Russell Howard quits TV and reveals why in shock statement
Russell Howard is one of the UK's most famous comedians and a regular face on TV
Russell Howard has quit television after 19 years. The 44-year-old comedian explained: “I don’t do TV anymore, I just do stand-up and my podcast.”
The TV star fronted his own BBC series, Good News, which ran from 2009 to 2015 for ten series. He also launched The Russell Howard Hour for Sky in 2017. The programme had six series and also a spin-off filmed from Russell’s home during Covid. The funnyman was also regularly seen on Mock of the Week alongside Dara Ó Briain, although the panel show has since been axed.
But Russell has now made it clear he intends to focus on his two podcasts: Five Brilliant Things, and GoalLess, which is football themed. His final TV appearance was back in August when he was seen on Channel 4's Big Fat Quiz of Telly.
Speaking on the Have A Word podcast, Russell explained: “I was all over the world and it was just fun. TV is fun but it's not as fun [as stand-up]. 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. It's not entertainment for committee, it's your dictatorship. The audience are like this brilliant jury that let you know through laughter whether it works or not."
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In the past, Russell has also had his own Netflix special and an accompanying documentary in which he offered a rare insight into his family life, telling how he let his epileptic brother, Daniel, share his bed for a year after a terrifying fit left his younger sibling fearing he would die in his sleep.
Back in 2021, Russell and his brother opened up about the freak accident that brought on Daniel’s condition. The comedian recalled how his brother slept in his bed night after night, touching his leg with his own as an early warning system if he started to shake.
He said at the time: “When I was 18, my brother had a really bad epileptic fit. We found him on the floor. He was blue. We were terrified. We thought he was gonna die. We got into the hospital and he was OK. Two days later, he came back full of bravado.
“But later that night he knocked on the door and said ‘is it alright if I sleep with you? It’s boring going to bed, innit?’ He put his leg on me. OK, fine. He’s had a tough couple of days. I can live with that... This went on for a year, this leg on me. It was only recently that I said to Daniel, ‘What was that about?’.
“And he said, ‘Y’know, I was afraid to go to sleep in case I woke up dead. Didn’t want to burden you with that. So I just slept with my leg there. I thought if I started shaking you would wake up and I would be all right’.”
Russell and his family also discuss the accident – when Daniel fell off his bike at age 10, which led to his epilepsy – and the fit four years later that made the family fear he was dying.
Russell, who was born in Bristol, said: “Daniel has epilepsy and what’s awful about it is that I know when it happened because we were riding our bikes down a hill, and a battery fell out of my light on the back of my bike and sort of flicked up.
"And I looked around and Daniel went over the battery, smacked his head and was kind of on the floor. This was before the days of helmets and all that kind of stuff.”
For a year or so Daniel suffered headaches and then began to have fits, culminating in one aged 14 when the family feared the worst would happen. Russell said: “He’s upstairs with [sister] Kerry and she was calling me, and my brother was like, you know, he started fitting. Dad was crying. It was the only time I have seen him cry, it was absolutely horrific.”
Daniel survived and, showing that comedy runs in the family, even broke wind when he regained consciousness, causing the rest of the Howard clan to burst out laughing.
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