It was announced today (Monday 16^th November 2015) that Russell Howard will return to the live stage for the first time in three years with his second and biggest world tour – Round The World.  The new dates will see RUSSELL play London and a further 29 international cities including: New York, Wellington, Gothenburg, Amsterdam, Sydney, Oslo, Washington DC, Chicago, Dublin, Helsinki, Vancouver, Reykjavik, Melbourne and San Francisco. This 2017 tour will see RUSSELL, wherever possible, performing ‘in the round’ to the audience as he plays to his existing fans and new global viewers of Russell Howard’s Good News.

Wonderbox, RUSSELL’s previous sell-out international tour in 2014, saw him entertain 285,000 fans at 40 shows across the UK and Ireland (in London alone he played four shows at the Royal Albert Hall, two shows at the O2 Arena and one show at Wembley Arena), as well as sold-out runs in the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

What the press said recently about Russell Howard:

“Howard’s success is down to the way his comic outlook strikes a chord… He’s not afraid to be silly and gently whimsical but he never disappears up his own arse.  And his attitude is always sunnily optimistic, taking delight in the daft little details of his life.”

James Kettle, The Guardian

“Perennially popular… sanguine hyperactive stand-up – with a healthy dollop of schoolyard puerility.”

Warren Howard, The Independent

“Howard has become one of the most successful stand-ups of his generation.”

Ross Jones, The Telegraph

Tickets are on general sale on Friday but available via an exclusive See Tickets presale from 10am tomorrow

All dates at: http://www.russell-howard.co.uk

For more information please contact: Dan Lloyd or Nathan Dean at Avalon on 0207 598 7222 DanL@avalonuk.co.uk or NathanD@avalonuk.com

NOTES TO EDITORS

• • RUSSELL HOWARD is the most popular British comedian on Facebook with 1 million fans and over 1.1 million followers on Twitter .

   

  • RUSSELL will star in his first comedy-drama with the premiere of, A Gert Lush Christmas(BBC Two).   As well as co-writing the special, RUSSELL will star for the first time along-side his sister KERRY HOWARD (Him & Her, BBC Three), GREG DAVIES (The Inbetweeners, Man Down, Channel 4), NEIL MORRISSEY (Men Behaving Badly, Waterloo Road, BBC1), and SOPHIE THOMPSON (EastEnders, BBC1).

   

  • RUSSELL will have written and starred in 96 episodes of Russell Howard’s Good News by the end of Series 10 in 2015.

   

  • Russell Howard’s Good News is regularly the most watched show on iPlayer across all BBC Channels.

   

  • Russell’s YouTube channel, which was launched in September 2014 allowing fans around the world to watch full episodes of Russell Howard’s Good News (without piracy) has had 13 million views from hit viral videos and been watched in 180 countries (including North Korea and Vatican City).

   

  • This series of Russell Howard’s Good News has seen three segments go viral in the last few weeks, from a passionate backing of junior doctors and the NHS(over 7 million views and described by Huffington Post as, “incredible”), an interview destigmatising Tourettes  (4.1 million views and described as, “uplifting and hilarious” by The Independent) and to demonstrating the absurdity of the tampon tax  (almost 9 million views with Metro saying RUSSELL, “nailed how stupid the tampon tax actually is.”

   

  • Episodes of Russell Howard’s Good News have been subtitled and uploaded to Chinese video sharing site AcFun, where the show has had over 4 million views.

   

  • RUSSELL’s brand new stand-up series – Russell Howard’s Stand Up Central, which aired from April 2015 on Comedy Central (UK) achieved viewing figures of 159% above the slot average.  Series 2 returns at the same time next year.

   

  • In 2017 RUSSELL will return to the live stage for the first time in three years with his second and biggest world tour –Round The World.  The new dates will see RUSSELL play Arena’s nationally, 10 nights at the Royal Albert Hall and 29 international cities including: New York, Wellington, Gothenburg, Amsterdam, Sydney, Oslo, Washington DC, Chicago, Dublin, Helsinki, Vancouver, Reykjavik, Melbourne and San Francisco. This 2017 tour will see RUSSELL, wherever possible, performing ‘in the round’ to the audience as he plays to his existing fans and new global viewers of Russell Howard’s Good News.

   

  • RUSSELL’s 2014 tour, Wonderbox –  saw him perform to over 285,000 fans at 40 shows across the UK and Ireland, including four consecutive nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall and extended with a further eight arena shows in December.

   

  • RUSSELL extended his 2014 Wonderbox tour across the world following over 17,000 suggestions from his fans after he asked them via Facebook where they’d most like to see him perform. The extra sold out dates saw RUSSELL travel to New York, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, Denver, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Auckland.

   

  • His previous tour in 2011, Right Here, Right Now saw him perform to over 240,000 fans across the country, including three sold out dates at London’s O2 arena.

   

  • RUSSELL has performed to over one million people on his UK and international tours from 2006-2014.

   

  • Series 9 of Russell Howard’s Good News in its new home on BBC2 achieved over 3 million viewers each week.

   

  • RUSSELL HOWARD has four bestselling stand-up DVDs, 2014’s Wonderbox Live, 2011’s Right Here, Right Now, 2008’s Russell Howard Live and 2009’s Russell Howard Live – Dingledodies, which have sold over 619,000 DVDs and all been in the top 5 DVD comedy chart.

   

  • RUSSELL was voted Heat Magazine‘s “Weird Crush of the Year 2013”

   

  • RUSSELL HOWARD has made 58 appearances on Mock The Week between 2006 and 2010.

   

  • In addition to being a regular on Mock The Week, RUSSELL has twice featured on Live At The Apollo and appeared on Would I Lie To You (BBC One), Never Mind The Buzzcocks (BBC Two), and 8 Out 10 Cats (Channel 4).

   

  • In 2010 RUSSELL HOWARD took part in the Sport Relief Million Pound Bike Ride with DAVID WALLIAMS, JIMMY CARR, FEARNE COTTON, MIRANDA HART, PATRICK KIELTY and DAVINA McCALL – cycling 874 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End in 4 days and raising over £1, 337.099.

   

  • In the same year RUSSELL HOWARD ran the London Marathon, raising money for the National Society for Epilepsy – a condition from which his brother suffers. He completed the 26 mile course in 4 hours and 15 minutes and raised over £7,000.

   

  • In 2006 RUSSELL HOWARD was nominated for the Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Award for his show Wandering, which followed with a nationwide sell-out tour.

   

  • From November 2006 to July 2008, RUSSELL co-hosted The Russell Howard Show (BBC 6 Music) with fellow comedian JON RICHARDSON in a Sunday morning slot previously hosted by RUSSELL BRAND.

   

  • RUSSELL HOWARD’S fifth ever stand-up gig got him to the final of Channel 4’s So You Think You’re Funny.