Comic says he's sticking to live stand-up and podcasts

Russell Howard said he’s done with TV after almost 20 years.

The comic says he will now focus on stand-up and podcasts

His announcement comes two years after the last episode of The Russell Howard Hour aired on Sky.

It ran for six series, following ten series of Good News on the BBC and a stint as a regular on Mock The Week from 2006 to 2010. His last TV appearance was on Channel 4's Big Fat Quiz of Telly in August last year.

Speaking on the Have A Word podcast, 44-year-old Howard said: ‘I don’t do TV anymore, I just do stand-up and my podcast. I had a pretty good run [but] I just prefer doing stand-up.’

He appeared on the show to promote his new self-funded Live At The London Palladium special, which will be streaming on the Driift platform from next week. 

Speaking about the tour building up the recording, he said: ‘I did like 300 gigs on tour, so I was properly kicking it into shape   all over the world. And it was just fun.

‘I hope people love stand-up specials. I love making them. We live in a world now where everything is about a 20-second clip and I like those as well. But there is something really satisfying about trying to make your Arizona Bay [the Bill Hicks special] or whatever your kind of hour is.

‘I think that's what propels all of us [comedians] forward, is that thing of going. "I think there's a there's a great hour in me" and I still haven't lost that. That’s what I like the most… putting together a show and then finishing it and then putting it out there. 

‘I was almost going to call the next tour Lifer because that's what I feel like, that there’s nothing else I would rather do.

‘There’s something about doing the Palladium, doing arenas, doing all these things and then being back at [London comedy club] Top Secret. And I don't even get to go in through the front. I have to go through the back because I’m known and it makes it slightly awkward. So literally the smell of piss is the beginning of every tour.’

‘Whether you've done a gig in front of 50 or 15,000. and they get you, and you sort of happen upon something – that’s what I love. 

‘There's nothing else like it.  TV is fun, but it's not as fun. Writing a book I couldn't do because I don't want to sit and entertain myself, but doing stand-up. Is what I love doing, particularly travelling.’

Howard also told hosts Adam Rowe and Dan Nightingale that he enjoyed the autonomy of stand-up, saying: ‘It’s not entertainment through committee. It's just your dictatorship. 

‘You have this idea, and then you’ve got to be honest because the audience are like this brilliant jury that they let you know through laughter, whether it works or not.’

As well as his live work, Howard fronts two podcasts – Five Brilliant Things and the football-themed GoalLess. 

Howard has been in the US this week  publicising his new stand-up special – but, as Chortle previously reported, had to abandon engagements in Los Angeles because of the Californian wildfires.

Published: 10 Jan 2025