RUSSELL HOWARD LAUNCHES NEW PODCAST ‘WONDERBOX’ ON 11TH OCTOBER 2023

Features special guests including John Oliver, Jimmy Carr, Munya Chawawa, Jack Whitehall, Greg Davies, Jen Brister, Guz Khan, Jordan Gray, Sam Ryder and Rachel Parris

 

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

“Howard is a megastar”
Allan Radcliffe, The Times

“A joy to watch”
The New York Times

 

It was announced today, 25th September, that Russell Howard launches his new podcast Wonderbox, produced by Avalon, on the 11th October 2023.

A Wonderbox is a place where you keep little reminders of what makes life worth living. Each week Russell will chat to a special guest about what they’d keep in their Wonderbox, recounting the most memorable and funniest moments of their lives.

Russell begins the series chatting with 2023 Emmy Award ‘Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics’ & Brit Awards ‘Best New Artist’ Nominated Sam Ryder plus BAFTA Nominated Munya Chawawa (Race Around Britain) in a special bumper double episode, followed by stars including Emmy Award winning John Oliver (Last Week Tonight), Jimmy Carr (8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, His Dark Material), Jack Whitehall (A League of Their Own, At Large) , Greg Davies (Taskmaster, The Cleaner), Guz Khan (Man Like Mobeen,  Four Weddings and a Funeral), Jen Brister (Live At The Apollo, Meaningless), Jordan Gray (Transaction, Friday Night Live) and BAFTA Nominated Rachel Parris (Late Night Mash).

Russell Howard said “I love doing this podcast. I get interesting guests and I ask them what they love. In a world of misery, it’s an absolutely joyous celebration of the little things that make people tick.”

Russell Howard’s Wonderbox launches on the 11th October on all major podcast platforms. More information at russell-howard.co.uk

After the global success of writing and starring in 182 episodes of The Russell Howard Hour (Sky) and Russell Howard’s Good News (BBC) combined, two Netflix specials Lubricant and Recalibrate (streaming now), over 1 billion views on social media worldwide including 500+ million views spawned from six seasons of The Russell Howard Hour, and selling over 250,000 tickets over 100+ sold-out gigs in the UK & Ireland alone (including 11 London Palladium gigs) with his brand-new show Russell Howard Live,  Russell Howard’s Wonderbox podcast launch coincides with him touring the East Coast USA leg of his latest tour.  As we reel from one global crisis to the next, Russell is set to put the world to rights in his own uniquely hilarious way in Durham on 4th October, followed by returning to cities including Washington, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago, Boston and more,  plus for the first time playing Charlotte, Norfolk, St Louis and others before wrapping up with a show in Cleveland on 22nd October. Russell recently kick-started the sold-out Autumn/Winter extension of his UK & Ireland tour with five nights at the London Palladium, which will see him play 149 shows through January 2024, and returns to tour Australia and New Zealand in February and March 2024.

 

For more information, please contact Victoria Wedderburn on 07557160139 or VWedderburn@avalonuk.com  and Jasmine Ruparelia on JRuparelia@avalonuk.com

 

What The Press Have Said About Russell’s stand-up: 

“completely irresistible…one of the most effective political stand-ups around, for the way he can keep any crowd on board, being didactic without being divisive… God, the man can put on a show. Howard is a brilliantly talented live performer”
Tristram Fane Saunders, The Daily Telegraph ★★★★  

“you’ll not find a slicker, more personable performer the length and breadth of land”★★★★
Mark Wareham, The Mail On Sunday

“comedy A-lister…With smart, satisfying and well-rationed callbacks, Howard builds his giddy anecdotes into a tsunami of feelgood humour, drenching the sizeable crowd in positivity. No wonder they were moved to rise to their feet.” ★★★★½
Steve Bennett, 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

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

“Howard is a megastar” ★★★★
Allan Radcliffe, The Times

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

“Howard masterfully builds a show that is hilarious and convincing in equal manner”
★★★★ Owen Richards, The i

“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 

 

 

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NOTES TO EDITORS

About Russell Howard:

  • Russell returned to the live stage in the UK & Ireland with brand-new show Russell Howard Live earlier this year.
  • Russell sold out 50 shows, 120,000+ tickets, over the opening on-sale weekend for his fastest selling tour ever, his first new since 2019.
  • To date, Russell Howard Live has sold over 250,000 tickets over 100+ gigs in the UK & Ireland alone (including 11 London Palladium gigs). So far, the tour will see Russell play dates in the UK, USA, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia.
  • Last year Russell wrapped filming the sixth series of ratings and critical hit The Russell Howard Hour. The show immediately became one of Sky’s most successful entertainment series when it launched and has also gone on to see huge success online with over 500 million views on social media.
  • Selling over 300, 000 tickets,  Russell’s third and biggest world tour to date, Respite saw him play a UK arena run plus a second UK leg including 5 Hammersmith Apollo dates culminating with taping his second Netflix special Lubricant which is streaming now.
  • The two-part Netflix instalment features his stand-up special striving to make sense of a world that is spinning out of control, Lubricant and documentary mapping his attempts to keep performing throughout the Covid 19 pandemic, Until The Wheels Come Off.
  • Russell is the first comedian to release a special accompanied by a documentary on Netflix.
  • Following Lubricant’s release, Russell became the sole comedian to have two of the top ten most-streamed specials across all platforms in the UK.
  • Russell has over 9 million followers on social media.
  • In response to the government’s step 4 roadmap delay, Russell moved his homecoming run of Respite 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 in 2021.
  • In London during lockdown in 2021, Russell was the first to open The Clapham Grand’s doors playing a series of work in progress gigs alongside some of his favourite performers.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 10th 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.

 

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