Russell Howard... booked to tour many of the UK's larger entertainment arenas next year has begun testing out material for the show Right Here, Right Now on smaller audiences. Why anyone pays good money to see stand-up comedians in such big arenas like the O2 is beyond me. Surely the appeal is being able to see the nuances of a comedian's delivery with the naked eye! So I opted instead to see Russell at the intimate Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.
Russell Howard's Good News programme is BBC Three's most successful studio show and he is also a regular panelist on the BBC's Mock the Week. I wanted to know if Russell would come across as well on stage as he does on television, without a team of researchers, producers and the luxury of a final edit.
Russell limped onto stage, and told us it was football injury from that day. I would have liked him to share a little more about this, worked it into his introduction, particularly as his style tends to come from stories from his life. Perhaps that's just me being nosey but I think it's nice to feel like you've been privvy to something slightly different, as a member of an audience on a particular night.
Without giving too much away, a little of his routine shared with us the putting off of a household task his girlfriend had repeatedly asked of him because he was supporting the plight of another, about his struggle to find a suitable holiday companion and also introduced us to the concept of a danger wank! Sorry it'd be wrong to give the answer to that away... wouldn't it?!
Russell interacted well with the audience, his dirty and risque material (also favoured on his TV show) is difficult to find offensive when it is delivered with such an air of goofiness. He is the kind of bloke you could see yourself being mates with, having a beer with down the pub, but one that always likes to take the joke just that little bit further... but *just* gets away with it.
To finish off the show, Russell asked if anyone in the audience had any questions. One plucky girl asked for a hug. Like a true media pro Russell skirted around this one by telling us how it feels flattering but a little odd when random people, even in his local supermarket, ask him for a hug. No hug for the girl then!
Then a 16-year-old boy piped up 'can you give me a thumb wrestle?' Russell on his unsteady, injured leg, took on the boy in a best of three and after the amusing tussle took the victory, celebrating with a hobbled victory lap.
3/5
You can see the work in progress for Right Here, Right Now in December at Kings Place Gallery (Kings Cross) before it goes national next year.
http://www.russell-howard.co.uk/tour-dates
Russell Howard's Good News programme is BBC Three's most successful studio show and he is also a regular panelist on the BBC's Mock the Week. I wanted to know if Russell would come across as well on stage as he does on television, without a team of researchers, producers and the luxury of a final edit.
Russell limped onto stage, and told us it was football injury from that day. I would have liked him to share a little more about this, worked it into his introduction, particularly as his style tends to come from stories from his life. Perhaps that's just me being nosey but I think it's nice to feel like you've been privvy to something slightly different, as a member of an audience on a particular night.
Without giving too much away, a little of his routine shared with us the putting off of a household task his girlfriend had repeatedly asked of him because he was supporting the plight of another, about his struggle to find a suitable holiday companion and also introduced us to the concept of a danger wank! Sorry it'd be wrong to give the answer to that away... wouldn't it?!
Russell interacted well with the audience, his dirty and risque material (also favoured on his TV show) is difficult to find offensive when it is delivered with such an air of goofiness. He is the kind of bloke you could see yourself being mates with, having a beer with down the pub, but one that always likes to take the joke just that little bit further... but *just* gets away with it.
To finish off the show, Russell asked if anyone in the audience had any questions. One plucky girl asked for a hug. Like a true media pro Russell skirted around this one by telling us how it feels flattering but a little odd when random people, even in his local supermarket, ask him for a hug. No hug for the girl then!
Then a 16-year-old boy piped up 'can you give me a thumb wrestle?' Russell on his unsteady, injured leg, took on the boy in a best of three and after the amusing tussle took the victory, celebrating with a hobbled victory lap.
3/5
You can see the work in progress for Right Here, Right Now in December at Kings Place Gallery (Kings Cross) before it goes national next year.
http://www.russell-howard.co.uk/tour-dates
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