Last week Russell Howard announced he was quitting TV – but he tells Metro what would bring him back (Picture: Supplied)
Russell Howard is a British comedy stalwart. While news came last week that he’s quit TV for good, the 44-year-old has told Metro he would be tempted back – under one condition.
Perhaps most famed for his BBC topical comedy show Russell Howard’s Good News, Russell is one of the most lovable male comedians working in the mainstream – and just as nice in real life as he appears.
But he’s uninspired.
‘There’s nothing on TV at the minute that I would like to do, that’s the frustrating thing,’ he tells Metro.
‘I’ve been offered things that just don’t float my boat, but I don’t want to be on TV for TV sake.’
Stand-up on the other hand is freeing, Russell explains.
‘It’s this kind of really beautiful, collaborative way of figuring out whether you’re mental,’ he says of his time on stage.
The comedian is doing his own thing away from British TV screens (Picture: Supplied)
Let’s face it, with Russell’s 19 years of experience in TV comedy under his belt after his first 2006 appearance on Mock The Week, the man has every right to be picky.
‘I couldn’t be a straight TV presenter. I’m not interested in reading other people’s words and having my clothes picked for me. But if it was a comedy show that I was interested in, then yeah, I would love to do it,’ he says.
But there just isn’t anything out there at the moment, despite the recent years of political turbulence in the UK – which needs more than just a few online comics poking holes in it to wipe the smile off Nigel Farage’s face.
‘We had an election. There was no topical comedy show on TV. When would that happen in any other country?’ he asks, adding: ‘That’s crazy.’
It’s not that Russell has left TV; it’s more that the TV he’s interested in has left the UK. Instead, Russell chooses outlets such as his Five Brilliant Things podcast, and his first love – stand-up.
‘You can just make a podcast, or go on YouTube, go on Instagram, whatever. That’s the clear proof that topical comedy is booming because it’s all over the internet, and yet, for some reason, it’s not on TV,’ he says.
He’s still doing stand-up comedy though – and his eight-month-old son is coming on tour with him (Picture: Craig Sugden)
Russell is doing his own thing – thanks very much, but no thanks – and airing his stand-up special not on Netflix, but on his own website.
The exclusive global stream will begin on January 15 at 8pm, and fans can ask Russell questions in real time while watching. Fun.
Having welcomed a little boy with his wife Cerys Morgan eight months ago, Russell hasn’t slowed down on the stand-up front, as both are coming with him to Europe and America on tour. Gulp. Although his perspective has massively shifted.
‘If you’ve found your thing, it’s impossible to stop,’ chuckles Russell, who first got up on stage to try his hand at stand-up at Bristol University over 20 years ago.
‘I think going away on the road for days on end, those days are gone,’ he concedes, explaining how dad life is his main job now.
‘I’ve been doing this for so long. It’s so great being a dad. It’s really exciting reading his bedtime story and giving him a bath and going swimming with him, and all these kinds of fun things. So I’ll do stand-up around that, rather than making it everything.’
Russell’s special takes the best moments from his current tour show, which covers topics spanning from Andrew Tate and toxic masculinity to influencer culture.
His genre of stand-up is bold, as Russell flits from one topic to another in minutes, squeezing the juice out of each one with gut-punching and honest gags. While greener comics would build up to mic-dropping jokes for the grand finale of a 10-minute set, Russell gets out the doors as an introduction.
When many men might shy away from the topic of the epidemic of violence against women that we’re seeing in the world – a fatal fire stoked by the likes of Tate – Russell dives right in, discussing Metro‘s This Is Not Right campaign.
Russell flits from topic to topic while hitting mic-drop comedy moments on each one (Picture: Supplied)
The big questions: how do we get men to engage with these topics, as Russell has on stage while poking fun at Tate? And how can well-intentioned men help?
‘I can only go for the sort of men I know, and they’ve got daughters, and they’re very close with them, and their daughters can talk to them about anything they want,’ he ponders, apologising that his brain hasn’t woken up yet for our pre-9am chat.
‘I think that’s probably the most important thing: to always have conversations with young women and with men, and have as many conversations as possible with families and probably in schools and stuff like that.’
Young men also need help, Russell declares in his show – and he’s got a point.
Comedy now comes second in his life, with fatherhood his main priority (Picture: Supplied)
‘Young people full stop…’ he begins, explaining: ‘It must be very hard, incredibly hard being young, because we now have technology like social media and computer games. The problem is, how does real life compete with it?
‘Online life is so beguiling and it’s such a kaleidoscopic casino of mania, that it’s very difficult to actually be in the real world and realise that a lot of that is nonsense, because if you spend 10 hours a day on social media or online, then that is your reality.
‘It’s this weird cipher where everyone’s pretending to be someone that they’re not.’
He continued, asking: ‘How can we possibly get young people to be in the world when they have these sort of wonder sticks that can take them anywhere?’
Months into fatherhood, Russell is going to keep his son off social media at all costs until he is much, much older.
‘The founders of these companies all say that they never let their children near their devices,’ Russell points out, chuckling at the irony.
‘Like, right…There might be a clue there. I’m just going to just play football. You can’t go wrong with football and books.’
Russell Howard presents his brand-new stand-up special, Russell Howard Live at The London Palladium, as an exclusive global stream on the January 15 at 8pm, which will then be available on demand for a limited period. Click here for more info and tickets.
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