Russell Howard recently made an appearance on “The Jonathan Ross Show,” and the conversation took an interesting turn when he revealed that he had rejected Ed Sheeran‘s priceless demo. The talk show host brought up the fact that Howard and Sheeran had met before when the singer was just 17 years old. Sheeran had snuck into a Paloma Faith after-party to hand out CDs, and Howard happened to be there too. It was a sweet encounter, and Howard admitted that he felt bad for not taking one of Sheeran’s demos.
Sheeran explained that he had burned around 20 demos onto his laptop, and he could have given one to Howard, who was playing a gig just around the corner. The missed opportunity was something both Howard and Sheeran laughed about. However, Sheeran has since become a record-breaker, beating Frank Sinatra’s record of 10 nights at the Royal Albert Hall. While Howard celebrated this achievement, his mother couldn’t resist poking fun at his “wonky eye.” Turns out, Howard’s lazy eye is genetically inherited from his mom.
Despite his mom’s teasing, Howard revealed that she is quite a successful individual herself. In fact, she has appeared on TV with him, which has helped put her on the map too. The conversation turned spooky when ghosts were mentioned, and Howard shared a story about staying in a haunted house in Savannah with his mom. The creepiest part was that they were in a room where an Irish girl had died, and Howard claimed to have heard a voice in the dead of night during his stay.
The conversation then shifted to Howard’s stand-up tours around the world, including a recent tour in China. Surprisingly, Howard doesn’t speak Mandarin but managed to make two elderly women in an elevator laugh uncontrollably just with his facial expressions. The difference in fan reactions in Asian venues was noticeable, especially after a viral clip from one of Howard’s shows in which he talked about meeting a young boy with cancer who found one of his sketches hilarious.
Howard’s material has become more political and socially conscious in recent years. He discussed how events like the Grenfell tragedy and the election have fueled his comedic fire. He finds that being passionate about a topic allows him to be both angry and funny, which in turn helps him write better jokes. For instance, he highlighted the issue of young girls in England who can’t afford tampons but find their government spending millions on changing passports from red to blue.
When it comes to the freedom to explore such topics, Howard expressed that he feels more at ease working on “The Jonathan Ross Show” than he did on the BBC. According to him, the BBC often limited his creative expression, monitoring his wording and asking him to be cautious about certain statements.
Currently, Howard is busy with the TV show and has a Netflix special coming out soon. After that, he plans to take a well-deserved break and go on holiday. He jokingly mentioned the idea of mimicking Ed Sheeran‘s wandering off and breaking an arm, but then confessed that his recent experience of looking after a baby while his sister’s husband had both arms broken was enough excitement for now.
Russell Howard‘s appearance on “The Jonathan Ross Show” proved yet again why he has become a beloved and successful stand-up comedian. With his mix of funny anecdotes, social awareness, and charming sense of humor, he continues to entertain audiences worldwide.
