Richard Herring asks Can I Have My Ball Back? in new comedy show
Richard Herring is returning to stand-up for the first time in six years with a new show titled Can I Have My Ball Back?. The 34-date tour includes a Cambridge stop next week.
In 2021, Herring went to his GP to find out why his right testicle seemed to be growing bigger.
It turned out that he had testicular cancer and one month later he was lying in hospital waiting to have his murderous ball removed.
Would he survive? (no spoilers!) For a comedian who had done a whole show on male genitalia (Talking Cock) and written a book about ‘toxic masculinity’ (The Problem with Men), this felt like some cruel trick of fate.
In his much-anticipated return to stand-up after six years, Richard talks b*ll*cks and answers the question on everyone’s lips: Is a severed gonad in a jar a fitting prize to bring in for Taskmaster?
Richard Herring enjoys continual success as both a writer and performer and is widely known an innovator in the world of podcasts, dubbed the ‘The Podfather’ (The Guardian), ‘King of the Internet’ (Time Out) and ‘The UK’s online comedy pioneer’ (The Times) for his perennially popular RHLSTP podcast, where he chats with star guests for improvised chat, revelations and big laughs.
RHLSTP offers fascinating insights into Richard’s guests over the hour of frank and free-flowing conversation and is the only podcast to always ask a question you never knew you wanted to know the answer to.
Previous guests include Stephen Fry, Michael Palin, Katherine Ryan, Greg Davies, Dawn French, Miriam Margolyes, Stephen Merchant, Russell Howard, Romesh Ranganathan, Bridget Christie, Grayson Perry, and Rob Delaney.
RHLSTP regularly gets a million downloads a month, has won four Chortle Internet Comedy Awards and is the only non-BBC show to win a Sony Best Comedy Award.
One half of the comedy duo Lee & Herring with Stewart Lee, Richard also devised and wrote 37 episodes of the sitcom Time Gentlemen Please for Al Murray’s alter ego, The Pub Landlord.
Richard was the winner of series 10 of Taskmaster and last year’s Taskmaster champion of champions.
He’s also won a House of Games champion of champions trophy – and it only took him four goes to win Pointless.
Richard has also previously appeared as a guest on shows including Alan Davies’ As Yet Untitled, Argumental, Set List, Roast Battle, Have I Got News for You, and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
A prolific writer, Richard has written and published 10 books, including Can I Have My Ball Back?, Richard Herring’s Would You Rather?, The Problem with Men: When is it International Men's Day? (and why it matters), Emergency Questions: 1001 conversation-savers for any situation, Emergency Questions, Christmas Emergency Questions, How Not to Grow Up, Talking Cock, Warming Up Vol 1: Bye Bye Balham and Warming Up Vol 2: The Box Lady and Other Pesticles.
Richard Herring will be bringing his Can I Have My Ball Back? tour to the Cambridge Junction (J2) on Thursday, 13 June. Tickets, priced £23.50, are available from junction.co.uk. For more on Richard, go to richardherring.com.