“altogether more politicised and hard-hitting….It was a treat to find Howard showing so much bite… it’s not often you get such spiky satire on Sky1, let alone a feminist poem referencing Caligula, Minerva and Augustus’ dictums. For that, Howard and his Hour should be applauded.” Michael Hogan, The Daily Telegraph
“a big hit for Sky” Forbes
London, 24th January 2019 – The Russell Howard Hour has been commissioned for a further series three and four whist the second series is currently on air until Thursday 28th February on Sky One. The first series of the topical entertainment show, which sees Russell Howard offer his unique and acclaimed perspective on news and current affairs, was the most successful new non-scripted entertainment series to launch on the channel since 2010 and had over 100 million views across social media. The third, fourteen-part series (14 x 60’) will go into production in autumn 2019.
Phil Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts: “Russell has established himself as one of the foremost satirical voices on TV and online. We are happy as hell that he has a home on Sky One where he can bring our audiences his unique and hilarious take on our messed up world.”
James Taylor, Executive Producer for Avalon said: “We’re delighted that, for at least another 2 years, we’ll be bringing The Russell Howard Hour to Sky One where Russell can continue to navigate through and make us laugh at what must be the bleakest and most terrifying news cycle in living memory.”
Russell Howard said: “I absolutely love doing this show. It’s such a ridiculous privilege that I get to write jokes as the world spins out of control.”
Filmed in front of a studio audience, Russell conducts in-depth wider social interviews with an array of interesting people including Ed Sheeran, John Oliver, Alesha Dixon, Chris O’Dowd, Naomi Klein, Jamie Oliver, Louis Theroux, Diane Abbott, Greg Davies, Fiona Bruce, Juan Mata, Sarah Millican, Michelle Wolf and Derren Brown. In a segment titled Playground Politics, Russell talks to children about international issues at schools around the world to get a junior perspective on global politics and in Good Deeds champions our nation’s spirit of generosity. A new Live Forever strand sees Russell address his fear of mortality through participating in a mixture of scientifically proven, spiritual and perhaps slightly dubiously dubbed life prolonging activities.
The Russell Howard Hour is a Sky original production produced by Avalon. The commissioning editor at Sky is Shirley Jones, whilst Executive Producers are Richard Allen-Turner, James Taylor and Jon Thoday for Avalon. The show is directed by Peter Orton and series produced by Robyn O’Brien.
For more information please contact: Victoria Wedderburn at Avalon on 0207 598 7222 or [email protected] or Claire Scott at Sky on [email protected]
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NOTES TO EDITORS
About Russell Howard
Russell is an internationally 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.
Other Things The Press Said About The Russell Howard Hour:
★★★★The Mail On Sunday ★★★★ Heat Magazine ★★★★ The Daily Star ★★★★ TV Times ★★★★ The Daily Express ★★★★ Star Magazine
“Russell Howard has truly gone global…Though he may be known for his cheeky, happy-go-lucky demeanour, Howard has never been one to shy away from the bigger issues…Whether it’s highlighting child hunger, unashamed praise for the police, or taking aim at Trumps’ views on transgender people in the military, the varying topics are all things Howard has a strong opinion on.” Alex Nelson, The i
“We’ve reached the penultimate episode of this excellent comedy series. It’s little more than an extended version of BBC’s Good News but that’s exactly what fans (and Sky) wanted and he’s delivered, pushing his brand of topical, positive reinforcement stand-up with aplomb” Gerard O’Donovan, The Daily Telegraph
“One of the world’s top comedians” Martin Hemming, The Sunday Times
“brilliant comic” Mark Wareham, The Mail on Sunday
“a refreshing antidote to the default world-weary cynicism of so many of his comedy peers.” Sharon Lougher, Metro
“no one can seriously deny him his place at comedy’s top table…the way in which Howard views the world has changed. He is more reflective, less flippant, than he used to be” Rupert Hawksley, The Daily Telegraph
“the nation’s go-to guy for current-affairs comedy” Eleanor Relf, The Sun
“A truly positive and perfectly balanced conversation, branching out to some rich areas of interest for certain – you’ll enjoy this one, get on board!” Scroobius Pip
About 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: Road Trip (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.
About Sky:
With 23 million customers across seven countries, Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group.
We have 31,000 colleagues and together we want to connect our customers to more of what they love, including our award-winning original productions, like Patrick Melrose and Save Me, and great shows from our partners including HBO, Showtime and Warner Bros. And our ever improving technology makes it even easier for customers to watch more of the shows they love with personalised recommendations and voice control and, our online streaming service, NOW TV, brings all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract free service.
We treat our customers better than anyone else in our field, as Ofcom’s complaints data shows, and we look after our staff too. Sky is one of The Times Top 50 employers for women and we’re in Stonewall’s list of Top 50 LGBT-Inclusive employers.
We also use our position as the leading entertainment business in Europe to do the right thing. As part of Sky Ocean Rescue campaign we’re committing to be completely single-use plastic free by 2020, we’re investing £25 million over five years in ocean-saving tech and we’re supporting the WWF to protect our oceans with designated Marine Protected Areas.
