Russell Howard’s Five Brilliant Things

Hey there! It's all the best bits from our April shows, wrapped up in a convenient bundle for your pleasure! Gasp at Dara O Briain's secret life as a nightclub dancer. Oooo at Mike Rice's Dairy Farming History Be amazed at Janine Harouni's story of squeaking thighs Pick your jaw off the floor after listening to Sean McLoughlin wax lyrical about Star Trek: The Next Generation And be wowed by Jamie Hutchinson's love of Rolls of Honour. It's all in here, if you like one go back and enjoy the whole thing. We're back next Wednesday with another new guest but until then... Bye! Producer: Dan Atkinson Line Producer: Daisy Knight Exec Producer: James Taylor Composer: Fat Lady Music Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jamie Hutchinson, the voice of Manchester, the wildly popular comedian is with us and it’s a fantastic romp through the most intense made-up games, the frenzy of horse-racing commentary and the simple pleasure of answering obscure quiz questions with your mates.  There’s also a top tip for comedy writing in there towards the end. Genuinely useful… 🎤 Jamie is on tour RIGHT NOW! His latest show has had rave reviews and it’s called ‘Can My Mate Come, He’s Sound’. Quite a few of the dates are sold out but there’s still stuff left for Autumn - anyway have a look, buy tickets and all that at https://jamiehcomedian.com  🎤 🎟️ And please do go to see Russell while he’s on tour with his latest show that’s busting out some rave reviews: Don’t miss this fantastic show of all brand-new material. Find out more at https://www.russell-howard.co.uk 🎟️ 🏇🏻 And as the blurb enters the final furlong it’s neck and neck between a good sign-off paragraph and a disappointing sign-off paragraph and it really couldn’t be closer up on the inside comes an offensive sign-off paragraph but a disappointing sign-off paragraph wins it by a nose.  🏇🏻 Producer: Dan Atkinson Line Producer: Daisy Knight Exec Producer: James Taylor Composer: Fat Lady Music Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Blisteringly talented comedian Janine Harouni is in the studio this week picking out the things that make her happy which include nerds, digital clocks… and a great story about how to get her thighs to stop squeaking in front of Robert Pattinson. It’s all in here, so please enjoy at your leisure!   Janine’s current tour is called ‘This is What you Waited For’ and we waited a bit too long to promote this one because there’s only a handful of dates left: Birmingham on May 8th and Manchester on May 22nd, but hey - if you’re in those places then get yourself a ticket from https://www.janineharouni.com 🎟️ And please do go to see Russell while he’s on tour with his latest show that’s busting out some rave reviews: Don’t miss this fantastic show of all brand-new material. Find out more at https://www.russell-howard.co.uk 🎟️ That’s the end of this week’s feast of comedy. We dab away the jokes from the corners of our mouths with a fancy napkin and we scrape back our chairs to retire to the smoking lounge where we light up fat cigars and talk about grown-up stuff.  Producer: Dan Atkinson Line Producer: Daisy Knight Exec Producer: James Taylor Composer: Fat Lady Music Go to https://surfshark.com/russell or use code RUSSELL at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He’s often called the Comic’s Comic, he’s a really excellent stand-up and his Five Things are a fantastically esoteric collection ranging from Moshing to Ice Hockey to Star Trek.  Sean hosts his very own late-night talk show, but for free and on YouTube starring one of the funniest comics from the UK and World circuits. It’s called ‘The Sean McTalk Show’ and it’s frankly criminal that you can get this without paying, it’s extremely good indeed - check it out through this link. 🎟️ And please do go to see Russell while he’s on tour with his latest show that’s busting out some rave reviews: Don’t miss this fantastic show of all brand-new material. Find out more at https://www.russell-howard.co.uk 🎟️ You’ve been everything you promised to be and more, so keep on doing all those good things. Thanks babe.  Producer: Dan Atkinson Line Producer: Daisy Knight Exec Producer: James Taylor Composer: Fat Lady Music Go to https://surfshark.com/russell or use code RUSSELL at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The acerbic, charming Irish stand-up is here with his Five Brilliant Things and tales from an extraordinary career, spanning from the milking sheds of Ireland to travelling the world performing to thousands, via regular visits to a shed to hang out with a tiny mystic man. Mike’s touring! We talked about it on the podcast and we weren’t lying. It’s Mike’s most accomplished solo comedy show to date and if you like what you hear you’ll love his live show. Find out those Irish and UK dates by going to https://www.mikericecomedy.com 🎟️ And please do go to see Russell while he’s on tour with his latest show that’s busting out some rave reviews: Don’t miss this fantastic show of all brand-new material. Find out more at https://www.russell-howard.co.uk 🎟️ You’ve been impeccable, we’ve been impeccable, let’s never forget this. Thanks for being here and most importantly reading to the end.  Producer: Dan Atkinson Line Producer: Daisy Knight Exec Producer: James Taylor Composer: Fat Lady Music Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello there! Welcome to March’s Moments of the Month. In case you’re new here, this is a compilation show with a little snifter of each guest we’ve enjoyed this month, so you can get a flavour. Then if you like the taste of any of them you can double-back and listen to the whole episode. It’s a good way to discover someone you would never have thought of clicking on before.  First in studio in November was the brilliant Northern Irish stand-up Shane Todd. After that we were visited by another superb stand-up Pierre Novellie, who told us about the big skies of Africa… Ben Shephard, he of Tipping Point and many other shows, was next…and he told us of the glory of bubbles. And finally the South-East London comic Andrew Mensah popped in with tales of playing Padel with Wayne Rooney. So there we go! That’s a little taste of what March was like. All of those shows are available in full right now, so if you got a taste for it, go and get some more. Thanks as always for listening and there will be a new show, as usual, this coming Wednesday.  Byeeee! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The hugely acclaimed Irish Stand-up and host of Mock the Week gives a fascinating and funny hour of anecdotes. Travel with Dara on debating tours of Ireland, stand in a field with him doing astral photography and hear Dara’s trick for finding his own personal nightclub dance floor.   Dara has some date left for his smash show ‘Re:Creation’. It helps if you’re Scandinavian, as many of the dates are in that neck of the woods however there are some England and Ireland dates at the end of 2026 too.  You can get those tickets, and do everything you ever wanted to do that’s Dara-adjacent by going to https://daraobriain.com 🎟️ And please do go to see Russell while he’s on tour with his latest show that’s busting out some rave reviews: Don’t miss this fantastic show of all brand-new material. Find out more at https://www.russell-howard.co.uk 🎟️ Thanks for coming, please respect our neighbours when you leave. Producer: Dan Atkinson Line Producer: Daisy Knight Exec Producer: James Taylor Composer: Fat Lady Music Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Comedian Andrew Mensah joins us with tales of playing Padel with Wayne Rooney, the economics of Air Force One Trainers and why there’s nothing better than sitting down for a game of Articulate.  There’s also a fascinating insight into the way British society interfaces with its cultural landscape; Andrew’s account of how he managed to move from the gang culture of his childhood to become well-loved fixture on the comedy circuit is the kind of thing you don’t hear often.  Andrew is always gigging around the UK. You can keep up to date with everything at https://andrewmensahcomedy.com Andrew hosts his hugely popular weekly comedy podcast ‘We Saw That’ alongside Gbemi Oladipo. They record live shows at the Top Secret Comedy Club in London then that becomes the podcast. You can listen/watch for free, or get tickets to see the live recordings by following this link.  🎟️ YOU WANT MORE LIVE COMEDY? Russell’s brand new tour show ‘Don’t Tell The Algorithm’ is well underway with rave reviews: Don’t miss this fantastic show of all brand-new material. Find out more at https://www.russell-howard.co.uk 🎟️ It’s the end of this week’s show so please get out there and enjoy the sunshine. You may be out there already, in which case get your eyes off this phone and look up - but not directly at the sun, obviously - and have a marvellous day. Byeeeeeee.  Producer: Dan Atkinson Line Producer: Daisy Knight Exec Producer: James Taylor Composer: Fat Lady Music Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of the most popular faces from British TV is here; from This Morning, from Tipping Point and so much more it’s Ben Shephard!  What comes through in this ebullient show is Ben’s love for life and thirst for experiences (and thirst for drinks with bubbles in them).  Ben takes us on a trip on the back of a motorbike through the London traffic, lifts the lid on how you go about doing a Men’s Health cover-shoot and forces Russell to try on a cardigan.  And as we spoke about on the show, Ben (alongside Joel Dommett) are on a journey launching their new skincare brand. You can follow their progress by listening to their podcast ‘The Business Men’.  You can take the skincare questionnaire by clicking here. 🎭 Also keep an eye out for Ben’s live show with Kammy - they are touring UK venues doing a few select shows over 2026. Find out more and book tickets by clicking here. 🎭 🎟️ YOU WANT MORE LIVE COMEDY? Russell’s brand new tour show ‘Don’t Tell The Algorithm’ is well underway with rave reviews: Don’t miss this fantastic show of all brand-new material. Find out more at https://www.russell-howard.co.uk 🎟️ Thanks for your continued ears and eyeballs. They are appreciated very much, please keep them inside your head.  Producer: Dan Atkinson Line Producer: Daisy Knight Exec Producer: James Taylor Composer: Fat Lady Music Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pierre is a formidable stand-up comedian and it’s a pleasure to take this wander around the corners of his fascinating brain. This fun and fascinating episode of Five Brilliant Things takes in the majesty of beef, the efficiency of Grahame Greene, the mystery of thunder and finally why you must go out, find a child, and make it watch you read a book. Curious? You should be; all is revealed within Pierre’s episode here.  🎭 Pierre’s out on tour and you should experience him raw (by which I mean live, but raw sounded so much more exciting).   Pierre  will be touring across the UK and Ireland throughout 2026 with his critically acclaimed show, ‘You Sit There, I’ll Stand Here’ – all dates and tickets available at www.pierrenovellie.com 🎭 🎟️ And of course, Russell’s brand new tour show ‘Don’t Tell The Algorithm’ is well underway with rave reviews: Don’t miss this fantastic show of all brand-new material. Find out more at https://www.russell-howard.co.uk 🎟️ And there we go! The desolate end of the blurb. It’s just you and me now. Like the last two Wildebeest on the savannah, we watch each other warily, both realising simultaneously that although we are in terrible danger having strayed so far from the herd, there is also beauty in the vast silence of the savannah. I close my eyes to fully appreciate this existential moment, and you take advantage and run like hell. I become dinner for a pride of lions. Fair enough. Producer: Dan Atkinson Line Producer: Daisy Knight Exec Producer: James Taylor Composer: Fat Lady Music Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices