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 Rainer
Hersch
Rainer Hersch is a musician
and comedian who performs on every major comedy stage in Britain and abroad...
He has appeared eight times at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; toured Canada
five times; performed in comedy clubs all across Europe and in TV shows around
the world. A trained classical pianist,
Rainer began life as an agent to some of the world's great orchestras - his
last official job title was Touring Manager of the London Festival Orchestra.
However, unknown to his employers, he had also started appearing as a stand-up
comedian on the London comedy circuit. He eventually devoted himself full-time
to comedy in 1992. As a straight stand-up,
Rainer Hersch's innovative style crosses between verbal and hilarious visual
comedy ["Most of what Rainer Hersch does doesn't bear explaining. But it
will make you laugh" Orlando Sentinel]. This originality put him in demand
both as quality act and as an enormously effective MC, able to create a unique
atmosphere for both audiences and other performers to enjoy ["Rainer Hersch
is possibly the best compère I have ever seen": TNT]. Whatever his
role on stage, Rainer's energy is immediately passed on to his audience and
the rapport he generates is boisterous and fun. Then in 1996 Rainer combined
stand-up comedy with his continued fanaticism for classical music to produce
"All Classical Music Explained" - a simple and stupid approach to
the difficult subjects "How to play instruments without practising";
"Why is organ music so boring?" and "What do conductors actually
do?"... The result was an immediate hit with all kinds of audiences. In
a 55 date tour across three continents, the show attracted rave reviews "Rainer
Hersch is a rarity amongst musical comedians - he is funny" The London
Daily Telegraph; "A stroke of comic genius" Canada; "Not since
Victor Borge has a musician- comic raised the roof with such continuous laughter"
South Africa]. The sequel to All Classical
Music Explained: "Masterclass" built on the success and most recently
a seven piece orchestra has been added which Rainer conducts, accompanies on
the piano and uses to perform madcap comedy routines. ["A guaranteed laugh
every four bars" The Scotsman]. The All Classical Music
Explained theme has now been turned into two radio series for the BBC. In the
most recent of these "Rainer Hersch's 20th Century Retrospective"
Rainer recorded the last ever interview with Yehudi Menuhin. Amongst numerous other radio
credits Rainer Hersch is a frequent and popular guest on the classic Radio 4
programme "Loose Ends" with Ned Sherrin. On television he is familiar
to audiences in the UK for his guest appearances on programmes such as "How
Do They Do That?" and most recently his five week stint as team captain
on the daily television show "The Entertainment Game" for BBC1. Rainer's forthcoming projects
include a solo TV series in the UK; a tour of Australia and Tasmania with the
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and return to New Zealand.
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