Russell Howard talks career, family & Dutch sex shops before Rotterdam, Amsterdam shows
Fans of British comedy will no doubt know Russell Howard, who has charmed audiences over two decades with his witty stand-up performances that are often both cheeky and sincere. His latest one-hour special, Russell Howard Live at the London Palladium, was released at the start of the year, and he is already on tour with a brand new set. Dubbed "one of the world's top comedians" by The Sunday Times, Howard is set to perform at Rotterdam’s Luxor Theatre on February 19 and Amsterdam’s Carré Theatre on February 20 and 21.
Howard sat down with the Dam Yankee podcast, in partnership with NL Times, for an exclusive interview from his tour stop in Singapore this week. The episode premiered on Thursday, with Howard talking about his fans, stand-up comedy, taking his family on tour as a new dad, playing around with clichés about the cities he visits, and his thoughts on Amsterdam.
Dam Yankee: You’ve been on TV for over 20 years, and you also have a few successful podcasts now. Can you speak about your audience?
Russell Howard: I’m quite lucky, really. My audience knows me through Youtube and Netflix. I’m always doing stand-up. So I haven’t done other things. Bill Bailey was on Strictly Come Dancing and was a really great dancer. That must be a very strange audience to have. They’re thinking they really like the way he dances and then suddenly he’s playing the glockenspiel. It must be bewildering.
Nobody’s seen me do anything other than standup. If people saw me dance they absolutely wouldn’t want to watch me do stand-up comedy. I am a terrible dancer. I dance like a newborn pony. My wife’s words are much harsher. During our wedding dance, it was like when a woman gets drunk and she kind of dances with her dog. It was me just desperately hanging on, and singing along to the lyrics for some reason. My wife told me to stop singing. So my audience has only seen me do stand-up. It’s all I’ve ever done.
DY: I find your career really interesting right now. You’ve had enormous success in television. You guested on panel shows to start and then had your own shows. You had the travel documentaries with your mom. Now, you’ve said you are quitting television to instead focus on stand-up. Why move fully away from television in favor of your tours and live performances?
RH: I find it so creatively rewarding. There’s no committee. If you have an idea you can just go on stage and let the audience be the jury of the idea. You create with each other rather than having executives, lawyers, or channel bosses saying what you can and cannot do. It will probably change, but the state of topical comedy in the U.K. is weird. We didn’t have any satirical shows during the last election. Can you imagine that happening in the U.S.?
There’s a big Dutch topical show that I’ve been on, De Avondshow Met Arjen Lubach. It’s so strange that in the U.K. we don’t have political comedy. Yet if you go on the internet, there’s a lot of it. Particularly at this moment, trying to wade through the first month of the Trump administration. It’s so interesting and there’s so much stand-up in it.
DY: With your son at the age that he is, are you writing while you’re on tour?
RH: My son is eight-months-old. He’s beginning to roll and crawl. Which is ideal for travelling in a bus across Europe and America. So I’ve been in my hotel room in Singapore on my own. It’s so bizarre trying to write about the Netherlands whilst you’re in Singapore, but that’s what I’m doing. On tour, I just have to find my moments. If he’s having a nap, that’s two hours. Just think, write, and get on with it. And then when he wakes up, we’ll look after him. I think it sort of adds to the process. You see the country in a different way. Last time we went to Amsterdam we went to different places. Places I imagine we won’t go with a kid. I’m not going to any cafes with him.
DY: You had some great bits about Amsterdam in your special. It was hysterical.
RH: Amsterdam is either beautiful or erotic around every corner. I remember seeing a sign for "Kinky Street Food." It’s like, "How do you like your burger, with a nipple clamp?" There was another shop selling luxury bondage gear. I thought diamonds were a girl’s best friend. Not a pervert’s. I didn’t have the courage to go in. But they surely should have called it "Pimp My Gimp." I really love how many different Amsterdams there are.
Listen to the entire episode of Dam Yankee wherever you get your podcasts, or watch on YouTube. The comedian shares his greatest heckling story, clarifies the origin of “The Chocolate Milk Gang”, and promises completely new material in his Netherlands shows than what can be seen in his current special. Tickets for Howard's show in Rotterdam range from 30 to 60 euros, and entry to his Amsterdam performances starts at 25 euros and ranges up to 53.50 euros. More information about Howard's tour dates in Europe and the United States can be found on his website.
