After touring the USA with his mum for Comedy Central's Russell Howard & Mum: USA Road Trip, and getting married to his long-term partner Cerys in June this year, the cheeky comic returned to The SSE Arena, Wembley this week to a welcoming audience of 12,500.
Howard returned to the stage with his notorious family impressions and a wonderful anecdote about true love – and everything he was prepared to do (including sticking his fingers up his butt) to save his wife from man-eating lions while on their honeymoon.
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Russell shares more about his family with the audience than ever before in his new show Respite.
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Particularly, a special note about his late (yet bonkers) uncle who, during Howard's childhood years, would only say the word 'meh' to Russell before walking off.
It was only revealed at the funeral that he had a different move or motion for each of Russell's cousins, leaving what the comedian calls great "death bed memories" – something Russell wants us all to create.
Related: Russell Howard discusses how comedy can create political change
Elsewhere, the comedian quips about Brexit and whether Britain would indeed survive a no-deal Brexit as last year, when KFC ran out of chicken, we just couldn't deal.
His latest show is reminiscent of The Russell Howard Hour, using comedy to help tackle and shed light on important real-life issues like the UK's knife crime epidemic, and promising to double donations received for the Kiyan Prince Foundation at his Wembley show.
In a world of "self-absorbed" social media influencers, "muggles" (people who are offended by absolutely everything), and our current political climate ("about as stable as an R Kelly interview"), Russell Howard proves that if you don't laugh about it all, you surely will cry.
Russell Howard is taking his tour around the world, and returns to the UK with multiple dates at London's Eventim Apollo and Bristol's Hippodrome next year. More info at russell-howard.co.uk.
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Photo Director, Hearst UK
Shyvonne Thomas is Digital Spy's Photo Director, looking after Digital Spy's and Hearst's digital brand visuals across the board. She also writes and conducts interviews specialising in the Power shows, anything Beyoncé, family days out, as well as championing content across Black TV shows and movies.
Having started her career as Shopping Assistant for Mother & Baby and Pregnancy and Birth magazines in 2010, Shyvonne moved on to become Picture Assistant at heat magazine in 2012, before joining the Daily Star, Express and OK! websites as Galleries Editor in 2014.
Shyvonne is an NCTJ-accredited journalist and studied an honours degree in Journalism. In 2021, Shyvonne was shortlisted for the PPA Unsung Hero Award. Shyvonne is also a proud mum.
