Richard Herring

I have been slightly astonished by a new advert that has appeared on the tube in the last week for something called Cargiant (I won't link to their site, for fear that I might encourage anyone to go there). A smug faced man is shown (and in some versions there is a before picture of him looking miserable) and the text reads, "Chris had a long face.

The wife ... read more

So I made some new year resolutions. And unlike most of you I have stuck to them.

The main one was to give up drinking alcohol for an, as yet, unspecified amount of time. I usually do this for January, but this year feel I want to go for longer. And an insane, yet increasingly influential part of my brain seems to think I should try and get through ... read more

Whilst dicking around on Facebook (yeah, how cool am I? I’m not hanging around on the New Statesman site like you middle-aged losers, I am down wid the kids – oh yeah), I chanced across a small link about a male body grooming product. Having nothing better to do (you know it was either this or do some work) and slightly intrigued by the existence of such an item, I ... read more

Like Heather Mills McCartney I do a lot of secret work for charity that I don’t like to talk about. Like the charity gig I mentioned last time.

Really, Heather and me are the most wonderful people in the world. I don’t know why everyone gives us such a hard time, when we pretty much devote our whole lives to our secret charity projects. Never going on about them ... read more

As a comedian I was all in favour of the recent smoking ban. I perform in a lot of little rooms above pubs and used to hate having to breath in the polluting smog that invariably filled the space. I used to regularly get ill or lose my voice, but now those days are gone. It’s great.

But the ban has had some unexpected and less positive consequences. The most ... read more

I was heading out for a gig this week, feeling in a very positive mood. For some unknown reason my senses were heightened and I was filled with contentment and confidence and I was being uncharacteristically observant. Maybe someone had slipped some magic mushrooms into my tea.

On the tube I was sitting opposite a smartly dressed, slightly stocky lady. She had a posh black jacket and skirt on and ... read more

As I suspected, someone got in touch with me to solve the last entry’s Travelodge conundrum. I know that I didn't want the mystery ruined, yet when I knew the answer was just a mouse click away, I couldn't help myself from looking.

This is the nature of a mystery that we want to keep a mystery - there is still a part of us that will refuse to ... read more

I spend a good portion of my year on the road and so have much experience of this country’s cheaper hotels. This week I stayed at the Manchester Ancoats Travelodge. Can my life get any more glamorous?

It's a fairly basic hotel, but right next door to the Frog and Bucket where I was performing and thus very convenient for the drunken stagger back from the club. The venue ... read more

This week I recorded a ten minute set for Paramount’s offensive stand-up show, Comedy Blue. Usually when doing stand up on telly I have to wrack my brain for the few clean and non-controversial jokes that I have, but tonight I was free to choose anything I wanted and apparently could say any word I wanted apart from “motherfucker”.

I was quite intrigued to know why this was unacceptable ... read more

Maybe nothing much is happening in my life at the moment or maybe reaching 40 has just made me hanker for the past, but everything that I want to write about at the moment seems to have happened at least twenty years ago. On holiday I was reading Richard Dawkins’ “The God Delusion” and getting annoyed by superstitious people believing ridiculous rubbish. But it got me thinking about a strange ... read more

I am on holiday in Thailand. After eleven months of constant work I have managed to find 12 days where I can relax and forget about everything. I have been mainly sleeping, eating, drinking beer and lying in hammocks reading books or watching the sun set. It’s brilliant.

I have a beach front hut that faces out over the light green ocean, flecked with dark islands that I must get ... read more

I am up in Edinburgh doing a show about turning 40. It’s been going very well: reviews are good, people are coming, have just confirmed a London run of the show at the Arts Theatre in the last two weeks of September (subtle enough plug for you?).

It’s the 20th anniversary of my first Fringe, my 23rd show and I am finally starting to enjoy myself up here. Sometimes ... read more