“one of the world’s top comedians” Martin Hemming, The Sunday Times

“Howard is routinely a delight – silly, personable and with a superb knack for observation. This king of cockle-warmers is about to rule the world” Sharon Lougher, Metro

 Following 2016 and 2018’s incredible adventures in the USA, Russell Howard and his mum Ninette Howard return to our screens with a trip to the world’s largest continent for a taste of Asia. The highly anticipated 6 x 60 minute series (twice the length of series one and two’s 30-minutes episodes) premieres on Comedy Central UK on the 23^rd of January at 10pm. The first two series reached 3.7M individuals, with the first series being the highest rated new commission on the channel the year it launched. After achieving as much as +241% on the 16-34s slot average and +172% on the adults slot average, series three and four were commissioned with extended episodes.

As Russell and Ninette further broaden their horizons in the Far East, the pair’s warm, funny and engaging relationship is once again put under the microscope. On their tour, they step back in time to become ultimate assassins in Japan and embark on a more futuristic venture to high tech Seoul, South Korea to observe the rise of the machines. The duo squeeze in the gap year they never had in to one week on the travellers’ paradise island Koh Phangan, Thailand. In Mumbai, The City Of Dreams, Russell and Ninette enrol in a 5 star acting academy boasting Slumdog Millionaire protégés to learn what it takes to make it in Bollywood. On a visit to Vietnam’s capital Hanoi, they lend their hands to folkloric water puppetry before heading away from the hustle and bustle of town to compete in a rural Olympics. ​ The journey ends communing with nature in Northern Thailand, Chiang Mai.

As well as a regular face on TV, Russell is a globally successful stand-up comedian breaking Frank Sinatra and Barry Manilow’s record for the most consecutive nights at the Royal Albert Hall and performing the largest ever stand-up show in China on 2017’s Round The World tour. In autumn 2019, Russell returns to the live stage with his third and largest world tour to date, Respite. Beginning with a nationwide arena tour, the dates overall will see Russell play 5 continents, 24 countries and 51 cities. Russell has a social media following of over 3.4 million Facebook fans around the world with more followers than any other British comedian.

The shows launch underlines Comedy Central UK’s ongoing push to ramp up its offering of UK commissions. Since 2015, the channel has continued its explosive growth – including its highest ever UK commission Roast Battle which, along with Joel and Nish Vs The World, Takeshi’s Castle, Stand Up Central, Drunk History and Your Face or Mine have all been brought back for brand new seasons. Comedy Central UK also recently announced that it has commissioned a comedy reboot of the cult quiz gameshow format Blockbusters with household name Dara O’Briain as host, which is set to air in 2019.

Russell Howard & Mum: Globetrotters will premiere on Comedy Central UK on 23^rd January at 10pm – 6 x 60 min

What the press have said about Russell Howard

“Hilarious and heartfelt” ★★★★ Bruce Dessau, The Evening Standard

“Intimate and raw” ★★★★ Mark Wareham, The Mail On Sunday

★★★★★ Sharon Lougher, Metro

For more information please contact: Victoria Wedderburn on 0207 598 7222 or VWedderburn@avalonuk.com or Emily Holmes Emily.Holmes@vimn.com on 0203 580 3119 at Comedy Central

Episode 1: Gap Week in Koh Phangan:

Russell and his mum Ninette have a full backpacker blowout on the ultimate rave island Koh Phangan, Thailand. They squeeze in the gap year they never had in to one week, drinking mystical buckets of booze, Djing at jungle parties and going full hippy at a mass love-in breathing ceremony.

Episode 2: Ancient Arts in Japan:

Russell and his mum have arrived in Japan. They’re stepping back in time to become the ultimate assassins: Ninette is going full Ninja, despite her camel toe, and Russell is throwing on a nappy and getting neck deep in some Sumo man-boob, as well as massacring some teeny tiny trees

Episode 3: City of the Future in South Korea:

Russell and his mum, Ninette, are in the City of the Future. They’re in High-Tech Seoul in South Korea and are taking control of and corrupting a Mega-Robot, joining a crew of Cos players as a drug addled hedgehog and a pint-sized plumber as well as going on their own Virtual Killing spree across the city.

Episode 4: The Road Less Travelled in Vietnam:

Russell and his mum Ninette have arrived in Vietnam. While in the capital of Hanoi, they taste local delicacies, create melodies with a classically trained wizard and get involved with water puppetry before heading away from the hustle and bustle of town to compete in a rural Olympics. ​

Episode 5: Living the Dream in Mumbai:

Russell and his mum are in Mumbai, the City of Dreams. Their new mate Alekh is getting them to Act! Act! Act! Bollywood style, share their bedroom secrets with Mumbai’s oldest sexpert and meet the record breaker who will put them off chocolate sauce for life.

Episode 6: Going Wild in Thailand:

Russell and Ninette have arrived in Northern Thailand, Chiang Mai to commune with nature – they visit a sanctuary to give some TLC to rescue elephants, are faced with milking deadly cobras and create their own jungle crib.

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Russell Howard:

• A Netflix special of RUSSELL’s latest critically acclaimed world tour titled Recalibrate launched worldwide in December 2017.

• RUSSELL launched The Russell Howard Hour on Sky One in Autumn 2017. The show was the most successful new entertainment series to launch on the channel since 2010 and had over 100 million views across social media. The second series is on air now.

• After 2016’s adventure in the USA, RUSSELL and his “twinkly eyed smasher of a mum” NINETTE HOWARD returned to our screens with a second supersized American trip on Comedy Central. Russell Howard & Mum: Globetrotters was the highest rating new commission on the channel when it launched in 2016, achieving as much as +119% on the 16-34s slot average and +72% on the adults slot average. The show reached a total of 2.4 million individuals resulting in series 3 and 4 in Asia being commissioned and with episodes increasing in length from 30 to 60 minutes.

• During Round the World, his largest international tour to date, RUSSELL performed 87 major dates with runs in the UK, USA, Canada, Europe, China, New Zealand and Australia.  This tour also saw a record-breaking 10-night run at the Royal Albert Hall, overtaking eight in a row jointly held by Frank Sinatra and Barry Manilow, and performing the biggest ever stand-up show in China.

• Whilst RUSSELL was touring Round The World in 2017, his last stand-up show Wonderbox (2014) went viral with 15 million views in China (with Mandarin subtitles) and 55 million views worldwide.  Russell Crowe and Stephen Fry are amongst some of the Twitterati who have shared the heart-warming story of Russell and a sick fan’s triumph over adversity.

• The last series of Russell Howard’s Good News saw multiple sections go viral, including a passionate backing of junior doctors and the NHS (8.2 million views), an interview destigmatising Tourette’s (4.9 million views) and a demonstration of the absurdity of the tampon tax (10.2 million views).

• Russell Howard’s Good News is available around the world via a YouTube channel launched in 2014 – allowing fans to watch full episodes of the show (without piracy) in countries where the show wasn’t already broadcast – and has had over 48 million views and been watched in 180 countries (including North Korea and Vatican City).

• Christmas 2015 saw RUSSELL’s first comedy-drama with the premiere of, A Gert Lush Christmas (BBC Two).   As well as co-writing the special, RUSSELL starred for the first time along-side his sister KERRY HOWARD (Him & Her, BBC Three), GREG DAVIES (The Inbetweeners, Man Down, Channel 4), NEIL MORRISSEY (Men Behaving Badly, Waterloo Road, BBC1), and SOPHIE THOMPSON (EastEnders, BBC1).

• RUSSELL’s stand-up series – Russell Howard’s Stand Up Central, which aired from April 2015 on Comedy Central (UK) achieved viewing figures of 159% above the slot average for its first episode.

• Episodes of Russell Howard’s Good News have even been subtitled and uploaded to Chinese video site AcFun, where the show has also been watched over 4 million times.

• RUSSELL is the most popular British comedian on Facebook with over 3.4 million fans and over 1.3 million followers on Twitter.

• 10 series of Russell Howard’s Good News has seen RUSSELL write and star in 96 episodes.

• Russell Howard’s Good News is regularly the most watched show on iPlayer across all BBC Channels.

• RUSSELL’s tour, Wonderbox (2014) – saw him perform to over 285,000 fans at 40 shows across the UK and Ireland, including four consecutive nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

• RUSSELL extended his 2014 Wonderbox tour across the world following over 17,000 suggestions from his fans after he asked them via Facebook where they’d most like to see him perform. The extra sold out dates saw RUSSELL travel to New York, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, Denver, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Auckland.

• RUSSELL’s tour in 2011, Right Here, Right Now saw him perform to over 240,000 fans across the country, including three sold out dates at London’s O2 arena.

• RUSSELL performed to over one million people on his UK and international tours from 2006-2014.

• RUSSELL HOWARD has four bestselling stand-up DVDs, 2014’s Wonderbox Live, 2011’s Right Here, Right Now, 2008’s Russell Howard Live and 2009’s Russell Howard Live – Dingledodies, which have sold over 619,000 DVDs and all been in the top 5 DVD comedy chart.

• RUSSELL was voted Heat Magazine‘s “Weird Crush of the Year 2013″

• RUSSELL made 58 appearances on Mock The Week between 2006 and 2010.

• In addition to being a regular on Mock The Week, RUSSELL was twice featured on Live At The Apollo and appeared on Would I Lie To You (BBC One), Never Mind The Buzzcocks (BBC Two), and 8 Out 10 Cats (Channel 4).

• In 2010 RUSSELL took part in the Sport Relief Million Pound Bike Ride with DAVID WALLIAMS, JIMMY CARR, FEARNE COTTON, MIRANDA HART, PATRICK KIELTY and DAVINA McCALL – cycling 874 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End in 4 days and raising over ￡1, 337.099.

• In 2010 RUSSELL ran the London Marathon, raising money for the National Society for Epilepsy – a condition from which his brother suffers. He completed the 26 mile course in 4 hours and 15 minutes and raised over ￡7,000.

• RUSSELL HOWARD’S fifth ever stand-up gig got him to the final of Channel 4’s So You Think You’re Funny.

• In 2006 RUSSELL HOWARD was nominated for the Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Award for his show Wandering, which followed with a nationwide sell-out tour.

• From November 2006 to July 2008, RUSSELL co-hosted The Russell Howard Show (BBC 6 Music) with fellow comedian JON RICHARDSON in a Sunday morning slot previously hosted by RUSSELL BRAND.

Comedy Central UK

Comedy Central is a leading Pay TV General Entertainment channel and is part of Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN). A joint venture between VIMN (75%) and BSkyB (25%), Comedy Central airs on the Sky and Virgin Media platforms. Comedy Central launched in the UK in April 2009 and is one the fastest growing channels in the marketplace. In Fiscal 2018 (Oct 17 to Sept 18) The Comedy Central Group averaged a share of 2.03%, an excellent performance in a competitive year for TV. The channel broadcasts a mix of hit US acquisitions and original UK productions targeting a 16-34-year-old audience.

Comedy Central UK continues its explosive growth in FY18 – including its highest ever UK commission Roast Battle which, along with Russell Howard and Mum, Joel and Nish Vs The World, Takeshi’s Castle and Your Face or Mine have all been brought back for brand new seasons, underlining Comedy Central UK’s ongoing push to diversify its British comedy offering and continue to add to its roster of home grown commissions.

US titles Impractical Jokers, Bob’s Burgers and South Park also continue to draw in massive numbers and popular nostalgic titles such as Friends, Scrubs and Fresh Prince are still a ratings hit.

In addition to the main Comedy Central channel are Comedy Central +1, Comedy Central Extra and Comedy Central Extra +1 providing audiences with more viewing opportunities and more fantastic content.

Avalon

Avalon is a multi-award winning talent management, live promotion and television production group with offices in the UK and the USA. Avalon and ARG, the talent management arm, has discovered and represents many artists that are household names, both in the UK, the USA, and around the world.

In 2018, Avalon was again named the number one true independent television production company in the UK and has produced numerous ground-breaking television shows including: Emmy and Peabody award winner Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), multi-award winning and Emmy-nominated Catastrophe (Channel 4/Amazon Prime), RTS and Rose d’Or winning Not Going Out (the BBC’s longest running sitcom currently on air), BAFTA and RTS-nominated Taskmaster (DAVE/UKTV), multi-BAFTA award winning TV Burp (ITV1), Russell Howard’s Good News (BBC2), Fantasy Football League (BBC/ITV) and Workaholics (Comedy Central USA).

Avalon and Topical Television form the television arm of the company and other shows recently in production include:  Catastrophe (C4/Amazon Prime), Taskmaster (Dave), The Russell Howard Hour (Sky One), Not Going Out (BBC One), Stand Up Central with Rob Delaney (Comedy Central UK) and Russell Howard & Mum: Globetrotters (Comedy Central UK); whilst the catalogue is sold worldwide by Avalon Distribution.

Avalon produced Newman and Baddiel: Live at Wembley, the UK’s first arena comedy show; Jerry Springer: The Opera, the first West End show to win all four UK ‘Best New Musical’ awards; and has continued to produce live shows globally, as well as promoting more winners and nominees of the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award than any other company. For Avalon news visit: www.avalon-entertainment.com or @avalonent.

For Avalon news visit: www.avalon-entertainment.com or @avalonent