Richard Herring Newsletter
January 2016
 
It's 20 fricking 16. I just noticed.
 
We're nearly a month into 2016 and I think you will agree it's shaping up to be the best year in human history... oh wait, no, everything is worse than ever. The oldest man in the world has died, Bowie and Rickman had joined the 69 Club (which isn't as much fun as it sounded) and unbelievably that woman who put her lottery ticket through the wash, losing all evidence of when and where it was born, but still magically retaining all six winning numbers turns out to have been "mistaken". The ticket must have been from the week before. What rotten luck!
But here's what's going on with me at the moment.
 
Happy Now?
The Happy Now? kicks off properly in February, as I extend the 60 minute version to the full 90 minutes and keep improving and adding stuff throughout the run as usual.
It is selling unusually well already. Most of the dates last year sold out and Sutton Coldfield, Leicester and Reading are already sold out and London, Salford, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds, Aldershot, Swindon, Bristol and quite a few others are getting close. I know this isn't the usual form for my tours, but it's worth not leaving ticket purchase to the last minute.
The first Leicester Square Theatre date on 11th February has a few tickets left, but the other two are close to selling out. Book tickets for those here.
 
 
RHLSTP
Series 8 of RHLSTP is still going out weekly, with three new ones still to broadcast. Aisling Bea's one has just gone up and there's a very eventful one with Ray Peacock next week and then Cariad Lloyd and Richard Bacon still to come.
You can see them on youtube, vimeo and iTunes on video for free (as well as audio on iTunes and the British Comedy Guide)
These will take us through to mid-February, after which we will continue releasing the old videos on youtube. But we'll be back in June 2016 with more
Book your tickets here. No guests confirmed as yet, but Vic Reeves, Dawn French, Richard Ayoade, Grayson Perry and others have all expressed interest, if we can make the dates work. Worth taking a chance now as these dates will sell out as soon as they are announced and all the line ups will be ace. We will be setting up another kickstarter to help fund the filming too.
 
RHLSTP KICKSTARTER DVD AND MUG
One of the rewards for the Kickstarter campaign was a self-indulgent (even by my standards) DVD of me interviewing myself (plus all the backstage interviews from series 7 - another hour of content). We've got a few left over so we're selling them to help raise the funds to film series 9.
Head to gofasterstripe.com to buy this.
There are also an even tinier number of RHLSTP colour changing mugs. We won't be making any more and there are less than 200 in existence, so this piece is bound to appear on a future Antiques Roadshow and be worth tens of pounds.
 
Lord of the Dance Settee DVD
Last year's show is available as an extra-packed DVD or a just the show (plus a couple of extras) download. The DVD include sthe whole show, with the full surprise ending (plus an extra surprise bit that we only did at the Bloomsbury and the 12 shows show) and loads of extras (including the audio from the 12 Shows version of the show and another frame of Me1 Vs Me2 snooker). And it's coming in a proper plastic DVD case to make it look more like it's a real DVD.
If you also buy the programme then you will be making a donation to SCOPE and getting a lovely, packed booklet too.

 
 
Other stuff
 

AIOTM
Exciting things are afoot for this stand up and sketch show. Last week we headed to central London to shoot some stuff in a motorcycle clothing shop (can't imagine what that was about) and we're about to launch a kickstarter to raise the large amount of money we will need to have a crack at doing six monthly video episodes of this show. It will be quite different than the old version (as I can't remember what we did) but should involve the same people (plus lots of new ones) and some new ideas (and some old ones when I run out of ideas). It was very exciting to see what we could achieve in an afternoon of filming and we want to make this something special. And with your help hopefully we can. I will email again with details when I have them. And thanks to the monthly subscribers who made this first day of filming possible.
Monthly subscriptions - Pay a pound (or more) a month (or make a one-off donation) in return for a badge, entry into a monthly prize draw, access to a secret channel of exclusive extras (like additional backstage interviews at RHLSTP) and a badge. All this money will go (along with the kickstarter) to making more online AIOTM based content (and other stuff too).
 
 
 
Short films
I acted in a couple of short films last year. The first of these, Mosquito, is now available online for free. Check out my serious/comedic acting here. The other film, "While You Were Away" will be out next month.
 
 
Metro
They've just published by 200th Metro column. Check them out here.
 
 
 
We've just got back from a fun short break where I tried and failed to get on with skiing again. If you want to see how impressive I am on the slopes just check out this short clip of me in action.
Have a great February and hope to see you on tour!
Richard Herring