Richard Herring: What is Love, Anyway?

I went to see Richard Herring last night because, despite going to Edinburgh Festival five times and seeing lots of comedy in London, I had never seen him before. Even though his mission for his latest show was, rather depressingly, “to destroy love”, I laughed my socks off* as it was resonant, well-written and very funny.

Inspired by his previous Fringe show ‘Christ on a Bike’, after which he claimed that it was foolish to mock religious people as we all believe in “made up nonsense” to get us through life, he chose to explore and attempt to define the irrational notion of love in all its blind faith glory.

Anecdotal and honest, Herring flitted between the romantic and scientific as he discussed different types of love and what they mean. He spoke about his first girlfriend (at aged ten, his first "relationship" lasted four breaktimes), the love of his life (his current girlfriend) and ended the gig with a heart-warming story about familial bonding.

Having grown up on Fist of Fun and seeing Herring amongst infantile comedians on TV, I was expecting a fairly puerile show but it was personal, reflective and I’d even go far as saying at times profound.

At Soho Theatre until Saturday 19 November 2011 and touring nationwide in 2012

*not literally; I was wearing tights.