Jump to content

Russell Howard: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
Line 23: Line 23:


==Personal life==
==Personal life==
Howard was born to Dave and Ninette Howard and has two younger siblings, twins [[Kerry Howard|Kerry]] and Daniel.<ref name="Russell Howard warming up for Good News series 4">{{cite web |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article5516562.ece | title=Relative Values: Russell Howard and his mother, Ninette |work=The Times |location=UK |date=18 January 2009 | accessdate=8 December 2009}}</ref> Daniel has epilepsy; a fact which Howard often references during his act. In April 2010, Howard ran the [[2010 London Marathon|London Marathon]] for the first time with both his brother and sister, to raise money for the National Society for Epilepsy. He completed the 26-mile course in four hours and 15 minutes, beating his target time of 5 hours. Sponsorship has raised over £7,000 to date.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=russellhowardsrunning&isTeam=true |title=Virgin Money Giving &#124; Fundraising &#124; The Howards are raising money for Epilepsy |publisher=Uk.virginmoneygiving.com |date=25 April 2010 |accessdate=17 December 2011}}</ref>
Howard was born to Dave and Ninette Howard and has two younger siblings, twins [[Kerry Howard|Kerry]] and Daniel.<ref name="Russell Howard warming up for Good News series 4">{{cite ich Howard often references during his act. In April 2010, Howard ran the [[2010 London Marathon|London Marathon]] for the first time with both his brother and sister, to raise money for the National Society for Epilepsy. He completed the 26-mile course in four hours and 15 minutes, beating his target time of 5 hours. Sponsorship has raised over £7,000 to date.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=russellhowardsrunning&isTeam=true |title=Virgin Money Giving &#124; Fundraising &#124; The Howards are raising money for Epilepsy |publisher=Uk.virginmoneygiving.com |date=25 April 2010 |accessdate=17 December 2011}}</ref>


Howard studied at [[Alton College]] in Hampshire, then went on to study Economics at the [[University of the West of England]] in Bristol.<ref>{{cite news|title=Q & A: Comedian Russell Howard|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2129376/Q-amp-A-Comedian-Russell-Howard.html#axzz2KPUxUUXa|date=14 April 2012|publisher=[[Daily Mail]]}}</ref>
Howard studied at [[Alton College]] in Hampshire, then went on to study Economics at the [[University of the West of England]] in Bristol.<ref>{{cite news|title=Q & A: Comedian Russell Howard|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2129376/Q-amp-A-Comedian-Russell-Howard.html#axzz2KPUxUUXa|date=14 April 2012|publisher=[[Daily Mail]]}}</ref>

Revision as of 09:15, 24 October 2013

Russell Howard
Birth nameRussell Joseph Howard
Born (1980-03-23) 23 March 1980 (age 44)
Bristol, England
MediumStand up, television, radio
NationalityBritish
Years active1999–present
GenresSocial satire
Observational comedy
Anecdotal humour
Absurdist humour
Notable works and rolesThe Milk Run
Mock the Week
Russell Howard's Good News
Websiterussell-howard.co.uk

Russell Joseph Howard[2] (born 23 March 1980[3]) is an English comedian and presenter 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.

Personal life

Howard was born to Dave and Ninette Howard and has two younger siblings, twins Kerry and Daniel.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

Howard studied at Alton College in Hampshire, then went on to study Economics at the University of the West of England in Bristol.[4]

Howard supports Liverpool Football Club and says that he is "deadly serious" about football.[5] "I still go down the pub and play football with my mates", he commented in 2010.[5]

In terms of political views, Howard 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.[6]

Howard lives with his girlfriend Cerys in Leamington Spa.[7]

Russell was voted Heat Magazine's "Weird Crush of the Year 2013",[8] with his friend and former flatmate Jon Richardson coming second.

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.[9]

Until 2010, Howard was a regular panellist 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).[10]

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.[11] The show was filmed at The Bloomsbury Theatre. From 2009, he took over as compère of this show from Al Murray.[12]

From November 2006 to July 2008, Russell co-hosted The Russell Howard Show[13] 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."[14][15]

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.[16][17] 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 25 March 2010.[18] A seventh series began on 27 September 2012 on BBC Three. Series 8 began on 25 April 2013 on BBC Three.

Russell Howard's Good News was voted the Best Ever BBC Three show on 9 February 2013[19] as part of BBC Three's 10th birthday celebrations.[20]

He made his United States television début on 3 August 2011 episode of Conan.

Howard guest hosted the second episode of the 27th series of Never Mind the Buzzcocks on 30 September 2013.

Live comedy

A show from his 2007 Adventures tour was released on DVD on 17 November 2008,[21] under the title "Russell Howard Live". The show on the DVD was recorded at The Bloomsbury Theatre.[22]

Howard started touring for 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,[23] 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[24] and features a recording of the show from the Brighton Dome.[23]

He was named "Best Theatre Show" at the 2009 Chortle Comedy Awards.[25]

Howard performed 10 UK dates between 11 and 20 December 2009 for his "Big Rooms and Belly Laughs" tour.[26]

He performed his latest arena tour in 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 Howard earned £4 million in 2009 alone,[27] which he denies.[28]

On 23 April 2013 Howard confirmed that he would be doing a UK stand-up tour called Wonderbox starting in February 2014. He has recently added dates in USA, Australia and New Zealand.

Other Work

In 2013 Howard revealed that he is currently writing a film.[29]

Credits

Radio

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 November 2011 Live at London's Hammersmith Apollo
Wonderbox 2014 Live at London's Royal Albert Hall

References

  1. ^ "Favourite Comedians – Russell Howard's Good News – BBC Three". BBC. 18 November 2009.
  2. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2224565/
  3. ^ "Russell Howard". Chortle. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  4. ^ "Q & A: Comedian Russell Howard". Daily Mail. 14 April 2012.
  5. ^ a b Paul English (23 October 2010). "Comedian Russell Howard on reading newspapers and watching TV for a living". Daily Record. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  6. ^ [1][dead link]
  7. ^ Graham, Alison (11 April 2012). "Russell Howard: the risque comedian families love". Radio Times. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  8. ^ http://www.heatworld.com/Celeb-News/2013/02/Your-Weird-Crush-2013-winners-revealed/#image-30
  9. ^ "Russell Howard Interview '06". The National Student Magazine. 2006. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  10. ^ Never Mind the Buzzcocks (a Guests & Air Dates Guide) epguides.com
  11. ^ Liam Rudden (10 July 2009). "Howard ducks Fringe for Festival". FindArticles.com. Retrieved 8 December 2009. [dead link]
  12. ^ "Edinburgh And Beyond". Comedy Central. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  13. ^ The Russell Howard Show bbc.co.uk
  14. ^ "Russell Howard presents new show for 6 Music" – BBC Press Release, 2 November 2006
  15. ^ Star interview: Comedian Russell Howard sold out at Dorking and Crawley
  16. ^ [2][dead link]
  17. ^ Good News For Russell Chortle.co.uk
  18. ^ "Russell Howard's very good news". Chortle. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
  19. ^ 9 February 2013, 12:39 GMT (9 February 2013). "'Russell Howard's Good News' voted BBC Three's best ever show – TV News". Digital Spy. Retrieved 31 May 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ 30 January 2013, 12:25 GMT (30 January 2013). "Little Britain, Gavin & Stacey: What is BBC Three's best ever show? – TV News". Digital Spy. Retrieved 31 May 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ "Russell Howard Live IMDB". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  22. ^ 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)
  23. ^ 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)
  24. ^ Rich Goodman (2 November 2009). "Russell Howard : Dingledodies (DVD)". MyReviewer.com. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  25. ^ "Rhod and Tim triumph at Chortles" Chortle.co.uk
  26. ^ Russell Howard event listings in IKnowWhereItsAt.com
  27. ^ "Funny Money: Britain's Jokers are cashing in". The Independent. London. 30 May 2010.
  28. ^ 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.
  29. ^ "Russell Howard is writing a film". British Comedy Guide. 22 April 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2013.

External links

Template:Mock the Week

Template:Persondata