lasted this long.

to paraphrase Stewart Lee, "I have met Andrew Collins. He is a moron."

True x infinity.

D x

*

I thought the Word blog was an intelligent and tolerant place, shame the first two responses to this thread show otherwise.

..I think the first was meant to be ironic.

.....he wanted Liverpool to win the league in 1976.

Ellen & Hepworth are they? National treasures "our" chaps. Long may they reign.

the Collings and Herrin podcast for a few years now and will miss them. I hope they can iron out their wrinkles.

A really interesting read. What surprised me most are the references to AC's money, or more accurately the lack of it. Given how much I have enoyed his various radio shows, I find that really depressing.

But I guess money causes frustration in lots of relationships, so can understand.

Thisalso makes me think: was 6 Music not better during the day when it had him and Gideon Coe on?

'Look at me! What borderline offensive thing am I gonna say next?' schtick. I'm quite happy not to have his smugness polluting the 6Music output this summer. Maybe he's a lovely bloke in person, but that doesn't come across on the radio.

I've always thought Andrew Collins is OK. He's clearly very into music, and suits 6Music well. I think he may have been mistaken in veering too far into the world of comedy, where he doesn't seem all that comfortable.

..they're both very capable chaps in their own right.
(I must admit to a blind spot regarding Richard Herring's comedy...I don't think he's even drawn a smile from me)

I've said before, the podscasts I didn't fine remotely funny. AC I like - he's got a nice reflective style which I appreciate in this me! me! era. Maybe he's a bit over exposed but you can hardly blame the bloke for working hard. RH will doubtless continue to crack jokes about "curing" lesbians etc ha ha ha and I won't miss him for a minute.

rather self absorbed people no longer working together.
I do hope that the world can continue turning.

I can see where Herring's problems are but to be honest he didn't really seem to enjoy doing the radio shows. His live shows are far more representative of his comic talents. And not tied down by petty BBC post Sachsgate paranoia

The podcasts are what they are, two blokes having a chat inb an attic. Herring adopts an extended version of himself that is childish, petulant and profane. Andrew plays up his liberal side as a foil. Some work, some don't but its not as if you're paying anything for it.

I'm sure they'll work things out. AC got arsey over some of the things attributed to a fictional version of himself in AIOTM (aiotm) but that all went away when the character was killed off (aside: he wasn't).

Herring has been amused how this tiny tiff has been blown up into something important and earth shattering.

Its seems to me, judging by comments above, that the radio show gave a limited and inaccurate impression of Herring's comedy so maybe its best that he leaves it behind.

More important is Andrew Collins impregnating 6Music DJ's in an attempt to take over the station entirely.

(And its Collings And Herrin now, grandad)

and am more of a Maconie fan than AC. So, for me it's a bit like Ernie Wise and Ernie Wise have split up.

are men in their mid - forties.

the blog entry, and about half the riposte and I can state quite firmly that :
(1) I don't care
(2) even reading half was a waste of time - because (see point (1) )

can feature Herring on his red button extra material on his next series....

Collins and Maconie both ploughed the same furrow. Bit of broadcasting, put out the odd book, do the odd bit for papers or magazines. AC then hits paydirt with the Where Did It All Go Right? series. Gets his teeth sorted. Goes Showbiz. SM seems to shuffle off in slightly miffed fashion.

Time passes. SM has quietly been elevated to National Treasure status and needs a new wheelbarrow because the old one's worn out from taking all the cash home. AC, meanwhile, scratches around. Broadcasts on a minority-interest station, does a (free) podcast, has a column here and there. No more books seem to be forthcoming. Gallingly, he's the foil to a touring comedian. A person who trolls round the theatres, trousering around £10k a night, but doing so with the Damoclean sword of uncertainty hanging over him, never knowing when his time will pass and the gravy-train will come to a shuddering halt.

It could only, really, end in tears, couldn't it?

his share of the cloakroom money and car parking

I'm sure Rcih n Andrew are quite aware that people assume they are jealous of their more lauded former collegues.

Although that rumour about Herring and the highbacked arm chair, the semi circular toilet mat and the dancing groupies, well....

There have been a few times, particularly over the last 12 months when their relationship has been under some clear strain, and no amount of posturing that "it's only in character" will get around that. Rich has done some fantastic stuff (AIOTM was something you really had to get into at the very beginning as it developed into a huge list of in-jokes, indespersed with some not very good or funny bits), and his blog is fascinating, if only to show the amount of pressure he puts himself under.

He's clearly not a good friend when he's stressed either - and becomes somewhat nasty and snipy, something that started to come out in the later run of 6Music shows - so much that I unsubscribed from the podcast. It doesn't surprise me that he wasn;t asked bck. Have to say I really like Josie Long from the podcasts she did with Robin Ince, and I guess that's what they are trying to create now with Andrew Collins.

Collins has a point - he's a freelance and I'm sure Rich would be the first to admit that his argument about the 6Music show has no real logic - he does other projects and Collins has no other income beyond his 6 Music and journo work..... he clearly needs Herring more than Herring needs him though, hence putting up with being called a "fucking idiot" for the last three years.

Hopefully they'll sort themselves out after Edinburgh....

It's like Mike and Bernie Winters all over again. Do I see a BBC4 drama looming in the future?

Agree that AIOTM became addictive once you picked up the numerous plot lines and running gags, although RH does have a tendency to get (very) potty mouthed when he's looking for a quick laugh.

I found him annoying and not particularly funny, and time has not softened this opinion. Stewart Lee was always a much nicer bloke but I'm afraid his act doesn't make me laugh either. It's all a bit student-sneery "Isn't everything a bit crap and have you seen my Fall lapel badge?"

is absolutely nothing like you suggest but if you have some well ingrained grudges to maintain then go ahead

so innacurately suggests that you haven't seen his standup in the last decade or so. So your ire must come from elsewhere

gave a talk to my university journalism course about, er, being a journalist and whilst he was obviously nervous he was as I had expected hime to be from his previous work. Self-effacing, rather funny at times and a decent chap.
I learnt that he has to work hard at his living to earn a crust that would support his family and also to be strict with his work routine when writing. I gave up journalism not long after. I thought it was all plane rides on private jets with wealthy rock stars. Pah.

FWLIW, it raises some points for me:

1. RH makes me laugh, AIOTM reducing me to a heap regularly, so job done there.

2. AC's writing, I enjoy. Job done there also.

3. On both the 6Music & the C&H podcasts, AC often made me want to reach into the phone/radio/ipod (like the General in Catch the Pigeon) and slap him. It was because he was tying himself in knots trying to have (or at least it sounded like) absolutely no definitive views on anything in case he offended anyone, ever.

4. Whether genuinely true or for effect, RH getting wound up by AC's constant fence straddling mirrored what I was getting out of the podcasts / radio shows. Both became too wearing for me, so I unsubscribed.

This just feels like RH effectively hit "unsubscribe" on the work side of things as well, before it bled into the personal.

He can only ever talk about himself, be it podcast (Word), his books, his articles (see current Word), his website... Has no-one ever told him that this behaviour is the making of a gigantic bore? It's not even as though he is anything other than completely mediocre at everything he does.

Herring's comedy doesn't particularly float my boat but reading their embarrassingly childlike public spat, he was stitched up by his friend. The least he could have said is "listen mate, I've got a dilemma..."

I've never seen much negative criticism of Andrew Collins before, especially on this website. Not trying to get into an argument, by the way!

Personally, I didn't like the Collins and Herring podcast. And I don't like that sitcom Andrew Collins writes. But I quite like him as a guest on the Word podcast and the Kermode podcast: he always has something interesting to say and is a good speaker.

... is the amount of, for want of a better word, abuse that gets trotted out in threads like this. Not saying that everyone should keep quiet if they don't like 'x', or don't find 'y' funny etc, but it's quite childish and more than a little unpleasant. It's a shame that Andrew Collins and Richard Herring have had a bit of a falling out, and both parties probably could have reacted to the situation better by the sounds of things.

I can understand where Andrew Collins is coming from, though - if he's getting work, which as a freelancer he's going to be stupid to turn down, without his sometime comedy partner, then of course he's going to take the opportunity. If he doesn't, for whatever reason but especially out of loyalty to Richard Herring, he might not even be asked next time.

or seem to have...
with shows like "hitler moustache", "christ on a bike" and the late AIOTM (AIOTM) i've always seen their pairing as the least worthwhile thing richard has done..
mr collins has never floated my boat comedy-wise

haven't watched the Stewart Lee show other than the couple of clips that have been posted here, I like Andrew Collins' written word but don't enjoy his radio shows, I know nothing of Richard Herring other than I didn't like Lee and Herring as a duo. I have no idea what AIOTM stands for but would like to be enlightened. Is there anything good I'm missing that I should be checking out as the level of discussion would indicate something worthwhile?

this is my parents breaking up all over again.

I haven't felt like this since Phil and Boon Gould left Level 42. That was my second favourite podcast.

perhaps Peter Doggett should write a book about the breakup.

..he usually weighs in as soon as his name is mentioned.