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Revision as of 10:17, 28 January 2012
| Russell Howard | |
|---|---|
 Russell Howard in 2008 | |
| Birth name | Russell Joseph Howard |
| Born | 23 March 1980 Bristol, England, United Kingdom |
| Medium | Stand up, television, radio |
| Nationality | British |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Genres | Social satire Observational comedy Absurdist humour |
| Subject(s) | Everyday life · Politics Current events · Family |
| Notable works and roles | The Milk Run Mock the Week Russell Howard's Good News |
| Website | russell-howard |
Russell Joseph Howard[citation needed] (born 23 March 1980)[1] is an English comedian best known for his TV show Russell Howard's Good News and his appearances on the topical panel TV show Mock The Week. He won "Best Compère" at the 2006 Chortle Awards and was nominated for an if.comedy award for his 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show. He is currently in a relationship with a girl called Cerys. He does not live with her but he often talks about her in his act.
Early life
Russell has two younger siblings, twins, Kerry, an actress, and Daniel;[2] a systems analyst and a sufferer of epilepsy,[3] a fact which Russell often references during his act.
He was educated at Flitwick Lower School, Bedford Modern School which he attended for a year at the age of 8, Perins School and Alton College in Hampshire, then at the University of the West of England in Bristol, where he studied economics, attaining a 2:1.
Career
TV and radio work
In 2004 he was commissioned by BBC Radio 1 to write, sing and perform on the comedy series The Milk Run. Howard has also appeared on the shows Banter (hosted by Andrew Collins) and Political Animal for BBC Radio 4.[4]
Until 2010, Howard was a regular panelist on Mock the Week. He has also appeared on 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Would I Lie To You?, Live At The Apollo, The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008, Law of the Playground and Never Mind the Buzzcocks (Series 18, Episode 2 and Series 20, Episode 4).[5]
He was one of several comedians picked as the best comedy talent from the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe that recorded 10–15-minute spots for the 'Edinburgh and Beyond show' which was aired on Paramount Comedy 1 in the autumn of 2006.[6] The show was filmed at The Bloomsbury Theatre. From 2009, he took over as compère of this show from Al Murray.[7]
From November 2006 to July 2008, Russell co-hosted The Russell Howard Show[8] on BBC 6 Music with fellow comedian Jon Richardson in a Sunday morning slot previously hosted by Russell Brand. The show continued to air, without Howard, until March 2010. He has since explained that his main reason for leaving the show was that he finds radio "really restrictive" and "I gorge off the audience as a performer, but you can't gauge a reaction on the radio."[9][10]
Russell was commissioned to make a comedy show called Russell Howard's Good News, aimed at under-25s, for BBC Three. The first episode aired on 22 October 2009 and the show ran for seven episodes as well as a "Best Of" show and a Christmas Special. It went on to become BBC Three's highest ever rating entertainment series.[11][12] In the show, he gave his take on the week's major news stories, as well as giving attention to some of the more light-hearted stories of the week. Two more series of the show were commissioned, with the second series starting on March 25, 2010.[13] A fourth series began on 24 March 2011 on BBC Three.
While recording an episode of Good News which aired on 17th November 2011, he broke his wrist when a stunt went wrong, being that Russell tried to do push ups on a collapsible stool which inevitably collapsed. He then revealed on the following show some of the texts sent by his friends and family following the accident.
He made his United States television début on the August 3, 2011 episode of Conan.
Charity work
He appeared at Friends of the Earth's LIVEstock comedy and music event at the Hammersmith Apollo in support of the green campaign group's Food Chain Campaign for planet-friendly farming, on 12 November 2009.
For Sport Relief 2010 he took part in the BT Sport Relief Million Pound Bike Ride, with David Walliams, Jimmy Carr, Fearne Cotton, Miranda Hart, Patrick Kielty, and Davina McCall. They cycled from John O'Groats in Scotland to Land's End in 4 days trying to raise 1 million pounds.[14]
In April 2010, Howard ran the Virgin London Marathon for the first time with both his brother and sister, to raise 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, beating his target time of 5 hours. Sponsorship has raised over £7,000 to date.[15]
Live comedy
A show from his 2007 Adventures tour was released on DVD on 17 November 2008,[16] under the title "Russell Howard Live". The show on the DVD was recorded at The Bloomsbury Theatre.[17]
Howard started touring his show Dingledodies in September 2008 and played various dates through to December. Due to overwhelming demand he further extended the tour twice into 2009. It sold in excess of 125,000 tickets,[18] including three sell-out shows at the Hammersmith Apollo as well as several large arenas such as Wembley Arena and Manchester's MEN Arena. The DVD of this tour was released on 9 November 2009[19] and features a recording of the show from the Brighton Dome.[18]
He was named "Best Theatre Show" at the 2009 Chortle Comedy Awards.[20]
Howard performed 10 UK dates between 11 and 20 December 2009 for his "Big Rooms and Belly Laughs" tour.[21]
In 2011 the far right English Defence League threatened to picket one of his live gigs in retaliation at material poking fun at them in one of his TV performances.[22]
He is currently performing his new arena tour for 2011, titled Right Here Right Now. The tour sold out in days and was extended twice, with new dates in December 2011 announced on 3 May 2011.
It was reported in The Independent that he earned £4 million in 2009 alone,[23] which he denies. [24]Credits
Television
- Never Mind the Buzzcocks BBC 2 (2006)
- Mock The Week BBC 2 (2006–2010)
- Never Mind the Buzzcocks BBC 2 (2007)
- Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive BBC Three (2007)
- Would I Lie To You? BBC 1 (2007)
- Live at the Apollo BBC 1 (2007)
- Law of the Playground Channel 4 (2008)
- The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008 Channel 4 (2008)
- 8 out of 10 Cats Channel 4 (2008)
- Live at the Apollo BBC 1 (2009)
- Russell Howard's Good News BBC Three (2009–)
- Conan (2011)
- Children in Need 2011 (2011)
Radio
- The Milk Run BBC Radio 1 (2004)
- Political Animal BBC Radio 4 (2004)
- Banter BBC Radio 4 (2005)
- The Russell Howard Show BBC 6 Music (2006–2008)
Writing
- The Milk Run BBC Radio 1 (2004)
Stand-Up DVDs
| Title | Release Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Live | 17 November 2008 | Live at London's Bloomsbury Theatre |
| Live 2 – Dingledodies | 9 November 2009 | Live at Brighton's Dome |
| Right Here Right Now | 14 November 2011 | Live at London's Hammersmith Apollo |
References
- ^ "Russell Howard". Chortle. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
- ^ "Russell Howard warming up for Good News series 4".
- ^ Danny Scott (18 January 2009). "Relative Values: Russell Howard and his mother, Ninette". The Times. UK. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ^ "Russell Howard Interview '06". The National Student Magazine. 2006. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ^ Never Mind the Buzzcocks (a Guests & Air Dates Guide) epguides.com
- ^ Liam Rudden (10 July 2009). "Howard ducks Fringe for Festival". FindArticles.com. Retrieved 8 December 2009. [dead link]
- ^ "Edinburgh And Beyond". Comedy Central. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ^ The Russell Howard Show bbc.co.uk
- ^ "Russell Howard presents new show for 6 Music" – BBC Press Release, 2 November 2006
- ^ Star interview: Comedian Russell Howard sold out at Dorking and Crawley
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Good News For Russell Chortle.co.uk
- ^ "Russell Howard's very good news". Chortle. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ "Virgin Money Giving | Fundraising | The Howards are raising money for Epilepsy". Uk.virginmoneygiving.com. 25 April 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
- ^ "Russell Howard Live IMDB". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ^ Russell Howard Live DVD (Media notes). Avalon Television Ltd.
{{cite AV media notes}}:|format=requires|url=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameters:|publisherid=and|titlelink=(help); Unknown parameter|director=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|titleyear=ignored (help) - ^ a b Russell Howard Live Dingledodies DVD (Media notes). Avalon Television Ltd.
{{cite AV media notes}}:|format=requires|url=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameters:|publisherid=and|titlelink=(help); Unknown parameter|director=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|titleyear=ignored (help) - ^ Rich Goodman (2 November 2009). "Russell Howard : Dingledodies (DVD)". MyReviewer.com. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ^ "Rhod and Tim triumph at Chortles" Chortle.co.uk
- ^ Russell Howard event listings in IKnowWhereItsAt.com
- ^ EDL Threaten demo at comedy gig: Lancashire Evening Post 7th May 2011 http://www.lep.co.uk/lifestyle/culture/edl_to_demo_at_comedy_gig_1_3358290
- ^ The Independent. London. 30 May 2010 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/features/funny-money-britains-jokers-are-cashing-in-1986873.html.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Lewis, Helen (25 April 2011). ""I got invited to David Walliams's wedding . . . but I'd have just been on my own at the buffet"". New Statesman. Retrieved 17 December 2011.