“Underestimate Russell Howard at your peril…behind that smile is a performer with real teeth ready to tear into current affairs and the many failings of our lords and masters”

★★★★ Mark Wareham, The Mail on Sunday

“Russell Howard has found his place with this satirical vehicle”

Victoria Segal, The Sunday Times

“the star doesn’t shy away from the biggest news stories of the week…hilarious”

Louis Staples, The Independent

It was announced today, Thursday 7^th October, that Russell Howard will be joined by one of the greatest and most influential stand-up comedians of all time Sir Billy Connolly CBE, MOBO award-winning hip-hop artist, journalist, author, activist and poet Akala (Powerlist 2021: UK’s 100 Most Influential Black People),  multi-award winning film director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver, Last Night in Soho), BAFTA Award-winning actor, writer and comedian Sophie Willan (Alma’s Not Normal, Sophie Willan’s Guide To Normality, The Circle), Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author and public intellectual Steven Pinker (Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People), Royal Television Society Award-winning actor and writer Guz Khan (Man Like Mobeen,  Four Weddings and a Funeral, Turn Up Charlie), comedian, actor and writer Joe Wilkinson (Sex Education, After Life, The Cockfields) and multi-award winning actor and activist Evanna Lynch (Harry Potter, G.B.F., Disco Pigs) for upcoming episodes on Sky Original The Russell Howard Hour available on Sky and NOW on Thursdays at 10pm and on demand, with many more guests to be added to the upcoming line-up.

Russell Howard is back dissecting the news with his uniquely humorous perspective on the 14×60” fifth series of The Russell Howard Hour. Series four of the critically acclaimed topical comedy entertainment show attracted the biggest viewing figures since season one, which was the biggest new non-scripted entertainment show to land on Sky One since 2010.  A huge hit online, show content has been seen over 400 million times across social media since the show’s arrival.

To date, Russell has enjoyed guests on the show including Ed Sheeran, Matthew McConaughey, Lady Leshurr, Elizabeth Day, Jim Carrey, Naomi Klein, Jack Black, Louis Theroux, Tyson Fury, John Oliver, Alesha Dixon, Tan France, Brian Cox, Rob Delaney, Armando Iannucci and Elizabeth Banks , while also spotlighting unsung heroes such as disability activist Sinead Burke, anti-knife crime campaigner and former champion boxer Mark Prince and KKK converter Daryl Davis.

Every episode is available to watch worldwide on Russell’s YouTube channel, with over 1.2 million subscribers, as well as being broadcast on Foxtel in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand close to UK transmission

Since the global lockdown, Russell has been at the forefront of the live comedy scene. Russell became the first stand-up comedian from the Northern Hemisphere to perform in New Zealand and Australia and to open the doors at The Clapham Grand playing a series of work in progress gigs alongside some of his favourite performers. In response to the government’s step 4 roadmap delay, he moved the homecoming run of his world tour Respite from the Bristol Hippodrome to play seven socially distanced shows at Bristol City FC and prior to this gigged in various unconventional settings including car parks, lay-bys and woods. Following performing a sold-out and critically acclaimed UK arena run in Autumn 2019, Russell is currently playing his rescheduled (due to the coronavirus) second UK leg, including 5 Hammersmith Apollo dates, of his world tour. Russell’s third and biggest world tour to date, Respite, will in total take him to 79 cities across 24 countries in 5 continents.

Russell has over 6.7 million followers on social media.

For more information, please contact Victoria Wedderburn on 07557160139 or VWedderburn@avalonuk.com at Avalon or Alex Henderson on Alex.Henderson@sky.uk or Hannah Forde on Hannah.Forde@sky.uk at Sky

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

“one of the world’s top comedians”

 Martin Hemming, The Sunday Times

“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…Howard and his Hour should be applauded.”

Michael Hogan, The Daily Telegraph

“Howard’s routines provide a more pointed critique of government incompetence and malfeasance than you might expect…his interview segments offer extended chats with an eclectic range of guests beyond the same old roster of celebrities”

Jack Seale, Radio Times

“Underestimate Russell Howard at your peril…behind that smile is a performer with real teeth ready to tear into current affairs and the many failings of our lords and masters”

Mark Wareham, The Mail On Sunday

“A welcome return for comedian Russell Howard and his sardonic but ultimately affirmative and optimistic take on global news and politics. What sets Howard apart from other TV satirists is his faith in human nature.”

Ed Power, The i

“There is no denying the popularity of Russell. As his topical comedy returns for its fourth series, the numbers it can boast are staggering- it’s had over 400 million views on social media and has covered topics as varied as the porn industry and Ku Klux Klan”

Eleanor Relf, The Sun

“the star doesn’t shy away from the biggest news stories of the week…hilarious”

Louis Staples, The Independent

“a big hit for Sky” 

Forbes

“His topical chat show has been a hit, securing fascinating celebs like Louis Theroux, Jon Ronson and Naomi Klein for extended chats”

Graeme Virtue, The Guardian

 “The Russell Howard Hour, a weekly comedy series on Sky 1 in which Howard brings his characteristic wit and observational humor to the stories dominating the cultural zeitgeist.”

Dane Rivera, UPROXX (USA)

“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

“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

What The Press Have Said About Respite so far:

“Howard’s riffs on life in 2021 that is the best material…Respite is, at times, Howard’s philosophy on life. Sort of like a self-help book for a flawed world slowly coming out of hibernation that would be a whole lot better – and sillier – if we followed his advice….has achieved global success… You would have to be pretty joyless yourself not to have fun at a Russell Howard gig. He will now take these life lessons around the world, offering togetherness, hope and a lot of silliness” ★★★★ 

Martin Booth, The Telegraph

“In 2021, what does gratitude sound like? Having witnessed it first-hand, I’d say it’s the sound of a 2000-seat auditorium lit up with laughter…Howard is one of the world’s biggest comedy stars. His flow is punchy and unstoppable”

Maggie Wicks, The New Zealand Herald

“A triumphant return for Russell Howard: Covid jabs are all very well but laughter’s the second-best medicine out there right now” ★★★★

Mark Wareham, The Mail On Sunday

“Howard is a megastar” ★★★★ 

Allan Radcliffe, The Times

“Howard’s presence and manner are honed art forms, and his pacing is close to perfection. His set is tightly-packed, relentless, accelerating and energetic. But every word is crystal clear. This tightrope between rushing and dragging is rarely so well walked.” ★★★★ 

Alex Bruce, Chortle

“In Respite he takes stock of the current chaos and concludes that we need more fun…. Howard says laughter brings people together. It certainly did last night.” ★★★★ 

Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard

“Russell Howard is at the top of his game, his elegantly crafted observational stand-up using cunningly spun callbacks and physical comedy to flirt with controversy, domesticity, politics, sex, and Calippo ice lollies”

Stephen Armstrong, The Sunday Times 

“Hero’s return for the uplifting comedy king…Howard is undeniably one of the biggest names in comedy” ★★★★

 Josh Stephenson, Metro

“Howard masterfully builds a show that is hilarious and convincing in equal manner” ★★★★ 

Owen Richards, The i

“It’s safe to say this show went down a storm” ★★★★★

 Tabitha James, Young Perspective

“Arguably one of the funniest blokes to come out of the United Kingdom right now, you can rest assured Russell Howard will be keeping the laughs coming”

Mina Kerr-Lazenby, Stuff

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Russell Howard:

• Following performing a sold-out and critically acclaimed UK arena run in Autumn 2019, Russell is currently playing his rescheduled (due to the coronavirus) second UK leg, including 5 Hammersmith Apollo dates, of his world tour  Respite. In total, the tour will take Russell to 79 cities across 24 countries in 5 continents with 250,000 tickets already sold to date.
• In response to the government’s step 4 roadmap delay, Russell moved his homecoming run of world tour from the Bristol Hippodrome to play seven socially distanced shows at Ashton Gate Stadium, the home of Bristol City FC.
• Russell became the first stand-up comedian from the Northern Hemisphere to perform in New Zealand and Australia since the global lockdown in 2021.
• Whilst on tour in New Zealand and Australia, Russell filmed a new 3 x 60 min travelogue, Russell Howard Stands Up To The World, airing in the UK on Sky in New Zealand on TVNZ earlier this year.
• Ratings and critical hit The Russell Howard Hour was recommissioned for a fifth and sixth season, whilst the fourth season was still on air, by Sky One and TV streaming service NOW TV.  Series four of the topical entertainment show attracted the largest viewing figures since season one, which was the biggest new non-scripted entertainment show to land on Sky One since 2010.  A huge hit online, show content has been seen over 400 million times across social media since the show’s arrival. The fifth, 14 x 60’ season, is airing now.
• During lockdown in 2020, Russell was on our screens twice a week presenting a new Sky One show,Russell Howard’s Home Time, from his childhood bedroom for which he donated his fee to NHS Charities Together and The Trussell Trust.  The series saw Russell give his unique perspective on current world events, as he chatted to some famous faces and interesting people in lockdown including Marc Maron, Jack Whitehall, Louis Theroux, Katherine Ryan, Greg Davies, Michelle Wolf, John Richardson, Guz Khan, James Bay, Stephen Merchant, Kasabian’s Serge Pizzorno, and heroes on the front line including Bafta and Emmy award winning film maker Hassan Akkad, intensive care doctor Aoife Abbey and mental health volunteer Caitlin Grant.
• Russell Howard and his mum Ninette were on our screens with the fourth series of Comedy Central’s Russell Howard & Mum: Globetrotters in 2019. 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, Artist Rights Group (ARG) and The Agency represent a prolific roster of artists including comedians, actors, presenters, writers and directors. Avalon’s numerous ground-breaking returning television shows currently in production include: Not Going Out (BBC), the UK’s longest running sitcom on air; Taskmaster (Channel 4), the BAFTA-winning hit entertainment format showing in 100 countries; multi Emmy-winner, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO); The Russell Howard Hour (Sky), the network’s most successful entertainment show launch since 2010; Starstruck, a new sitcom from the 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Rose Matafeo (HBO Max/BBC); Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, from creator Josh Thomas (Freeform); Breeders, a sitcom starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard (FX/Sky); a new series of the iconic British satirical puppet show, Spitting Image (BritBox UK); and multiple comedy specials for Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and Netflix.

Other landmark Avalon shows include BAFTA winning and multi-Emmy nominated Catastrophe (Amazon Prime Video/Channel 4), Fantasy Football League (BBC/ITV), multi BAFTA-winning TV Burp (ITV), and Workaholics (Comedy Central USA). Avalon also distributes its catalogue of programmes to over 150 countries worldwide.  Avalon has produced many globally successful podcasts and is at the top of the UK iTunes chart with the multi-award-winning Shagged. Married. Annoyed by Chris and Rosie Ramsey.

As a leading promoter of live comedy, 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 and promote 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.avalonuk.com/press or follow @avalonent