Richard Herring is NOT Racist, so put that in your Guardian Pipe and Smoke it!

Pass me some oats as my high horse needs feeding.....

Yesterday a Guardian article entitled the 'New Offenders of Stand-up Comedy' unfairly besmirched comedian Richard Herring, deliberately misquoting him as holding racist sympathies. I'd just like to take a moment to stand up for the poor stand-up, not because I'm a nerdy superfan* but because the article is libelous, and being so misrepresents him to potential punters. Once again, I'd like to state in google friendly terms; Richard Herring is not racist.

I'm frankly baffled at where to begin. Firstly I'd like to express my disappointment at the Guardian for their willful misrepresentation of facts to suit their copy. I mean, the 'Guardian' for crying out loud! Next they'll be misquoting talking foxes who miss the good old days being hunted -"we've all gotten so obese without the exercise, don'tcha know".

The gist of Brian Logan's article (here) is that comedy has swung around from political correctness to attacking established "right on" values for the sake of being needlessly controversial, and Richard Herring's new show 'Hitler Moustache' is indicative of this dark trend Logan gives a brief description of the show but then winds up by quoting Richard out of context saying "that racists have a point". At the end of the article he makes a point that outrage can be useful, but the comedy audiences should feel free to stand up and walk away from shows that bully.

By gum it does sound bad doesn't it?

If I didn't know who this Herring guy was I'd assume he was a raving right wing bigot who probably built his own boats to deport any neighbours he didn't like - I'd bet he'd even make them out of old copies of the Daily Mail all the while chuckling to himself at the thought of waterlogging. I certainly wouldn't be interested in listening to any of his views and his name (if remembered) would become an anathema akin to Bernard Manning.

Actually Richard has written thoughtful show around the toothbrush/'Hitler' moustache questioning whether it can ever be reclaimed for Charlie Chaplin and comedy in general. By wearing the moustache and talking about it he's safely in the realms of "right on" comedy that challenges the audience to think about what is offensive. This show, like most of his output, delights in absurdities, irony, and logical fallacies - all of which are astutely constructed with careful wit .

Richard's mortified rebuttal is here, if you want to read anymore about this. Hopefully he'll have a right to reply, not to mention an apology, from the Guardian. Dave Gorman has also written an rather good blog entry on this subject (here), which I'd like to paraphrase; you don't have to like Richard Herring, it's fine not to, but he's not racist and deserves accurate representation, as does everyone.

*yes, I know I am. I love my 'who is Virgillo Anderson? t-shirt and I don't care who knows it.