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It’s back! And I have to admit I had forgotten what a joy it is. Series 14 of RHLSTP commenced this evening, with two wonderful guests and a large and receptive crowd.
I was a bit nervous about it. I’d had a horrible night of lack of sleep: maybe anxious about the day or maybe because I had eaten late and like Scrooge blaming my night terrors on some undigested food. I had managed to snatch a couple of hours from 4am, falling asleep on the sofa and then a little more as my wife kindly got the kids ready for the day.
Then I scoured the internet for nuggets of unmined gold about Alex Horne and Jonathan Ames. And it was clear there was going to be much to talk about with both.
We had to get the RHLSTP chairs from storage above the garage to the Leicester Square Theatre and Chris Evans (not that one) had hired a couple of burly East European men in a huge van to assist me. They were surprised to discover I was coming in the truck with them (although Chris had been charged an extra £30 for that privilege, which seemed excessive and slightly rude- I am not that heavy that I use up that much petrol). The driver zoomed off so fast down the country lanes, whizzing past cars in places where it seemed to me that there was scarcely room to get a car through, with one hand on the wheel and the other stuffing crisps into his mouth. Had we paid an extra £30 to kill me. Would my final sight be crisps fly into my eyes as we rolled off the road.
We got into London fine, but I was tired already and we had plenty that needed to be done. I tried in vain to find a copy of Alex’s new Taskmaster book in local book shops (it felt like I had been set a Task to find it, when someone had removed all copies from the vicinity) and then got back to the dressing room to find Chris Evans (not that one either) setting up his computer to do a Q and A session for the Dripsters. We had a few gremlins but we got it working and I chatted with a few people who were free to piss around at 3.30pm. We will do more in the evening. Become a Dripster here if you want to join in the fun. http://d.rip/richard-herring Then I recorded my interviewer’s commentary for the Brian Blessed podcast for the Kickstarter reward. I was mainly sat in slack-jawed awe, watching myself watching Brian Blessed in slack-jawed awe, but hopefully provided a few insights into the experience. I had now been sitting talking for about 100 minutes and was flagging badly, wondering how the fuck I’d get through the evening too.
The answer, it turned out, was coffee and adrenaline. And the guests were so good that there was no chance of drifting off.
I had wondered what it would be like to meet Jonathan - he’s a real hero and influence on me and there was always the fear that he’d turn out to be a disappointing jerk, but thankfully he was charming and unassuming: we fell into easy conversation backstage, but on stage he lit up even more and proved to be a very proficient raconteur. I highly recommend all of his books and TV shows, but maybe start with The Extra Man. Alex Horne is a different kettle of fish - there’s a Task for you Alex, fill a kettle with fish - but another man who is as charming and witty as you’d expect him to be. We had some fun with pedantry and guessing the cost of each other’s hair cuts and I got quite the scoop in getting to reveal that all of Taskmaster is filmed. And we prepped for the big Christmas tie-in book that you can play with all the family battle. I think Taskmaster will win. If you only buy one book then buy mine, obviously. But you’re allowed to buy two books. Here’s his It was one of those fun ones that stretches on a little bit too long, but finds more laughs through testing patience.
I hadn’t missed performing over my summer break, but it’s really fun to be back and RHLSTP seems to become more of a pleasure with every series. First one will be out on October 3rd.
