Not really, although I imagine his humour would appeal to the same kind of people. He’s less confrontational and more whimsical than Kaufman though—most of the reference points I could use would be lost on an American, unfortunately (not intended as an insult), but Herring and his former double-act partner Stewart Lee (who does the same kind of thing but is more cerebral and to my mind more obvious, though still great) are part of a long tradition in British comedy—Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, the Goodies, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, the Palin/Jones team within the Monty Python group...
His stuff doesn’t work particularly well as clips—often his best shows are structured as a series of jokes in the first half that are funny enough in themselves, but then work up to a very long, complicated routine in the second half that doesn’t really work in excerpts. The particular routine I was referring to, though, was the second half of his DVD Someone Likes Yoghurt, which is available from gofasterstripe.com . He also does routines which deconstruct the show in Menage A Un and (to a lesser extent) Hitler Moustache, both of which are available from the same site.
A warning,though—I honestly have no idea how well his humour would travel across the Atlantic.
It’s not a matter of individual lines (though he has some lines I quite like—“I’m definitely the best comedian you’ll ever see… I don’t know the meaning of the word hubris. Which is a shame, because I’m entering a ‘define the meaning of the word hubris’ competition straight after the show. Doesn’t matter, though, I’m definitely going to win.”) but the cumulative effect of the whole thing.
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Not really, although I imagine his humour would appeal to the same kind of people. He’s less confrontational and more whimsical than Kaufman though—most of the reference points I could use would be lost on an American, unfortunately (not intended as an insult), but Herring and his former double-act partner Stewart Lee (who does the same kind of thing but is more cerebral and to my mind more obvious, though still great) are part of a long tradition in British comedy—Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, the Goodies, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, the Palin/Jones team within the Monty Python group...
(I’m rambling now. I’ll shut up).
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His stuff doesn’t work particularly well as clips—often his best shows are structured as a series of jokes in the first half that are funny enough in themselves, but then work up to a very long, complicated routine in the second half that doesn’t really work in excerpts. The particular routine I was referring to, though, was the second half of his DVD Someone Likes Yoghurt, which is available from gofasterstripe.com . He also does routines which deconstruct the show in Menage A Un and (to a lesser extent) Hitler Moustache, both of which are available from the same site.
A warning,though—I honestly have no idea how well his humour would travel across the Atlantic.
.
It’s not a matter of individual lines (though he has some lines I quite like—“I’m definitely the best comedian you’ll ever see… I don’t know the meaning of the word hubris. Which is a shame, because I’m entering a ‘define the meaning of the word hubris’ competition straight after the show. Doesn’t matter, though, I’m definitely going to win.”) but the cumulative effect of the whole thing.