Richard's off-the-wall and highly original comedy style has made him a national television and stage star. He is currently touring the country with his Christ On A Bike show.
"I love Cheddar and I love Somerset," the 43-year-old Edinburgh Fringe veteran said.
"The script I'm writing at the moment for the BBC is set in a fictionalised place but uses the caves and the gorge. If filming goes ahead, it will hopefully bring more people to our wonderful countryside.
"When you usually live and work in London it really is lovely to come here and see the gorge and the hills and the Mendips."
As a former pupil at the Kings of Wessex school where his father, Keith Herring, was headmaster, Richard is no stranger to Somerset life.
"I had a very lucky childhood, growing up in a lovely place attending a brilliant school with a very good headmaster," he says, with just a tinge of irony.
Herring is best known as one half of comedy duo Lee and Herring and for their television programme This Morning With Richard Not Judy.
In 2007 he wrote and starred in ITV's You Can Choose Your Friends, and last year his shows The Headmaster's Son and Hitler Moustache were released on DVD.
His next Edinburgh show is going to explore the existence of love. Herring admits it will be something of an autobiographical affair.
"Headmaster's Son, which was about growing up in Cheddar with my dad as my headmaster, was quite a sweet and lyrical show with only a few unpleasant moments," he explains. "But my later shows, Hitler Moustache and Christ On A Bike, have been much more confrontational so maybe the love tour will go back to being sweet and lyrical. But maybe not. It could be that I discover love doesn't exist and that's kind of worse than finding out that Jesus doesn't exist. Hopefully I won't be destroying love."
His 2010 book called How Not To Grow Up features many familiar faces from Cheddar and the surrounding areas. Herring hopes to write another in the near future.
"For 11 years now I've been writing a blog entry every day – which equals about 3,000 consecutive entries to date – so I've got used to writing about myself. If there is a next book, it'll be about my own life and my own stupidity."
As for long-term plans, he believes he still has another 30 years of shows left in him.
"I want to end up like Barry Cryer – he's in his 70s but still does live tours and keeps up to date with comedy. In this job it's very easy to lose momentum and interest and just become one of those people who say: 'It was better in the 1990s when I was on TV.'"
"It's a lovely job. It's hard and stressful but to make money for making people laugh, that's not bad. The other day this young man came up to me after a show and said: 'I've had a terrible day and you've really cheered me up'. And in the end, that's what the job is all about."
Source http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/
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