Russell Howard: British stand-up comedian and TV presenter, known for Russell Howard's Good News and Mock the Week, with a Netflix special called Lubricant.
What this episode covers
Russell Howard sits down with Steven Bartlett for an unusually vulnerable conversation that strips away his on-screen persona. He traces his comedy back to his warm, funny mother and his quietly relentless father, and explores how making people laugh became both an addictive high and a coping mechanism for life's pain. He is candid about anxiety, imposter syndrome, the unhealthy 'treadmill' of fear that drives his work, and his attempts to find a healthier balance through therapy, quotes, and surrounding himself with people he loves. The emotional core is his grief over losing his grandfather and, six weeks later, his grandmother. He closes by explaining his Netflix special Lubricant as a love letter to laughter.
The guest's own work
Lubricant
Russell Howard
“He's got a new Netflix show coming out called Lubricant. And the reason it's called Lubricant is because he believes comedy and laughter is the lubricant”— Steven Bartlett
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Succession
HBO
“every comedian when they're in the middle of a tour needs a really really good box set. you need succession you need madmen”— Russell Howard
Mad Men
AMC
“you need succession you need madmen you need something to get you through”— Russell Howard
Vigil
BBC
“Listen, I've got to I'm watching Vigil like that off”— Russell Howard
Big reveals from this episode
- Russell's dad made him walk back to school at age 11 to tell a teacher she was wrong for saying he couldn't do everything.
- His father gave him a one-year ultimatum to go all-in on comedy or get a proper job, telling him 'don't halfass it.'
- Russell admits he has suffered massively with anxiety and uses fear as his primary motivator to write and perform.
- He reveals he has been seeing a therapist to manage moments of mania and stop fear from becoming debilitating.
- His lowest moment was the death of his grandfather, who got him into football and made him 'granddad toast.'
- Six weeks after his grandfather died, his grandmother also passed away, suggesting she may have died of heartbreak.
- Lubricant is described as a love letter to laughter, conceived from two years of touring the show Restbite.
Worth remembering
- Russell's 65-year-old father beat him in a press-up competition by doing 68 press-ups.
- Comedians experience reality as constantly 'auditioning' to find its way into their set, even during traumatic moments.
- Russell has never used Twitter or Facebook and doesn't even know his own social media login.
- Even Billy Connolly suffered from nerves and worried the audience wouldn't love him.
- Russell performed a record-setting 10 nights at the Royal Albert Hall.
- Before arena shows, Russell and his crew must do 10 keepy-ups with a football as a superstition.
- In New Zealand he met a 'coffin club' of pensioners who build cheap coffins, including one woman who made three for herself.
- Russell claims dolphins and rats are the only animals that laugh, discovered by tickling rats' bellies with a pencil.