It was announced today (Friday 26th May) that Russell Howard performed the biggest ever stand-up show in China last night, playing to a full house at Shanghai Yihai Theatre as part of his Round The World tour.
The news coincides with a clip from Russell’s last stand-up tour Wonderbox (2014) going viral with over 12.2 million views in China (with Mandarin subtitles) and 4 million in the UK. 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.
In addition to breaking a record in China during his Round The World Tour, Russell played ten consecutive sell-out shows at London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall which overtook the record of 8 in a row jointly held by Frank Sinatra in the 70s and Barry Manilow in the 90s. The previous record for the most consecutive performances by comedians was 6 in a row shared by Victoria Wood and Billy Connolly.
To date, Round The World has seen Russell perform arenas nationwide and tour the USA and Canada. After China he is set to tour Australia, Europe and New Zealand.
All dates and tickets are available at: www.russell-howard.co.uk
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For more information please contact: Dan Lloyd or Victoria Wedderburn at Avalon on 0207 598 7222 DanL@avalonuk.co.uk or VictoriaW@avalonuk.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
- The last series of Russell Howard’s Good News saw three segments go viral, from a passionate backing of junior doctors and the NHS (8.2 million views and described by Huffington Post as, “incredible”), an interview destigmatising Tourettes (4.9 million views and described as, “uplifting and hilarious” by The Independent) and demonstrated the absurdity of the tampon tax (10.2 million views with Metro saying RUSSELL, “nailed how stupid the tampon tax actually is.”)
- 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 11 million views and been watched in 180 countries (including North Korea and Vatican City).
- In 2016 RUSSELL took his “twinkly eyed smasher of a mum” NINETTE HOWARD on an eye-opening trip around the USA for a series on Comedy Central which is their highest rating original commission. A second series will TX later this year.
- After RUSSELL has completed his world tour, he will write and star in a new comedy and entertainment show for Sky 1 as part of a two-year deal.
- 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 HOWARD is the most popular British comedian on Facebook with over 3.2 million fans and over 1.2 million followers on Twitter.
- In its new home on BBC TWO Russell Howard’s Good News regularly achieved over 3 million viewers each week.
- 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 latest tour, Wonderbox (2014) – his biggest tour to date, 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.
- His 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 has 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 HOWARD has made 58 appearances on Mock The Week between 2006 and 2010.
- In addition to being a regular on Mock The Week, RUSSELL has 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 HOWARD 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 the same year RUSSELL HOWARD 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.
