Film

Richard Herring- Hitler Moustache DVD

Alex Yau 10/11/2010

Rating: 4/5

Many famous people in history suffered for their art. Vincent Van Gogh exhibited this through his paintings, Sylvia Plath's deep emotional instability transferred onto her writing and of course there's Richard Herring. He's taken the moustache so famously associated with a certain German ruler and packaged that into his act.

You've got to have some huge balls to carry that look for a year. It's not a Hitler moustache Herring will tell you however. 'Why not the Odeon founder Oscar Deutsch?' he asks? Herring's main mission however is to bring the moustache back to its original owner Charlie Chaplin. It's this inversion used on racism that makes Herring's act.

As soon as he walks into the room, there's an air of mixed emotions. On one end of the spectrum there's the gut feeling of pure comedy whilst on the other is a cringe worthy awkwardness that is brought on by the 'power' of the moustache as Herring describes it. Only Herring could pull it off however.

The inversion of such controversial topics is skilfully pulled off. Sure Hitler and Nick Griffin are huge fascists and racists. Sure the BNP should never have even got any seats and sure enough, racist's perception of ethnicity is wrong but Herring's
skill of turning these perceptions around is hilarious. Of course he's not being serious although the expressions on some of the audience's faces would show they think he is. Hitler, Chaplin and Herring all share one common quality and trait. They manage to grab the attention of so many people and keep them drawn in. Perhaps it is the power of the moustache? Nonetheless Herrings ability to turn our society's norms and values and jokingly turn them on their heads is fantastic.