Public falling-out over 6Music show

Richard Herring has had a very public falling-out with his radio and podcast partner Andrew Collins.

The comedian says he feels humiliated and upset by his friend’s decision to host a show on 6Music with stand-up Josie Long – in the same Saturday-morning slot they used occupy together.

Although initially only recruited as temporary stand-ins for Adam and Joe, the pair – who have been making the Collings & Herrin podcasts for three years – eventually presented the slot for 13 months.

Posting online, Herring said: ‘The issue for me is not that Andrew is doing a show with someone else – of course he should be allowed to do work on his own and with other people But I think to do the same slot that we were doing with someone else is disloyal to [our] friendship.

‘If the roles had been reversed I would not have considered doing the same slot with someone else for a second. Because I know it would have been upsetting and humiliating for him.’Collins explained his decision in a 2,000-word blog post, in which he had paid tribute to hard-working Herring’s longevity in the fickle world of comedy.

But he said that although they had enjoyed working together, both also had separate careers – so was happy to host a pilot show with Long at the request of BBC bosses, especially as 6Music now constitutes a large party of his employment.

He wrote: ‘The writing had been on the wall for Collins & Herring on 6 Music from Christmas. We’d had a couple of run-ins, which we don’t need to rake over, and all I can say is, I’m glad our last shows together on the network were less grumpy and shouty, and I think we ended on a good note. Which is why, understandably, many of our listeners, and podcast fans, are disappointed that Richard and I will not be filling in for Adam & Joe in July.’

Instead Collins will host with Long for the five Saturdays in July, but he insisted: ‘We are not forming a double act. We are co-hosting some shows, to see how they go. I think Josie will be great.... I appreciate that not all of our old listeners will like this change. But I hope they give Josie a chance.

‘So, Richard is cross that I have agreed to do a show on 6 Music without him, and with someone else. I respect him and his reasons for being cross.’

‘I love Richard Herring, in a funny sort of way. I am sad that my decision to take a job without him has made him cross, and uncomfortable. But this is why the C&H podcast is on a break. We are on a break. I think, like a married couple, we will weather the break, and in fact, the break will do us good. We have both been working too hard. I felt I should express my feelings about this before my first show with Josie, this Saturday, to clear the air.’

Collins also posted Herring’s side of the story onto his blog, in which he, too, said he hoped their friendship would weather this storm.

But Herring said it would have been ‘quite easy’ for Collins to decline the new partnership without detriment to his other work with 6Music.

Herring wote: ‘I don’t think Andrew considered the impact of his decision at the time, but that in itself to me speaks volumes.

‘The decision to do a slot that we’d made (temporarily) our own with someone else seems to show a lack of commitment to the double act that makes it harder for me to justify spending my already stretched time on it.

‘I am a person for whom loyalty is the most important thing and so in a sense that makes this decision a bit harder to make.

‘I suspect we will ride this out… I am very busy at the moment and after Andrew’s decision I don’t feel that I should be pushing myself so hard if it’s something that he can treat so casually. We were only doing it for fun and if it stops being fun then maybe we shouldn’t do it.’

Click here to read Collins’s original blog post and Herring’s reply in full.

Published: 1 Jul 2011