WHEN I purchased my ticket for Richard Herring's podcast show I had no idea who his guests would be.
Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast or RHLSTP has drawn a cult following and boasted stars such as Stephen Fry, Michael Palin and Dawn French.
The show at the Mercury Theatre saw historian Dame Mary Beard and actor and Colchester resident Tony Gardiner take to the stage.
Colchester ‘city’, the Gazette, Dame Mary’s new historical book, and Tony’s career were all ribbed in this two-parter ‘podcast' comedy night.
When I walked into the Mercury Theatre’s bar area my jaw completely dropped when I saw the historian and academic Dame Mary, famous for her popular BBC TV documentaries about the Romans.
After briefly introducing myself to her, while feeling like I was on an overly long ferry trip, I was ecstatic for the first half of the show which began at 7.30pm.
The show started strongly with an easy-going, short monologue by Richard introducing the theme of joking about history and Colchester in one: whether Camelot could be Colchester and if so, want went wrong.
Dame Mary, promoting her new book 'Emperor of Rome', delivered strong interesting anecdotes with good punch lines about her own academic research.
Richard waited to give ‘every man’ retorts, funny, not too rude, and on brand with his overgrown, still nice class-clown persona.
As a huge fan of history – I re-watched her series this October– I was really interested in hearing what Dame Mary had to say about the fantasy of the Roman Emperors.
But I do think for a surprise guest, both should have steered the conversation in the final twenty minutes to include more spontaneous conversations whether that be the national news or more structured quiz-like activities.
Tony – an actor beloved for playing Brian on the throwback children’s TV show My Parents are Aliens – was a dream guest being full of energy and stand-up one liners meaning Richard had a lot to spar with.
The second half in fact opened with Richard ribbing the Colchester Gazette, reading one article out loud while comparing it to London news, a gag picked up on by Tony who has lived here for over a decade and a half.
The jokes were good, with a few expected less than funny moments where Tony and Richard spoke more as friends, and it was extremely funny and engaging comedy in its own right
Overall, I had a whale of a time, enjoying both halves and appreciating its laidback and naturally funny comedian who brought the best of the guests and knew how to work a packed audience.
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