44,000 NEW SEATS BRINGS RESPITE TOUR TOTAL TO 284,000 TICKETS

“Howard is a megastar” ★★★★ The Times
★★★★ Evening Standard ★★★★ Metro ★★★★ The I
★★★★ Chortle ★★★★The Arts Desk ★★★★★Young Perspective

Monday 25^th November – Following a sold-out and critically-acclaimed UK arena leg, Russell Howard announces a 23-date nationwide extension to his third and largest world tour,  Respite, bringing his Hammersmith Apollo run up to 5 nights to add to his 6-night homecoming run at the Bristol Hippodrome.

In response to multiple dates selling out internationally, Russell has added shows in America and Canada in Seattle, New York, Boston and Toronto and in Europe in Switzerland and Denmark (4 dates), alongside a new performance at the Dubai Opera.

Tickets will go on-sale tomorrow, 26^th November, at 10am and will be available to buy at www.russell-howard.co.uk

Russell is currently on our screens offering his unique and acclaimed perspective on international news and current affairs with the third series of The Russell Howard Hour on Sky One. Every episode is available to watch worldwide on Russell’s YouTube channel, which has over 940,000 subscribers. The show is also broadcast simultaneously in Australia and New Zealand. Series One was the most successful new entertainment series to launch on the channel since 2010 and the show has since received over 300 million views across social media as a result of many segments going viral.

Following the third series of The Russell Howard Hour wrapping in February 2020, Russell will tour Respite in Europe, Canada, America, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, with further dates in Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand to be added, before returning to our screens with the fourth series of The Russell Howard Hour.

Russell’s 2017 sell-out international tour, Round the World, saw him break the record for the biggest English speaking stand-up show in China and play a record-breaking 10 night run at the Royal Albert Hall, overtaking 8 in a row jointly held by Frank Sinatra and Barry Manilow. The tour culminated with the global release of Netflix Special Recalibrate.

Russell has over 6 million followers on social media.

For more information please contact: Victoria Wedderburn or Ben Baruch at Avalon on 0207 598 7222 or [email protected] / [email protected]

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Russell Howard:

• Russell began his third and largest world tour Respite with a sold-out and critically-acclaimed UK arena run this Autumn. Russell returns to the UK next year with a nationwide tour extension, including a 5-date run at the Hammersmith Apollo and a 6-date homecoming run at the Bristol Hippodrome.

• Russell is currently on our screens with the third series of The Russell Howard Hour on Sky One. The show was the most successful new entertainment series to launch on the channel since 2010. The fourth, fourteen-part series (14 x 60’) is already commissioned.

• Russell Howard and his mum Ninette were recently on our screens with the fourth series of Comedy Central’s Russell Howard & Mum: Globetrotters. The first three series reached 4.2M 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.

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

• Russell’s 2017 sell-out international tour, Round the World saw him play a total of 87 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 previous 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 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 has over 6 million followers on social media.

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

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

• On the 10^th anniversary of the channel, a poll of over 10,000 readers of Digital Spy voted Russell Howard’s Good News as the best ever BBC Three Show, beating shows such as Little Britain and Gavin & Stacey

• Russell’s 2014 Wonderbox tour 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.

About Avalon

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

Avalon Television produces numerous ground-breaking television shows including: multi-Emmy and Peabody award winner Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO); multi-award winning and Emmy-nominated Catastrophe (Channel 4/Amazon Prime Video); 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); Sky’s most successful new entertainment launch since 2010, The Russell Howard Hour (Sky); the recently launched Alternatino with Arturo Castro (Comedy Central USA); two seasons of Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas (HBO); the recently green lit Starstruck, a sitcom from the 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Rose Matafeo (HBO Max/BBC); and the upcoming and Everything’s Gonna Be Okay (Freeform). As well as iconic shows including: Fantasy Football League (BBC/ITV); the multi-BAFTA award-winning TV Burp (ITV); and seven seasons of Workaholics (Comedy Central USA).

Live, 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.