Latest news with #RussellHoward
Forbes
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
From Driverless Cars To Signalgate: Russell Howard's 2025 US Adventure
Russell Howard in action. Wrapping up a hugely successful 12-date US tour, British comedian Russell Howard can't quite believe the month he has experienced when it comes to experiences and the news cycle. No stranger to America, Americans, or American culture, it has felt different this time for several reasons. "I was just catching up with JD Vance's trip to Greenland," he explains as we chat over Zoom from the dressing room of the McDonald Theatre in Eugene, Oregon. "As a comedian, it's so fascinating because it feels like everything is connected. Everybody is either watching or aware of the news, and it's all blending in. Adolescence on Netflix, kids on smartphones, JD Vance, it's somehow all conflating in one way. As a comic, it's fantastic because you try to make sense of it, write jokes, and get the show growing. It feels like you're in a constant state of becoming." "Even the leaked Signal app messages and the very fact that people were using emojis in them fascinated me, like the fist bump emoji. Everything is so cringeworthy with JD Vance. A reverse documentary about his youth to see why we got here would be fascinating." Howard, who easily fills theaters and rooms in the US, packs some of the biggest venues in his native UK and considers his tours here a "constant fact-finding mission." His largest show on home turf to date has been to a crowd of 22,000 people. "Being in America for a couple of weeks and gigging in so many different parts, from Orange County to Austin to LA, is incredible because there are so many different Americas. I like that because it just feels like you don't know what the gigs are going to be like from one day to the next." It has been just under a year since Howard, who has a strong social media following, including 3.7 million users on Facebook, over 1.6 million on TikTok, and 783,000 on Instagram, became a father. This time, he brought his wife and young son on the road. Parenthood and touring life are rich seams for him when it comes to gags. "We were in Arizona. My wife and her friend had a tarot reading, and there was talk of reading my son's aura, but the queue was too long," he recalls. "Again, it's this snapshot of America that we're just pushing my son around, wandering around like Texas, Phoenix, then going down to Solana Beach, and then going to San Juan Capistrano, and just seeing all these different versions of America, and there's a lot of tarot. There's a lot of lot of cannabis, there's a lot of mindfulness, and a lot of fried snacks." "We were in San Francisco, and there is such a blizzard of things on that pier. There are sea lions, but you can also get a full body health scan next to a place where you can get chowder in bread. It's so overwhelming. Who is going to Pier 39 in San Francisco and absent-mindedly thinks, 'Do you know what? I'll have a full body scan.' There's such a neverending insanity to this country that, as an English person wandering around, you're constantly gawping at it." "Even seeing a driverless car, you're like, 'What? Why?' Every time we see a driverless car, we all stare at it like the first time we saw a microwave in the 80s. Do you remember when we were kids, and there was always one kid at school who had been to America? They came back with new trainers, like Reebok Pumps with the basketball in and these stories of America. That feels like what's happening now. I'll be telling all my family in the UK that America has driverless cars, and they're like, 'There's no way.'" Howard, who is taking a beat before heading off on a European tour, finds his son's impact on his life to be 'interesting and so fertile" as he effortlessly works his experience of fatherhood so far into his show. The stand-up finds him to be a helpful sanity anchor in wild reality. "My life has changed 360 degrees. We suddenly have this little boy in our life, and as opposed to me being the baby on tour, there is an actual baby on tour, and he's the most important thing," he reveals. "There are so many funny things that happen, and there are so many hopefully connecting things as well, whether you're a parent or not a parent. In this time of flux and manic news, I have this baby who is almost one year old, and he's constantly growing alongside the backdrop of the madness of the last year." "I noticed something funny about my son, and it's the fact that he has clothes with pockets. It struck me as so funny that from a very early age, maybe two months old, kids have pockets, and it's just so silly and cute. Why do they need pockets? I'm also talking about how many guns there are in America and trying to blend it all together. I'm on a tour bus with my wife, my son, my tour manager, my support act, and my wife's friend. We're this troop traveling around, so obviously, that's going to become part of the show. It would be very different if I was on my own." British comedian Russell Howard. One of Howard's stops this time was the world-famous Hollywood Improv. The iconic 170-capacity Main Room was the most intimate but also one of the most meaningful shows. It was a bucket list moment for the comedian, who has sold over 2 million tickets worldwide and has over 1 billion social media views. "There are so many rooms in this country that are steeped in history, and as a comedian and a fan of comedy, to walk in and see old pictures of Robin Williams and Richard Pryor, Bill Burr, Dave Chappelle and Joan Rivers, and David Letterman is incredible," he enthuses. "There are pictures everywhere, so it's like being in a museum, and then the room is so perfectly laid out. Everyone is focused, and it's just beautiful. I enjoyed it because you could see the whites of everyone's eyes and the servers bouncing around and serving people. It's so different to gigs in the UK, but it was brilliant." "Any room where you have those old black and white photos and smell the history is incredible. Then you're in the dressing room and think, 'What debauchery and chaos has gone down here? I'm there with my little notebook and a Diet Coke, and you can feel the room just sighing in disappointment because it has seen such madness. All of this makes you better as a comedian. If you're doing an arena in one country, a theater in another, and then an intimate comedy club, it's a really good stress test for the material. If it works in a room of 150, it will work in front of 15,000. I'm such a whore for giggles that I don't mind the size of the room as long as it's full. That's the only thing." We're in another golden age of comedy, something Howard partially attributes to the popularity of podcasts hosted by comedians. He has several of his own, including Five Brilliant Things. However, he believes live shows remain the best way to create community and share the experience. "That feeling of being in a big group and laughing together is the best," he says. "Once you've experienced that as an audience member, it's incredible because you feel like you're with like-minded people. When the world's in a state of flux, being in a dark room laughing with strangers is an incredibly safe place to be. As a comedian, it's incredible because you can feel that the audience wants it. You do not have to convince them to be there. They're so happy that they are there." "There's such an energy in American crowds, even at that gig in The Improv; it's such a cool little gig, but you get a standing ovation when you leave. In England, you would get a standing ovation, but you would have to work so fucking hard for it. I don't know what it is about America, but audiences have less shame in admitting that they like you. If you're English, it doesn't matter how big you get because there's always that sense of the crowd being like, 'I'm really happy to be here, but I don't want him to know that,' whereas it goes the other way here." Even as he prepares to round out his time in the States, Howard is already hoping to return next year. "It would be really amazing. I think the tour bus and the wife and the son doing all of America is pretty difficult, but I'll definitely do bursts. I'll probably do a week in the East, a week in the middle, and a week in the West and do those," he muses. "I'm going to do a UK tour next year, so I want to put it in to see where we are. It's so much fun. I've been doing it for so many years, and it has become a labor of love coming here." "It's slowly growing, and there's no real need for me to come here. I've got no reason other than I must," Russell Howard concludes. "As a comedian, not doing gigs in America when you can feels like a massive waste. When you're here, the experiences are so visceral. To genuinely perform in a venue where there are metal detectors before you go in is so insane, even for you as the performer. They check to see whether I've got a gun. How self-hating would I be as a comedian to bring a gun into my own show? Again, this enriches you as a performer because you see so many different slices of the world. It just makes you better."
Los Angeles Times
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Russell Howard on how tell parenting and political jokes without sounding corny, ‘authenticity is key'
British comedian Russell Howard has that special knack for pointing out both the absurdity in the mundane and the ridiculous in the terrifying. He became a household name in the UK through programs like the celebrity panel show 'Mock the Week,' which is similar to NPR's 'Wait Wait …Don't Tell Me,' his own headline-riffing 'The Russell Howard Hour,' and the rite of passage for all personalities willing to make fools of themselves on air by competing in hilariously ludicrous challenges: 'Taskmaster.' In his most recent special, 'Live at the London Palladium,' which he released in January via his website, he notes that his wife Cerys Morgan's job as a medical doctor means she saves lives. His? To think of funny ways to explain the difference between the words 'out' and 'down.' He also compares humans' fear that artificial intelligence will take their jobs to the way goats must have felt when we invented the lawnmower. His new tour, which includes an appearance at the Hollywood Improv on Mar. 23, will again find new takes on some of stand-up's most well-worn topics: parenting and politics. Howard and Morgan welcomed their son in May. And, despite this new time constraint, he somehow found time to scour the news for new material. Speaking in January over Zoom, Howard says he took paternity leave before heading to Canada to workshop material he'd jotted into his phone during those early parenting days (and nights); some of which he freely admits might as well have been 'hieroglyphics from a lunatic in a cave.' He says he'll also frequently try out material at London's Top Secret Comedy Club just to 'throw sh— at the wall and see what sticks.' 'Normally to get it cooking, it takes me about six months and then, like really simmered and turned into a nice casserole, it takes me about a year,' Howard explains. He also adds that 'I'm lucky enough that there are people who will let me know whether my feelings are correct by laughing. And if they do, it's fine. If they don't, okay, I'll try it three or four more times to see if it works … it's about being ruthless, I think, with yourself.' In an interview that has been edited for length and clarity, Howard elaborated on his process as well as his thoughts on the state of the world and how comedy podcasts can be mined for good. Parenting is a well-tread topic of stand-ups. How can you still make it interesting? It's such virgin, fertile ground becoming a dad. You're in it and loving it. And then humor naturally arises … That's the thing about stand-up. It's the sidecar to the motorbike of your real life [and] there's always something you can just pop in. To non-parents, or indeed, parents, talking about your child is a bit like explaining what your tattoo means. Not that many people are interested. So it becomes a really fascinating challenge to see what is universal. My stuff has been quite political and sociological in the last couple of years. This is quite emotional, I guess. It's really funny, but it's all done from a position of naivety and love and excitement. Just that feeling of being smiled at by somebody for having done nothing is an incredible feeling. As an adult, you have to try so hard to get a smile and for it to just appear from somebody who looks like you and your wife, it's pretty magical. There was a real phase where, because Louis CK was doing this stuff about his kids, a lot of comics ended up kind of ripping him off and just saying 'my kids are p—cks.' It becomes a very hack way of talking about 'f—ing children.' And they become the new mother-in-law. I just don't feel like that. I just can't imagine ever describing my son as a p—ck just to make strangers happy for a nanosecond. How do you tell stories like these without it sounding corny? I think authenticity is key. There's an awkward truth to every human being. I love watching videos of Deaf babies hearing for the first time [and] seeing the look of excitement when they can hear their mums. I also love it when I see drunk men who've fallen asleep on a train and their friends have written something on their foreheads. My dad's got this brilliant phrase. He calls it the Red Face test. If you can tell it to an audience or somebody without going red in the face, then it's fine. He used it to talk about it for taxes and if you're doing tax schemes. If you're explaining it to somebody and your face goes red, then it is illegal. Similarly, President Trump was constant fodder for comedians during his first administration. Is it hard to find new things to say about him now that he's back in office? If you talk about something with passion or interest, you naturally figure out when you're boring on stage, or when you're pushing people, and your brain will say something funny to get you out of it. Talking about the rise of Elon Musk within the kind of cultural discourse is kind of fascinating to me. I'm an English guy watching a South African control an American president, and seeing him [also support] Tommy Robinson, who is a football hooligan from the UK. It's hilarious to me that he's clearly an intelligent man — he can put a rocket in space and create an electric car — but he can't do his research to know that Tom Robinson defended a Winston Churchill statue by [being part of a group that did] a Nazi salute. We're not dealing with wisdom here. The deeper you go, there's always a layer of absurdity. It's finding the absurdity within it and then getting big belly laughs once you've zoned in on your angle. With Trump 2.0, it's sort of that thing of how do you go a bit deeper? Do you even want to talk about him? In Europe, there's a sense of resignation where people are just like, 'Ah, really, America?.' There doesn't seem to be anger. There just seems to be this still sadness. It's the observation of the machine because you see how everything is weaponized and everything is tribal. Even comedy's become tribal in America. I'll tell you what audiences are definitely bored with is the just regurgitated 'isn't Trump orange?' joke … You're trying to find the meat rather than the gristle. I think Trump is gristle. You also have a podcast, Five Brilliant Things, that is much softer. You ask celebrities and comedians like John Oliver and Stephen Merchant to tell stories about things that bring them happiness. How do you balance this with your stand-up persona? The difference is you're listening to people. That's the skill of interviewing, isn't it? It took me years to do that for my TV shows. We're taught that comedians are some of the most hardened people in the world. How do you get them to let down their guards? I think that's so lovely about the concept because you can put anybody on there and you'd see a different side of them [because you're asking them] 'What do you love?.' It's illuminating when you let somebody ramble about things they adore because they give away [sides of themselves]. It's very easy to talk about things you hate. But it takes a lot of courage to tell people what you love And it doesn't matter how dark you are. That was the aim, really. I just wanted to do something that was forever funny or forever interesting. So it wasn't attached to topicality. Every comedian seems to have a podcast now. How do you choose which of your material will go on a podcast or social media and how much will appear in your stand-up? Some people view podcasts as entertainment and some people view them as religions. That's the big thing, isn't it? What do you take from this? Is it a long radio show or is that person a prophet? And I definitely think it's a hang. What's great about a podcast, and why people have such a strong relationship with them, is because this [person] goes to work with you; is in your ears when you're on the train. There are people who feel like they've had a chat or a voice note from Marc Marron from [listening to his 'WTF' podcast]. As a consequence, he can probably go deeper to his fans at a gig. His last special, ['From Bleak to Dark,' which was about the death of his partner Lynn Shelton] was obviously dealing with something horrific. But it was a really honest assessment of devastation. He probably couldn't have done that if he hadn't done the podcast because that gave him the space to have that kind of role.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Yahoo
Huntsville man pleads guilty, sentenced for killing wife in 2021 during family game night
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — A 46-year-old Huntsville man will spend five years in prison after he pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing his wife in 2021. Russell Howard was charged with killing his wife Jamie on February 6, 2021. He was initially charged with murder, but that charge was reduced to manslaughter last December. Former Killen police officer pleads guilty to sexual assault, sexual exploitation of child He pleaded guilty for the shooting death of his wife, and Judge Comer handed him a 20-year sentence, split to serve five years followed by three years of probation. HPD investigators said at the time of the shooting that her death happened during a domestic situation. However, both the state and defense said in court Wednesday that there is no evidence to indict that there had been a dispute. Russell Howard said that his family was having a game night, playing dominoes and drinking the night of the shooting. He had friends Facetimed him and he was showing them the gun before he threw it on their bed before returning to the game night. When the couple went to bed, he noticed the gun still in the bed, and this is when he said it went off and hit Jamie Howard. He said he attempted to perform CPR on her. Florence Police say man's attempted murder charge upgraded after victim dies The state argued that he broke every cardinal rule of gun safety and that with his 15-year military career, he should've known better. Russell Howard said he wasn't trained with the gun and that he didn't handle one like it during his time in the service. 'I was at fault for having the weapon without training,' said Howard. Russell apologized to Jamie's family before being sentenced. During the hearing, Jamie Howard's daughter and sister testified to how her death has changed their life and the trauma they have had to go through. 'He robbed my sister of her life and her children of their mother,' said Howard's sister Latesha state argued that Russell should be sentenced to 15 years in the Alabama Department of Corrections, while his defense attorney Patrick Arrington asked Judge Comer to sentence him to probation. 'He made a tragic error that he will live with the rest of his life,' said Arrington. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
