Comedian Richard Herring is host of the RHLSTP podcast, which is normally broadcast from London; however, with the slightly-changed title of 'Richard Herring's Living on Scottish Tablets Podcast', he is prersenting a whole series of live podcasts throughout the month at Edinburgh as part of the Fringe Festival. His guests therefore are other comedians who are also working the Fringe this year, and his two on this episode, recorded live yesterday, are Isma Almas and Tony Slattery.
The whole is very chatty and upbeat, with moments of seriousness punctuated by utter silliness; there is also quite a lot of utter silliness punctuated by moments of seriousness; and so the fast-paced, banter-ridden almost completely ad-libbed hour never becomes boring, and you might even learn something too along the way.
After a brief introduction, Herring acts as a chat show host for his guests, allowing them to do most of the talking but cleverly manipulating them with the right questions at the right time, and both guests also got the opportunity to promote their own Edinburgh shows too.
His first guest was Isma Almas, and I have to confess to not hitherto knowing who she was. I have since found out that she is a Bradford-born, Yorkshire-brogue speaking, lesbian Asian Muslim. She was also a semi-finalist in the 2006 'So You Think You're Funny Awards'! She chatted about the difficulties she has faced and continues to face when people realise that she is what she is; and a (comedic) suggestion was mooted that it was sometimes hard to tell whether or not she is offered work because of her talent or because she 'ticks a box' [lesbian / female / Asian / etc]. Her Edinburgh show is a stand-up gig in which she talks about her and her partner adopting and how this has kept her afloat ('About A Buoy') with one critic describing her show as being 'mumsie'! Before starting on the comedy ladder, Almas had a very different job, as she worked in a psychriatic unit for serious offending criminals. It's hard to think of two more opposing career choices, but maybe that is why it is now working so well for her; despite her self-confessed laissez-faire non-commital attitude to her career. She comes across as very down-to-earth and chatty .
We then caught up with Tony Slattery By all accounts he has had what could be described as a colourful life. An awkward Irish upbringing, before going on to Cambridge and a star of the famous 'Footlights' with the likes of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. However, Slattery talks very candidly and seriously about his life. He was doing very well for himself, but it was all getting a bit much for him. All work and no play made Slattery not OK. He was diagnosed with depression and bi-polar disorder, and this led him down the path of illegal drugs - speanding huge amounts of money on cocaine. Although, Slattery tells the anecdote that he still managed to keep his nose because the cocaine he was buying and snorting was made up of majority animal and human faeces! He also talks about his sexuality, and the moment he knew that he and his partner were destined for each other, as their eyes met and lingered way too long in a lift! Slattery is now building his confidence up again and returning to the stage and work once again. He appears in Edinburgh as one of the improvisers in the stage version of 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' (a TV show I have extremely fond memories of), and also his own one-man show, 'Slattery Will Get You Nowhere' in which he talks about his life in more detail. He spoke all to briefly about his work in film, but the one thing he did say which I found surprsing was that Kenneth Branagh was the campest heterosexual he had ever met! It was very heart-warming and encouraging to hear him speak so truthfully and to see that he is most definitely getting his life back in order again now, cherishing those he loves, his life and his work.
I'd never listened to any of the RHLSTP podcasts before, but I will certainly be checking others out now. Herring keeps the proceedings light, but is not afraid to give his guests rein, and the openness and un-rehearsed quality of the interviews are most refreshing, making a complete change from structured and pre-arranged Q+A sessions on TV chat shows. Definitely worth a listen or two!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 12/8/19
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