Herring slams TV talent contests

Richard Herring has attacked TV comedy talent shows - for making the art of stand-up seem easy.

He says schemes like BBC Talent, and even Pop Idol, encourage would-be comics to believe that simply getting on TV is success in itself.

But he argues that performers need to spend years learning their craft first, so they have skills to fall back on when the tastes of fickle broadcast executives change.

Writing in actors' newspaper The Stage, Herring said: "The last TV show I appeared in finished in 1999. I had worked with Stewart Lee for ten years to get to this point and then, just when I felt we were producing our best work, we were axed.

"That could easily have meant the end of everything. But luckily I had spent the preceding years writing plays and sitcoms and because of my ability to diversify, I think I have a good shot at making a living at this for the rest of my life.

"It is not enough just to get on TV. You have to learn your craft and have something to fall back on."

Herring is currently performing his one-man show Talking Cock at the Soho Theatre.

Published: 2 Oct 2002