Lee and Herring
Encyclopedia
Lee and Herring were a British standup comedy
double act
consisting of the comedian
s Stewart Lee
and Richard Herring
. They were probably most famous for their work on television
, most notably Fist of Fun
and This Morning With Richard Not Judy
but had been working together on stage and on radio
since the 1980s.
As with many double acts, Lee and Herring performed as contrasting personalities: one intellectual and rational (Lee) and the other daft and charming (Herring). As with several other double acts, Lee and Herring had a certain irony
to their style and constantly checked themselves and made reference to this. The characters of Lee and Herring were parodies
and exaggerations of their real world selves.
brand Lea & Perrins
humorous.
At Oxford, Lee and Herring performed in a regular comedy revue called The Seven Raymonds
, which also included the material and performance of Emma Kennedy
, Michael Cosgrave and Tim Richardson
.
Together they wrote material for Chris Morris
' On The Hour
(1991). However, a management conflict meant that the duo were not involved in the television version, The Day Today
, and that their material was edited out of the official BBC audio releases of On The Hour.
In 1992 and 1993, they wrote and performed Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World
for BBC Radio 4
. For BBC Radio 1
, they wrote and performed one series of Fist of Fun
(1993), which was later remade for television and would pave the way for their mainstream fame. Fist of Fun made several subtle references to their dislike for former colleague Patrick Marber
. Lee and Herring fell out with the On The Hour team after a row over ownership of characters that they invented. Patrick Marber has claimed that he invented the character of news reporter Peter O'Hanrahahanrahan, while Lee and Herring also claim to have invented the character.
After the radio version of Fist of Fun, they presented another Radio 1 show running for 3 series, simply entitled Lee and Herring
(but often referred to as Lee & Herring's Radio One Music Show) which featured a mixture of records chosen by the duo themselves, and their usual sketches and chat.
Their final major work as a double-act was This Morning With Richard Not Judy
(TMWRNJ), which aired on Sunday mornings on BBC Two
for series in 1998 and 1999, and was famous for being strikingly risky and adventurous.
and wrote a novel called The Perfect Fool. Richard Herring has written, performed and toured with a number of successful comedy shows including Christ on a Bike, Talking Cock and Someone Likes Yoghurt. He also wrote and co-created the sitcom, Time Gentlemen Please
and script-edited the third series of Little Britain
. Lee and Herring both still work in radio and media.
Infrequently, Lee and Herring regroup for one-off occasions. Recent collaborations included an interview together for The Guardian and a 2005 review of each other's work for the arts supplement of The Sunday Times. The pair performed a short double act at London's Bloomsbury Theatre on 5 February 2007 as part of a tribute to stand-up comedian Ted Chippington
. They reunited for a 30 minute set at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith on the 16 November 2008, where they were joined at the end by a resurrected Curious Orange.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
double act
Double act
A double act, also known as a comedy duo, is a comic pairing in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin and profession, but drastically different personalities or behavior...
consisting of the comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
s Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the critically acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera...
and Richard Herring
Richard Herring
Richard Keith Herring is a British comedian and writer, whose early work includes his involvement in the double-act, Lee and Herring...
. They were probably most famous for their work on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, most notably Fist of Fun
Fist of Fun
Fist of Fun was a popular British comedy television and radio programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring . A lot of the show's comic material was adapted from Lee and Herring's radio programme Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World.Each episode of Fist of Fun featured several disparate sketches...
and This Morning With Richard Not Judy
This Morning With Richard Not Judy
This Morning With Richard Not Judy or TMWRNJ was a BBC comedy television programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring. Two series were broadcast in 1998 and 1999 on BBC2...
but had been working together on stage and on radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
since the 1980s.
As with many double acts, Lee and Herring performed as contrasting personalities: one intellectual and rational (Lee) and the other daft and charming (Herring). As with several other double acts, Lee and Herring had a certain irony
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
to their style and constantly checked themselves and made reference to this. The characters of Lee and Herring were parodies
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
and exaggerations of their real world selves.
History
Lee and Herring first met at a party while they were studying at Oxford University. Lee had been performing comedy on the circuit for a short while and had heard that Herring had begun doing similar so he introduced himself. Lee once remarked that one of the reasons they decided to work as a double act was that they found the resemblance of the title "Lee and Herring" to worcestershire sauceWorcestershire sauce
Worcestershire sauce , or Worcester sauce is a fermented liquid condiment; primarily used to flavour meat or fish dishes.First made at 60 Broad Street, Worcester, England, by two dispensing chemists, John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins, the Lea & Perrins brand was commercialised in 1837 and...
brand Lea & Perrins
Lea & Perrins
Lea & Perrins is a United Kingdom based food division of the H.J. Heinz Company, originating in Worcester, England, with a subsidiary in the United States which manufactures Lea & Perrins in New Jersey...
humorous.
At Oxford, Lee and Herring performed in a regular comedy revue called The Seven Raymonds
Seven Raymonds
The Seven Raymonds were a comic revue troupe founded in 1987 by Oxford University undergraduates.The Seven Raymonds were Stewart Lee, Richard Herring, Emma Kennedy, Michael Cosgrave, Richard Canning, and Jo Renshaw...
, which also included the material and performance of Emma Kennedy
Emma Kennedy
Emma Kennedy is an English actress, writer and television presenter....
, Michael Cosgrave and Tim Richardson
Tim Richardson
Tim Richardson, author of Sweets: The History of Temptation, is the world's first international confectionery historian. He also writes about gardens, landscape and theatre, and contributes to the Daily Telegraph, Country Life, The Idler, House & Garden, Garden Design Journal and Wallpaper...
.
Together they wrote material for Chris Morris
Chris Morris (satirist)
Christopher Morris is an English satirist, writer, director and actor. A former radio DJ, he is best known for anchoring the spoof news and current affairs television programmes The Day Today and Brass Eye, as well as his frequent engagement with controversial subject matter.In 2010 Morris...
' On The Hour
On the Hour
On the Hour was a British radio programme that parodied current affairs broadcasting, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992.Written by Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and David Quantick, it starred Morris as the overzealous and...
(1991). However, a management conflict meant that the duo were not involved in the television version, The Day Today
The Day Today
The Day Today is a surreal British parody of television current affairs programmes, broadcast in 1994, and created by the comedians Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris. It is an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992...
, and that their material was edited out of the official BBC audio releases of On The Hour.
In 1992 and 1993, they wrote and performed Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World
Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World
Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World was a BBC Radio 4 comedy series starring Stewart Lee and Richard Herring , and narrated by Tom Baker as the titular character, Lionel Nimrod, an over the top parody of Leonard Nimoy. The show itself somewhat parodies the Leonard Nimoy program "In Search Of..."...
for BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
. For BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
, they wrote and performed one series of Fist of Fun
Fist of Fun
Fist of Fun was a popular British comedy television and radio programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring . A lot of the show's comic material was adapted from Lee and Herring's radio programme Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World.Each episode of Fist of Fun featured several disparate sketches...
(1993), which was later remade for television and would pave the way for their mainstream fame. Fist of Fun made several subtle references to their dislike for former colleague Patrick Marber
Patrick Marber
Patrick Albert Crispin Marber is an English comedian, playwright, director, puppeteer, actor and screenwriter.-Early life and education:...
. Lee and Herring fell out with the On The Hour team after a row over ownership of characters that they invented. Patrick Marber has claimed that he invented the character of news reporter Peter O'Hanrahahanrahan, while Lee and Herring also claim to have invented the character.
After the radio version of Fist of Fun, they presented another Radio 1 show running for 3 series, simply entitled Lee and Herring
Lee and Herring (radio series)
Lee and Herring was a British radio series broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in 1994 and 1995, named after the comedy double act who hosted it, Lee and Herring.The show ran for three series and a total of nineteen hour-long episodes...
(but often referred to as Lee & Herring's Radio One Music Show) which featured a mixture of records chosen by the duo themselves, and their usual sketches and chat.
Their final major work as a double-act was This Morning With Richard Not Judy
This Morning With Richard Not Judy
This Morning With Richard Not Judy or TMWRNJ was a BBC comedy television programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring. Two series were broadcast in 1998 and 1999 on BBC2...
(TMWRNJ), which aired on Sunday mornings on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
for series in 1998 and 1999, and was famous for being strikingly risky and adventurous.
Break-up and further work
Lee and Herring went their separate ways at the end of the 1990s and have both enjoyed major fringe and mainstream successes. Stewart Lee co-created Jerry Springer - The Opera, directed Attention Scum! for Simon MunnerySimon Munnery
Simon Munnery, also known by his stagenames of Alan Parker: Urban Warrior and The League Against Tedium, is an English comedy writer and experimental standup comedian...
and wrote a novel called The Perfect Fool. Richard Herring has written, performed and toured with a number of successful comedy shows including Christ on a Bike, Talking Cock and Someone Likes Yoghurt. He also wrote and co-created the sitcom, Time Gentlemen Please
Time Gentlemen Please
Time Gentlemen Please is a British sitcom. Commissioned by Sky One, it was primarily written by Richard Herring and Al Murray and ran for two series between 2000 and 2002.- Premise and characters :...
and script-edited the third series of Little Britain
Little Britain
Little Britain is a British character-based comedy sketch show which was first broadcast on BBC radio and then turned into a television show. It was written by comic duo David Walliams and Matt Lucas...
. Lee and Herring both still work in radio and media.
Infrequently, Lee and Herring regroup for one-off occasions. Recent collaborations included an interview together for The Guardian and a 2005 review of each other's work for the arts supplement of The Sunday Times. The pair performed a short double act at London's Bloomsbury Theatre on 5 February 2007 as part of a tribute to stand-up comedian Ted Chippington
Ted Chippington
Ted Chippington is a British stand-up comedian. His act is one in which the conventions of his chosen craft are routinely flouted...
. They reunited for a 30 minute set at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith on the 16 November 2008, where they were joined at the end by a resurrected Curious Orange.
Radio
- On the HourOn the HourOn the Hour was a British radio programme that parodied current affairs broadcasting, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1991 and 1992.Written by Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Steven Wells, Andrew Glover, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and David Quantick, it starred Morris as the overzealous and...
(1991) - Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable WorldLionel Nimrod's Inexplicable WorldLionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World was a BBC Radio 4 comedy series starring Stewart Lee and Richard Herring , and narrated by Tom Baker as the titular character, Lionel Nimrod, an over the top parody of Leonard Nimoy. The show itself somewhat parodies the Leonard Nimoy program "In Search Of..."...
(1992) - Fist of FunFist of FunFist of Fun was a popular British comedy television and radio programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring . A lot of the show's comic material was adapted from Lee and Herring's radio programme Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World.Each episode of Fist of Fun featured several disparate sketches...
(1993) - Lee and HerringLee and Herring (radio series)Lee and Herring was a British radio series broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in 1994 and 1995, named after the comedy double act who hosted it, Lee and Herring.The show ran for three series and a total of nineteen hour-long episodes...
(Lee & Herring's Radio One Music Show) (1994)
External links
- Lee and Herring.com
- Stewart Lee's website
- Richard Herring's website
- Fist of Fun.net fansite, includes downloads of their radio shows and live performances, episode guides, interviews, etc.
- Off the Telly Steve Williams talks to Lee and Herring
- Guardian review Brian Logan reviews Lyric gig 2008
- Times Dominic Maxwell reviews Lyric gig 2008