Rainer Hersch

"Most of what Rainer Hersch does
doesn't bear explaining. But it will make you laugh"
Orlando Sentinel

Rainer Hersch is a musician and comedian who performs on every major comedy stage in Britain and abroad... He has appeared twelve times at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; had numerous comedy-concert series at the South Bank in London; featured in comedy clubs all across Europe and in TV shows around the world.

His first experiment with the one-man show format was an A to Z of all things British called 'The massed bands of the Grenadier guards and R.A.F. flypast- plus support' with which he toured Canadian Fringe Fetsivals in 1994. The following year he produced an hour of staright stand-up, again for Canada, 'Was God British?' and with it a taste of radio success when the Canadian Broadcasting Corportation recorded the show in its entirety. A year later, and for the first time in his comedy career, Rainer combined his skills as a stand-up with his music to produce 'All Classical Music explained' (ACME)- 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 audience. In a 55 date tour across three continents, the show attracted rave reviews.

The all classical music explained theme has also now been turned into a number of radio series for the BBC and Classic FM. In addition, Rainer has become a comic voice - providing witty commentay on things musical for many other BBC radio and TV programmes including over 40 appearances on the classic radio show 'Loose ends' with Ned Sherrin. His various radio sries have involved some more serious projects- in 'Rainer Hersch's 20th Century Retrospective' (BBC Radio 3) he recorded what turned out to be the last ever interview with Yehudi Menuhin.

His two documentary srries about comedy and classical music 'All the Right Notes, Not Necessarily in the Right Order' (BBC Radio4) plotted the lives of musical comedians of the past. Series 1 included a profile of the Danish Born entertainer, Victor Borge, with whom Rainer has often been compared. This programme was the seed for Rainer's first one-man play, now called 'Rainer Hersch's Victor Borge' which Rainer first presented with sell-out success at the 2004 Edinburgh Festival, making his debut as an actor.

Rainer is looking forward to tours appearances with orchestras across Britian and tours of Australia (with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in May 2008) and Canada (with his new show "Mozart: Ze Komplete Hystery" in August 2008)