What’s one of the best-known names on the stand-up circuit doing opening the show rather than headlining?

The Comet: Nina Benjamin is appearing in Hitchin on August 1Nina Benjamin is appearing in Hitchin on August 1 (Image: Archant)

Is Richard Herring’s slot at Hitchin’s Lastminute Comedy Club a sad indication of a career on the slide at a time when his one-time double act partner Stewart Lee – a sellout success within hours for a date at the rival Mostly Comedy club in September – goes from strength to strength?

Not a bit of it, says Lastminute impresario Paul B. Edwards – it’s just that Richard and Nina Benjamin, who shares the bill at Woodside Hall next Saturday night, had never appeared together before and tossed a coin to decide who opened and who closed.

But seeing as the podcast pioneer whose indiscreet Leicester Square chats with other comedians are one of the biggest hits of comedy cyberspace has only recently become a father for the first time, perhaps he’ll be glad of the chance to have an early night.

Hitchin dates in the Lastminute calendar are normally held at the Walsworth Road venue on a Friday night but this one-off summer special is on Saturday, August 1.

Both performers have been big hits with the Hitchin crowd in the past, and doors open at 7.30pm with the show starting at 8.30pm.

It’s £10 on the door or £9 advance from Hitchin Initiative (27 Churchyard, 01462 453335) and you can find out more online at www.lastminutecomedy.com.