Herring’s decision to grow the moustache and how this has impacted on his life.

A self-confessed ‘woolly liberal’ he explores his concerns about how he would be perceived professionally, and how the general public would react to him. He was soon to discover it was with a sort of surprised ambivalence. The show’s premise is to reclaim the Hitler moustache for comedy, reminding us all that it was Charlie Chaplin who got there first. There are intelligent and scathing gags about the ludicrous nature of the BNP and the media circus surrounding the death of Michael Jackson. He even goads the audience into making him tell a joke about Madeleine McCann that is so evil he couldn’t possible say it out loud, making us all complicit in the questioning of the nature of democracy and free speech.
It is evident from watching Herring perform that he is passionate about his subject. He has honed a stage presence over his twenty-something years of performing that is inherently likable and charming… even when it is staring back at you with a Hitler moustache.
Whatever your opinions about race, racism, political correctness or toothbrush moustaches are I guarantee that your ideas will be challenged and you’ll laugh a lot. This show is inspiring and funny in equal amounts.   A must for anyone with a love of freedom (and novelty moustaches.)