''Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast'' (or ''RHLSTP'' ()) and ''Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast'' are two related

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term ori ...

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

s, created and hosted by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

comedian

Richard Herring Richard Keith Herring (born 12 July 1967) is an English stand-up comedian and writer, whose early work includes the comedy double act Lee and Herring (alongside Stewart Lee). He is described by ''The British Theatre Guide'' as "one of the lead ...

. Hosted on

The British Comedy Guide British Comedy Guide or BCG (formerly the British Sitcom Guide or BSG) is a British website covering all forms of British comedy, across all media. At the time of writing, BCG has published guides to more than 7,000 individual British comedie ...

, the podcasts are interviews with notable guests, usually fellow comedians. The original

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

podcast ran from 2011 to 2013, and took place most days for the duration of the Fringe, focusing on interviews with performers at the festival. They also contain short

stand-up Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories ...

segments from Fringe performers. The ''Leicester Square Theatre Podcast'', recorded at

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...

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, began in 2012 and follows a similar format, with higher profile guests. It runs for a shorter series than the Edinburgh Fringe version, with weekly recordings. Both podcasts are performed in front of a paying audience, but released for free download and streaming. Series One and Two of the ''Leicester Square Theatre Podcast'' were released solely in audio format, with the exception of Stewart Lee's episode, which was initially released as a DVD Extra for ''

Fist of Fun ''Fist of Fun'' was a British comedy show, initially a BBC Radio 1 series in 1993 and then a BBC2 television series in 1995. It was written by and starred Lee and Herring (the comedians Stewart Lee and Richard Herring). Each episode of ''Fist o ...

'', Series Two. From Series Three onwards all episodes of the show were released in both audio and video format – initially as a paid download, then free on

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. Series Seven was the first to be financed by a

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campaign in order to cover the costs of production. Since Series Seventeen, Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast has been recorded on tour at different venues and, as such, has been referred to only by the acronym title of ''RHLSTP''. After only one episode of Series Nineteen was recorded, the remainder of the series was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. Herring has continued to conduct interviews and provide new content via

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during the lockdown. In March 2022 he started releasing the RHLSTP Book Club podcast on Fridays, recorded remotely, where he chatted with authors about one of their books

Episode guide

Edinburgh Fringe Podcast

Leicester Square Theatre Podcast

RHLSTP Book Club

Reception

The Leicester Square Theatre Podcast has won the Internet Award at the 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2018

Chortle Awards The Chortle Awards were set up in 2002 by the comedy website Chortle to honour the best of established stand-up comics currently working in the UK. A panel of reviewers draw up a shortlist, which is presented for public vote at the Chortle websit ...

, and was the only non-

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programme to be nominated for the comedy award at the 2013

Sony Radio Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

. The show won a bronze award in the category, becoming the first internet-only award winner in this section. Radiohead's

Jonny Greenwood Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician and composer. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the alternative rock band Radiohead, and has written numerous film scores. Along with his elder brother, t ...

has also heralded the ''Leicester Square Theatre Podcast'' citing it as one of his cultural highlights in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

''. In Herring's interview with

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starrin ...

, Fry revealed that he had attempted to commit suicide. The story was reported across various newspapers and international news networks including the BBC and Sky News. His interview with

Russell Brand Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian and actor known for his flamboyant, loquacious style and manner. Brand has received three British Comedy Awards: Best Newcomer (2006), Best Live Stand-Up (2008), and the award for ...

also came to some press attention several months after its release, the press focusing on Brand discussing pleasuring a man in a public toilet for his 2002 TV show '' RE:Brand''.

Theme

"Try Again" by

Pest Pest or The Pest may refer to: Science and medicine * Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns ** Weed, a plant considered undesirable * Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection ** ...

was used as the theme from the first episode until the end of series 20. From series 21 onwards this was replaced by a theme performed and specifically composed for the show by Scant Regard, the solo project of musician Will Crewdson.

References

External links

*
RHLSTP! (RHLSTP!) reference resource
* {{Lee and Herring Comedy and humor podcasts Interview podcasts Audio podcasts 2011 podcast debuts 2012 podcast debuts British podcasts