Soder - 68: My Brothers UTI with Russell Howard | Soder Podcast | EP 66

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

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Alabama, I've never done shows in Alabama. Guess what, that's about to change. February 20th through the 22nd I will be in Huntsville, Alabama at Levity Live for 5 shows. Grand Rapids, Michigan, I will see you March 8th. I'll be headlining a show for Gildas Fest. One show, come on out, California. It's such a, I don't have a singing voice. I have a voice for stand up.

And thank God that's what I'm doing in California February 28th, I will be at the Balboa theater in San Diego March 1st, I will be at the United theater in Los Angeles and then march 2nd. That's a sunday I will be at the palace of fine arts in san francisco. All those tickets are available danceholder.com go get them right now in San Francisco. All those tickets are available. DanSoda.com. Go get them right now. We just like straight up just start talking. But you know what I mean? You know, when you just kind of think this is going to be such a great icebreaker. Dude, I, I mean, I think that's something that, um,

that not only comedians, but I think everybody goes through socially, where you're kind of like, not only comedians, but I think everybody goes through socially where you're kind of like, it's the same way we have an, like a, an idea for a bit. And it eats shit on stage where you go, this is really funny to me. And then you say it to people and they go, I don't find that funny. And you go, fuck. Yeah. But it's like doing press.

My, my, I did that during the pandemic. I bet we all had this where your sort of notebook became your friend, your confident, or you know, you just sit there. And I found such joy in kind of writing, rediscovered how much fun it was. I had this whole bit about, it was like, you remember when women were having a go at Adele for losing weight? Yeah, they were mad at her because- They were furious at her. And so I was kind of writing these jokes. I wrote this whole scenario where there's no realm in which Adele's body would ever

upset me. And it was all these, like, the, one of the things I was like, like if I was at an, you know, a restaurant and Adele had sort of like this artificial fin and I was swimming and she kind of behind me and she's pretending to be a shark and we're, so this whole thing that I found so fucking funny. But I was like, I kind of behind me and she's pretending to be a shark and we're like whoa so this whole thing that I found so fucking funny but just this it was that moment where the audience were like hang on did you sit and think of this the contract is gone you like you've

you've I've had that too written this I've had too many times where you have to like almost up and people do this in normal conversations. It's not just comedians that do this, but like you say something that in your head, you're like, this is hilarious. And then they go, what? That first like what? And you're like, oh man, I remember when I was like, I must've been like eight or nine

years old and I was with my mom and my stepdad and we were at my mom's. The thing is, as soon as you talk about your youth, I picture that scene where you're smoking. You're ripping a butt. Yeah. Yeah. I went, Hey mom. Yeah. I wasn't smoking. I started smoking when I was 12. Okay. So this is four years before, but I, um, we're at my mom's, we're at my mom's friend's house. And there was like a guy that was like funny,

like my mom's friend's friend. So it was kind of like a dinner party, but I was the only kid there. And this guy was really nice, funny, we're like joking around and I'm like eight years old and we're all sitting around and I go, that's why you got a big nose. And my mom went, what? And everyone like turned to me and they're like,

what the fuck dude? And I remember that was the first time in my life that I was like, I thought I was funny. You guys didn't think that, I thought we were having a good time. And then you're just eating and you're like, am I an asshole? Or you dig deeper. Yeah.

What are you a Jew? It's like, whoa. What's your problem? I'm just fat bitch. Mom's a slut. And she's like, this guy's fucking unloading the barrels. And you go, and another thing, I don't think you pay taxes. I'm going to fuck you up. They're thing, I don't think you pay taxes.

I'm gonna fuck you up. They're like, this kid is a fucking problem. Just sat in the corner snitching. Well, you got, now you have an eight month old son. I do, yeah. And how old, so you have two kids? Nope, just one. Just one?

Mm-hmm. Oh man, so is it? It's great. Yeah? It's, do you know what's lovely? It's similar, imagine how homeless people feel with their dog, that that dog loves them. Yeah.

And it's that lovely feeling where you get smiled at for having done nothing other than be yourself. Yeah. It's so rare that you get a smile and you haven't earned it. Yeah. And it's so lovely. Like just to walk in the room

and it's a similar thing with your dog's tail that your baby looks at you. It just goes nuts when I go home. Exactly. It's just like, I love you baby looks at you. This bitch goes nuts when I go home. Exactly. It's just like, I love you. Look at you. Look at everything about you.

Yeah. Joe List, his son is a year old now. Marty just turned a year old and he said that now he's starting to get jokes to work on his son where he'll like do bits and his kid will be like, like laugh. And you're like, that's got to be a very rewarding experience. But that's such the comedian in here. Yeah. Just being like, ah, laugh and you're like, that's got to be a very rewarding experience. But that's such the comedian. Yeah. Just being like, ah, bits are working. But what's funny is when it's when it stops, when you have certain moves,

like and it's what we're talking about, something that you think is funny. Yeah. And they're like, no, I'm not. It was funny. Awake. You got to add this is a baby move. I've evolved. But the funniest thing, so like blowing raspberries, I didn't know is a way of developing speech. So babies, Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft.

Is the way of beginning to talk. So he just sits in his cot doing that. And sometimes he forgets how to do it. And that's the funniest thing you've ever seen. Yeah, it's just he'd go, Pfft, pfft, pfft. And you're going to thing you've ever seen. Yeah, it's just, yeah. Pfft, pfft. It's throwing up. Will his body.

Fuck. Yeah, how do I do it again? What is that? Maybe, how? Our niece is, she's like 18 months old now and she's got like mama, puppy. She can like say certain things. Oh wow, yeah.

But her whole speech is just like. Hush, hush, hush, hush. Oh wow. Hush, hush, hush, but her whole speech is just like, you're definitely talking. You're just not nailing it yet. It's funny to watch it back. It's almost like the same as like, um, when someone talks in their sleep, when like puppy, and you're like, Oh, I caught one of those. That's what it's like watching her walk around. Charlotte doesn't really have this yet. She's like, yeah, yeah. Um, are you going to, the way they do it? So I've gotten, uh, one of my nephews is 10 and he's like an old soul and he's, he's gone through three phases. He wanted to be a train driver,

an astronaut and I wants to be a midwife. So he is fascinated with my wife having given birth to a child, but he's obviously learned all these phrases from books he's read so during Christmas he turned to my wife apropos of nothing and know, doctor? Is he still taking breast milk? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so funny. Is he still on the breast? Also, British little kids sound,

and obviously you're British so you don't know this, but as an American, British little kids all sound like old souls. Yes, yeah. They all sound, you hear a kid with a British accent and you're like, I bet that kid knows more than I do. Yeah, it's funny, yeah. It just feels. But there's that's funny, I know what you mean because like American kids like just their voices

travel. Well I think that's awesome. So it's like you think oh my god that's what we hear. Whereas an English boy would be like oh my god. Yeah and it's like oh boom boom. And you're like oh my god. It is very funny to think because like little American kids just inherently sound stupid. They're just kind of like, I want to go to the park.

And you're like, shut the fuck up, you idiot. But little British kids are like, mommy. And you're like, oh, listen to them. But it's funny. It's a bit like when you see Italian pensioners and they're doing all this. Do you know what I mean? So it looks like it's like passionate, passionate Italian kid philosophy yeah but you know they're saying the same I know this the Italians it's like I play football with Marco is Italian yeah

and if you score a good goal he'll speak to you in Italian. And it just so I scored a goal. It's got to feel good though. So I scored the other day and he went, Mamma Mia. And he just goes again. But in our language, it's like if you saw your your missus, she looked hot and you went, oh, mum. It's just so creepy. Oh, mommy. Oh, mommy. I never thought about Mamma Mia in English.

And he was going, oh, mommy. Oh my mommy. I never thought about mommy in English and he was going, oh mommy. And they go, oh. Yeah, but the Italians are just saying, ah. Yeah, you heard it here first. Russell thinks Italians wanna fuck their moms. Yeah, exactly. Just kidding, mommy. That's gotta be, someone saying a compliment

in their native tongue when you do something right is, cause that's a moment that you know that you're connected, they're connected to their like, when they like, like when someone takes a bite of something and they're like, holy shit. But if you spoke like, um, Italian or Spanish or something, that's like funny when you see when women are so beautiful that you'll see guys speak Spanish with this like, ah, ah, you know, they're like, oh, adios, me.

And you're like, oh man, this guy's fucking going nuts. But then having said that, again, I saw this bit you did the other day that fucking made me laugh, but it's about reading the comments when women. Oh yeah, hot women. And it's like, me, you're better. Oh my God.

It's such a great observation of that desperate just masturbating. It's your penis breaking through and in the United States like high school football games right they'll have this thing where they'll like when when the team's about to run on the field they have this giant banner that says like go Cougars and they run through it. And it's like, ba-da-da-da-da-da, and everyone's excited. That is that for like boners. When they're so horny that they just break through the wall

and they're like, I fucking need it. It's like, pow, and they're like through. That comment, I think we live in the golden age of horny public comments. Like by the time your son is in his 20s, of horny public comments. Yes. Like by the time your son is in his twenties, people will be so social media literate that they will know not to put horny comments

like that online. Yes. Whereas now guys are just like, dude, like I can click your profile and see who you are. Yeah. If you're like, I fucking need you. And then you click and you're like, what? I know it's insane, but it, but it's also like,

why would you let your inner monologue free on your keyboard? Like that's what everyone does. That's what everyone does. That's what, that's the point where that is the smoking inside of the internet, right? Yes. Where you're like, like well of course you can't smoke it. The idea that restaurants used to believe that there could be a smoking and non-smoking section when you're under the same fucking roof and the air is trapped that's the same as going like I'm gonna say what's in my inner monologue on the internet yeah because you're like you're just putting

that out there in a way. But it becomes so instantly tangible it's like it's forever and it was just a thing that fell out of your horny mouth. But it's, but what I love about it, that's such a good way of saying that it's such, it's a forever thing that fell out of your horny mouth. But that's why, but it's like when you say, so for Marco to speak in Italian, I really liked that. But in your Ciao Bella,

it's, it's this desperate bloke summoning what will impress her. It's like, I know different languages. That's all he's saying. Like, and a lot of the times it's like, um, now that we're learning more and more how people manipulate on the internet or how you could tell, like sometimes these profiles of beautiful women, like aren't even that woman. Someone just found a bunch of pictures of her and like put it on the line.

And then these guys are doing that. What's crazy to me is, do they ever think it's going to work? Well, exactly. Yeah. Do they ever think a woman's going to be like, Oh Mia Bello, what are you doing? This is it. But they're just, they must just be this. I'm going to follow him back and DM him and then we're going to fall in love. You're like, brother, you are, you're throwing shit out a wall yeah you are a naive sad fisherman yeah and there's no you're not even fishing in an actual sea yeah you're just fucking casting it into a field and then you're like I'm gonna catch something

eventually you're like maybe a boot yeah if you're lucky but that's it it's like this sort of juxtaposition of like a river runs through it and fucking hell. Yeah. Just like casting it and it's just like. I would want to know the stats, like the actual stats of who has gotten a beautiful woman in any way to respond or to interact. Because a lot of times. With that, I mean, it is zero. Nobody's ever, ever, surely.

Well, I'll tell you right now. Okay, interesting. Where that bit came from was, there was. You're not me, Bella. No, I'm not me, Bella. I'm not me, Bella at all. I was watching guys comment, and I'm not gonna say who, on.

Everyone's gonna try and guess. Oh yeah, they will. This is the fun part. Here's my little clues. Get ready, my little detectives. But there was a beautiful woman that was putting out, um, like content, like stand up, I'll say it, stand up. And the guys were going like, this is so funny. This is so, you are so fucking funny. And you're like,

and probably intelligent. Yeah. And you're like, probably intelligent. Yeah. And you're like, but it's not, but here, and here's the thing, no offense to that person, but I'm saying the jokes weren't good, but these guys are going like, where's your Netflix special you better. And you're like, and then you would see Instagram says this liked by the author. So it's like, she knows what she's doing. So she's like going back and being like, thanks. I thought of that myself and they're like, it's fucking great.

But what I wanted to do was DM these guys and go, where is it funny? Right? Yeah. Tell me exactly where the punchline is. Cause I don't believe you. If it was funny, I'd go like, that's fine or whatever. And if she's hot, then you want to say something. But like when it's void of any humor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have to find that way. If you ever go to the theater, me and my brother are obsessed with this because like we used to have a member of our, like my sister was married. She's now divorced.

Her husband used to do musical theater. Okay. So we would get dragged along to musical theater. That's a whole different counterculture that if you're not ready for it. But we came up through like our public laughter was comedy clubs. I started doing comedy when I was 18. My brother used to come to comedy clubs at 16. So that is his barometer for comedy store in London. Someone says so funny.

The laugh is like, and that thing of suddenly being in a room where audiences are going, ah! That laugh, that, mm! Yes. Mm, mm, ah! And you're just looking around going, have I gone mad? Because it could be that they genuinely think it's funny and you've gone mad.

And that's something that I sometimes think. Yeah, I know. I've never thought of that. I've never thought of like, oh, we met like, because in my time, we're living in a golden age of, you know, bad comedy and you kind of watch it and you go, fuck, am I mad? Yes. Am I mad? I have that feeling. And I think, I think that is not just people that work in comedy. I think it's people who enjoy comedy. I think comedy specifically is like rock and roll or hip-hop or a different kind of performance where like there are people who get into it, who get into it and like know what they like. They know who the

greats are. They almost kind of study it and then there's like this fan of like there's comedy fans and then there's like this fan of like, there's comedy fans. And then there's people that just have never watched it. And that's that kind of laugh where they go like, it's a polite laughter of like, I think I'm supposed to laugh. It's a pleasantry. It's like, ah.

But it's not a thing where you go like, holy fuck, that's hilarious. You just go like, hmm. Now add in a very beautiful woman doing it and horny men who are alone on the internet and you just have a fucking recipe for disaster. But then also that's how magnificent the internet is to your then, this kind of weird detective of those people. Yeah, I was putting out cigarettes and like, this thing goes all the way to the top.

This thing doesn't stop. Gotta watch. You got, I'm surprised you didn't come in here and there's a cork board with like different string going and I'm like, this thing goes to places you had no idea. You're like Claire Danes in homeland. Emotionally I'm pretty similar. I really do fall apart the way Claire Danes does, but you know what it is? Is it's, it's is is it's it's probably It's probably a little jealousy. It's probably a little hater in me being like but it's that thing isn't it?

It's like it's just lingering in like we've never been exposed to more like being a comedian now is like I don't know if you have this in America But you remember like the local car dealer that used to record his own adverts? Habs a fucking Lutely. That's comedy now. We never had to promote ourselves. You just did the thing, you rocked up to the gig

and it kind of, you know, the owner would say, we'll get you back and blah, blah, blah. Things occur, whereas now you have to be your own PR person, which goes against, even though comics are show-offs, you also go, hey, how was the gig? It was fine, which means the gig went great. It killed off, what the internet has done in any field has killed off humility.

Yes. Because humility does not sell tickets, humility does not. Exactly. It just goes like, if you have a chef that goes like, and you're like, how's your duck laranje? He goes, that's all right. But then you walk away and you go, that guy's like certified from the quarter on blue, it's like the best duck laranje? He goes, that's all right. But then you walk away and you go,

that guy's like certified from the quarter on blue. It's like the best duck laranje you'll ever have in your life, but he wants to keep himself humble. So he goes, I don't know, I could have made it better. Because often, I think a lot of times when people make good stuff, they are, they don't wanna let it go yet because they keep going like,

I can make it a little bit better. I can make it a little bit better. I can make it a little bit better. And then you have to have someone that goes, give me that. And then they put it out and then the people go, this is fucking great versus the culture now, which is like, oh, you have diarrhea? Shit all over the place. Cause the more you shit, the more stuff,

that's why the term content has always really bugged me. Yes. Because you're like, are we trying to be funny? Because in any field, I mean you see this with doctors, you see this with lawyers, you see this with police officers, there becomes this thing when you start where you go like what is my mission statement? For comics, how can I be the funniest I can be? For lawyers, it's like how can I help people that I can be? For lawyers, it's like, how can I help people that need legal representation? And then it gets murky.

Then the waters get murky. And then you realize like, well, I can't just be just funny. I can for the most part, but I have to advertise. I have to fuck it. And then you get to people that go, I don't give a fuck about being funny. Watch me advertise this.

And they do like a car commercial that you're like, he's Superman? And he's like, fly on in for the best deals you'll have. And then my car commercials like this, yeah, we got some Hondas. Yeah, I don't wanna bother you, but the cars are good, they're fine. But then also it kind of goes the other way

because when you get into, you just can't fake that moment when you're in front of a crowd and five minutes in where the audience get this this person it doesn't have it but you know versus somebody that's kind of just gonna pull up trees and that that's the and then the irony being you if you're like an actual comic you don't want to give that away because you're too in the room to worry about filming stray bits of shit where you're basically, you know, a watering can for broken flowers. That's all it is.

A lot of it is, I wish I could say that people like get up there and they go like, oh, this is shit, but I think audiences now just go like, it's that, what you were talking about with the musical theater laughter where they go like, and then they leave and they go like, it's that what you were talking about with the musical theater laughter where they go like, and then they leave and they, they go like, um, it's all right. I don't know if I like standup comedy and you're like, well, if you went and ate at a restaurant and they made you like subpar food and you left, you'd probably be like, I don't know if I like that cuisine.

And you're like, I don't know if you had it. I don't know if you had the best thing because now I mean, you're right, dude, I keep trying to think about what my car commercials like and I'm really I'm like just like well That's it. We have 2% APR financing. I don't know. It's like a pretty good deal. What is this show is brought to you by better help Therapy is I mean I need it my brain My brain's mean to myself. I don't know if you're like that or your brain will just like you know you'll be in a situation and you're like is my brain picking on me and then you what happens is when you go to a therapist

your therapist goes oh that's your brain being mean and you you learn to go hey brain knock the hell off and then life is a little easier. I've been going to therapy for like 12 years now and I can't recommend it enough to anyone that thinks they need it. I'm not pushing it on you, I'm just saying if you think you need it, maybe give it a try. And BetterHelp is fully online,

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better person with better help. Visit betterhelp.com slash Soder to get 10% off your first month. That's better help. H e l p dot com slash Soder. I mean, I exactly same. It's like just, you know, I've got this special out here. So what's it like? You're like, I was just, you know, and I keep saying, there's loads of big fat funny jokes. Yeah.

And but that's kind of it really. It's just, there's lots of stuff that's really funny about lots of things. And it's just like, fuck, that sounds like the worst sell. Used to be, I think what happened is the people that used to work in marketing that were very valuable, they were very, very valuable for people like us, because they were the people that you would tap in and go like, how do I sell this?

And they go, I got an idea. This is what you do. But now those people go like, well, why am I letting this fucker make all the money? I'll just be the comedian and I'll just market it. And I just won't be good at it. I just won't be good at comedy. I'll just be doing regular observational bits that have been done 30 times before.

I think about that a lot with like... Why do you think about Richard Pryor? Like, you know, he was busy. He was, you know, he was writing, he was burning himself writing jokes. He was on a lot of, he was free-basing a lot of cocaine. He was free-basing, but he just didn't have time to kind of go, you know... To come up with the marketing. Which, and I'm not saying marketing people aren't valuable.

I think they're incredibly valuable. Absolutely. But there are marketing people that are so smart that they can just go like, oh, well, here's always the thing is I've noticed recently and this is something I've been like working on is for and you're probably the same way when you have a bit, you go like you'll think of something and you go, oh, way. When you have a bit, you go like, you'll think of something and you'll go, oh, that's like a good joke. And then you go, now so and so did kind of a similar bit

10 years ago. I don't wanna do that. I wanna, that for a lot of these people that were like into marketing, that got into comedy, that doesn't exist. Now they go, that's a good idea. I'm gonna do that. And you go, that's like an old Bill Cosby bit

from like 1983. And they're like, I don't to do that. And you go, that's like an old Bill Cosby bit from like 1983. And they're like, I don't give a fuck. And my fans don't give a fuck. It's a weird one that there isn't it? Because like it's frustrating sometimes when you and I know lots of great comedians that get in their own way as well. We got that's my problem is I get my own way and I go, I can't do that. It's not original enough.

And then you're like, well, but it's it's sort of that thing, isn't it? Of like the there's going to be recurring themes. But it's there's a brilliant bit in the Gary Shandling documentary goes. You just got to be more Gary. Yes. And I love that. It's sort of whatever makes you funny to your mates. Yeah. And that's what and it's it's digging into that. And I remember that story you told me.

And it was like, remember in Edinburgh? Yeah, we went for breakfast. Yeah. And you were telling me that story about your stepdad forcing you to watch him swim. Oh yeah. And it was and you've since done it in your special. Yeah. And I feel like really kind of jet I felt like properly sort of privileged because I was I remember seeing that as an embryonic.. Yeah, just a form of conversation. But, but, but, and then when it became its final thing, it was so funny and structured and lots of jokes inside it. Yeah.

And that's kind of what it is. But you could probably go, well, you know, other comedians have done stuff about stepdad. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? I've also like talked about the guys my mom has dated before and I've been like, like there's a, well that's it like, but like any of your audience is going to go, Oh, this feels a bit like, you know, they're just laughing. I mean, it's,

it's, it is a fun way to like, when you're shitting on other comics, go like, what are you doing? Another joke about your dead dad? And you go, yeah, yeah, I am. But, but that's also, that's such a, like it happens at the Edinburgh festival in the UK. We have this phrase called the dead dad show. Oh, I know. It was that thing where you just kind of go, Oh, did your dad die? Yeah. And you know what?

It was massive. Yeah. Broke my fucking heart. So it's probably going to be part of me forever. Like the people that did and the dead dad thing, and especially at Fringe, it was like, knowing that I was taking an hour about a chunk of it was about my dad dying of alcohol. It was like funny to know that I was going to a place where like they would break down and cry and be like never had to catch again with him. And then it's to me and I'm like

I use a Jimmy Buffett fan. He had a good fucking time. So it felt like a little different. But when I got there and I was like and I realized you guys had the dead dad thing. But it's like one of those things we want to slip back you know the Homer Simpson going back to the thing where I was kind of like hey I'm doing jokes about my dad you guys do that a lot here but again it's it's that kind of snare from like certain sections of like kind of the press or these weird kind of like cultural gatekeepers that kind of go oh is it like yeah but again it's like well your dead dad stuff is going to be really funny because

you're really funny. And it's sort of that. I had a really great chat with Tim Minchin where he said something really, he's basically kind of going, well, if you talk, you've been doing standup for so long now, but if you talk about something that you actually care about, you're going to make it funny on stage because you realize what it's like to be fucking boring. And there's nothing like a quiet audience to make your brain go, well, we better kick into gear

or we're back at school and we're gonna have the shit kicked out of us. Think, think, and you kind of access your funny through a thing you wanna say. It's one of those things where George Carlin said a similar thing to what Shandling said where Carlin in his book, like his last book, he was kind of like, I got to a point where I had done four specials and I was kind of like, I've talked about everything. Yeah.

There's how do I talk about anything else? And he's like, Oh, I'm the filter. Yes. So it's just, it's just, I live my life and then how I feel about it. I'm the specific filter. Fucking right. Well, that's it. It's like, Cause you've done how many hours, what's our, what number is this like your ninth hour? Yeah. So yeah. So I had, let me think I had, uh, three DVDs. No, five. I mean that's how long you've been doing comedy. Yeah. I know. I had five DVDs, five and then two, uh,

Netflix specials and then so that, yeah, so five, six, seven, this is eight. Oh damn, I was one off. If I would have fucking got that, I would have had you say good job in your native tongue, whatever the British version of. Good job. Well done. And I'm like, I did it, he said it in his language. Well, that's the only thing that's frustrating about coming to this country. I wish, I just don't look English. I look like a sort of like a German lesbian, like, but John Oliver, John looks, John is exactly what you want him to be of my people. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? He's got the look,

he's got the voice. He shows up and you go, this is a British motherfucker. This is a British man. You're like, on looks alone, you go, you British? Yeah. Look at that gloomy fucker. And it's just a guy that moves under clouds comfortably. Yeah. But it's like, guy that moves under clouds comfortably. Yeah. But it's like, yeah. So I've been, I've been doing it for a while, but it's like, so I've got an eight month old son. So I've got stuff about being a dad that is by it's like, you can attack.

You're talking about being a dad, but again, it's about being your filter and sort of just trying to the longer you've been in this, you realize it's not being a novelist, isn't it? It's just kind of go, okay, what's my take on being a dad? You know, they always say like, good acting is reacting. Right. It's like, I think that's like, that goes for any sort of creative endeavour. It's like, how are you, you spend years learning how to do this and then you spend, and then then it becomes just the thing of like, well, how do you react to it?

Yeah. Because like, we're not having kids, but I'm getting married. We have a dog. And so there's this stuff where you're like, well, how do I react to that? Yeah. What are situations? Cause like he said, if you don't mind me asking it, you, you don't want, why don't you want kids? I just don't want kids. We sat down and talked about it. And it was kind of like, you know, I think I've got a lot of issues with growing up without a dad that was gone. And I don't want to, I, you know, Katie is successful. She's got her own career and I've got my career.

And I think it would be really unfair to like, we're, we're now we would, we'd have to get science involved. Right. Like we're at the age where we can't, just like, oh, I'll just have a kid, but it would have to be an effort. And I also think the conversation she and I had about it was it wouldn't feel fair to either one of us if I just went on the road and had a great fucking time and then come home. And she's like, cool. Well, I had to put my shit on pause because this tiny human needs me.

And then I come in and I'm just fun. And I'm just like, yeah, you know, it's, it's, so my missus is a doctor and it's that thing of, so she's going, she's going back to work in, I think September. Um, she's going to go part time. And it's sort of that moment where you realize, Oh, I'm going to go part time too. Yeah. You know, and rich, but for me, it's kind of, there's an old man that did DVDs. I kind of, you know, I also think you can still get as much out of it by going part-time. Well, I don't know. And sitting what's valuable about what you're doing. Cause I would say in a,

in a sense I'm more part-time than I was before because I actually enjoy my life. Now I get to like, I don't like, there's a title of a new special. Enjoy my life. I actually do enjoy my life in it, but it's like a different thing where I think a lot of the beginning of my career, I was, uh, fueled by insecurity and fueled for like fueled by trying to be accepted, accepted as a standup, accepted in New York city scene.

But it's again, it's so, it's so easy to edit someone else's work. But I listen to that and I just can't understand that because you're... But obviously, I'm not telling the same that it's not true, but it's that it's so weird. You're so effortlessly funny. You're such a nice guy. But again, you're carrying this weight of like, everyone thinks I'm a cunt, everyone thinks I'm a cunt. And it's, it's, it's weirdly, it's a, I think it's a very British thing. I find that whenever I specifically do gigs in New York, I'll sit in the corner with my notebook and

you realise that arrogance and shyness look exactly the same. So you would just kind of sat there quiet and it's up to somebody to kind of, I had this conversation with Neil Brennan where we were doing, I was doing a gig in Dublin and he saw me and just, and he sort of said to me, he goes, just didn't like look at your face. And here's the thing about Neil is Neil is one of those guys where he's brilliantly funny. He is like show incredibly smart. And if you only took Neil from how you bumped into him,

you'd go, what a fucking dickhead. You go like, what a dickhead. And then you don't realize the depression that he deals with, the self hatred that he deals with. And you're like, Oh buddy, you're you're you're bad as any of us. But also then we kind of had this, um, he did my podcast. We had a chat, got on great. And it's that interesting thing, isn't it? That you sort of realize we're all scared, sat backstage at a gig or trying to give off,

I'm not scared. And when we meet people, it's this weird kind of, sometimes, you know, this kindred spirit, sometimes you kind of like weirdly diametrically opposed. It's just all this shit going on. And that is the first 10 years of being a comedian. Yeah, I would also you know, it happens a lot in England. Oh, so you're the you're the new young guy. I didn't say that. I was just and we also came up at the time of I'd be really interested

to see how it is now for young comics because we came up in a time where there was gatekeepers where there was like, get Montreal, get into fringe, you'd have these people that were like literal gatekeepers that would go, I think you're funny. Why don't you do Conan? And you was like, get Montreal, get into Fringe. You'd have these people that were like literal gatekeepers that would go, I think you're funny, why don't you do Conan? And you're like, oh shit, I finally can do this. Where now it's how good is your car commercial? Now clubs are like, can you sell, can you move units? But I also-

That's amazing, it's good and bad, that isn't it? Because it's so fucking punk that fuck these gatekeepers who did get some things wrong and some people didn't get through and some people did. And that's what you're seeing is you're seeing some people that were kind of held back explode and you're like, good, amazing. I wanted to see them do it. But then you, but then all of them. Yeah, well exactly. So that's the thing you sometimes go, maybe, maybe some sort of gate.

I think about, yeah, you go Can we maybe put a little latch on the gate? Just a cat? Maybe not a big iron one. Just a cattle griddle Just something maybe a front desk where everyone has to check in Can we just do a front desk? But I think about your wife being a detector. I think about your wife being a doctor and like that's a job There there has to be insecurities your first 10 years you're going like am I diagnosing this right? And do I am I thinking about right versus now where she can go a little more part-time and she comes in and she's like I know what that looks like. I know what this is

But you know the interesting thing comics and doctors brains are very similar, but they hold useful information That's the it's but it's that same day Yeah, they're like us, but they actually have stuff that work that can benefit somebody. You can see a thing and it links back to a, you know, disease and the medication. And I see her go into a brand, go do do do do do do in the same way I do for insignificant stuff. So somebody would go, Oh, I went on a holiday to Norwich Norwich. Here's the three things I know about. Women do be shopping. That's

how it goes in your brain. But it is that thing, isn't it? But they're very, very similar. I think that's a lot. And it takes a long time to become a good doctor. It takes a long time to be a comic. That's what I think is wrong with the culture now is that it that isn't the it's like it's like dieting the the the thing about dieting the entire time humans have been on this planet we figured this out was it's watch what you eat and exercise yeah that is like any doctor will your wife any doctor will be like yes you watch your coat watch what your with the calories you're putting in your body and any doctor will be like, yes, you watch your, watch what you're with the calories you're putting in your body and then burn off those calories and you won't be a fat fuck.

But now they go like, we got Ozempic. We've got all this stuff where you can cut. And I feel in a way that entertainment is going through that, whether it be comedy or music or anything like that, there's this cool thing of like, Oh, you don't have to go get really good at it just do it and be exciting about it because we all want to find the the sword in the stone the kid will pull the sword from the stone we want to find everybody that's like oh they're unbelievable like Dave Chappelle is an anomaly like started doing stand-up at

14 was just a genius the way he did it throughout time. Stevie Wonder is similar that music. He was his first title called like 16 year old genius. And he was. Yeah, and he was. I like that. And he was.

He was a 16 year old genius. But that is, I think unfairly a level, like a standard level that people think you have to be at where it's like, no, no, no, you can go get good at something. Like Louis CK will talk about it. It took him 20 years. It's very fun. Like he's really, he is fascinating because, you know, he was working, he was a writer on Chris Rock and Conan and did all the kind of absurdist stuff. And then eventually his body fit his brain.

You know what I mean? Yeah. That he kind of broke off from thinking about like Brian Cox from succession. Yeah. Like, you know, biggest, one of the biggest TV stars in the world done loads of stuff before it, but that role you're like, and it's come to you now when he's probably 65, let's say. And that was, that was Louie in his forties when he just all of a sudden went, my daughter's an asshole. And you're like, Oh shit,

I think other parents would agree with that. But no one's called their kid an asshole. And then, and then it became like, that became a standard joke. Where now you see people go like, my kid's a real dickhead. And you go like, Louie was the first one that did it. Well, that is so funny. You say that, but it's one of my bugbears, because he did it with authenticity and honesty. But when you see people go, oh, my kid's a prick,

you kind of go, man, you're selling your child down the river for the easiest, like, oh yeah. Yeah, well that's how I feel when people go like, yeah, my dumb bitch wife, and you go, I really, like, when I see enough of those jokes, I finally go like, you know you picked her. Like, this isn't like, this is a reflection on you. This isn't like, granted, listen,

you could get into a fight with your wife and you could have an unbelievable bit that is real and authentic. And you go like, right, I'm not wrong in this. But when the guys just do it all the time you go like I think you're the problem in the relationship. Can you imagine I would love to see that online you know normally it says comedian destroys audience. Imagine if the thing it said audience member makes comedian reassess. You know you picked it. Yeah did actually. And it feels like you're, you're, oh yeah, that would absolutely be a British

audience member to go, why are you with her then? And you go, well, I guess I never, I guess I've never really, like that, that one, there was probably a time where you loved her. Maybe you've grown too dark. There's the guy sitting on a stool going, God, we really were crazy about each other when we first got into this thing. And the laughter is really like slow and everyone's really deep. But then also it's like, Oh God, she really, I used to get excited to see her. Now I wake up next to her and I think, who

am I and who is she? And where are we? What is this whole dance? I'm going to go home and I'm going to have a date with my wife I'm gonna take out the woman. I fell in love with comic gets redeemed We kind of follow Make love to that woman on the kitchen floor the way we used to where we were young broke and hungry and then he opens The door and she's killed herself See that's you know what I love about British people more than anything is you guys deal with darkness in a way that is so casual

that I genuinely enjoy it. Americans do this fake, like no, no, but like British people, you go, it's very like, Oh, fuck this head. It's like a very like you guys have this thing where and I think it's because you are such an old country that was an empire that isn't an empire you've done this expanding and retracting yeah I think you know what's really interesting is like and I don't know if this if you have like nursery rhymes in the UK that you in the in the US do you sing to babies yeah absolutely so when you and obviously I'm in the UK, in the US, do you sing to babies? Yeah, absolutely.

So when you, and obviously I'm in the beginnings of having to sing these songs that have been passed down for generations. We've got, do you have three blind mice? Yeah, look how they run. Fuck me. But if you analyse that, like it's a thing, you're singing this to a sleeping baby, three blind mice see how they run. They all chased after the farmer's wife who cut off their tail with a calming knife. Did you ever see such a thing in your life as three blind mice? And I was like, this is a dark thing to sing to a child.

By the way, I don't know if we have, I think we stop at three blind mice, and then we kind of trail. I don't know if we go to the part where the farmer's wife is mutilating them. But it comes because the, an English queen at the time, like I think some Protestants tried to kill her, some Catholics tried to kill her. So she had them killed publicly. And that is the song that it comes from that. That was the equivalent of horny guys telling a hot girl comedian that she is

Mia Bella. That's the original. Like, and then a hot girl comedian that she was Mia Bella. That's the original. And then I saw that and I wrote Three Blind Mice and well, there you go. But it's so weirdly English to kind of go, or you know, they tried to kill the Queen, so I should probably sing about this to my babies. Just to let them know. Don't go trying to fucking kill the Queen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

You go for context, little one, we're talking about the Queen. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Don't try to kill Yeah, she'll cut What would you do? Well, you know what you could understand. Yeah, they say you were a disabled mouse And so you're So you're chasing a farmer's wife But you disagree with the way that she looks at God. She will kill you No, that's like an old Brooklyn nursery rhyme was like, the envelope is light. The envelope is light.

Put them in the river. Like now that guy was ripping me off. So I taught him you're going to fucking die. But it is your guys is like the empire brain of like kind of that idea of like you guys have such history. We're still such a new country. But then also everyone loves America because it like, particularly at the minute, like it's so pulsatingly quick. You never know. Like this is the only country in the world where a

girl could become a millionaire and famous for saying hock to her. I mean, welcome to America baby, get to the front of the line little lady. But she's got a podcast to make. She said that she likes gobbling on dicks and America, we're talking like one direction levels of fame. And that wouldn't happen in any other country in the world. Everyone would go like, what?

Oh, well, this is true. Why would you say that publicly? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, if it was in England, I'd be like, I like gobbling on dicks. This is the noise I make when I do it, by the way. I just imagine like the BBC journalists going, well, we won't put that on TV because it's going to affect your life and you know, you'll probably lose your

job and that'll be the end for you. But here. This girl goes, make me a meme coin. Yeah. I want to bankrupt a bunch of fucking idiots. But it's just, it's so, so you, you end up looking at America from the outside. It's fascinating. It's so, we are, I saw, mate, I saw a homeless man outside a hotel for dogs. Like the man has no home.

The dogs are on holiday. We're talking about over on 25th street. I know the guy that sleeps out there. You know, you're just like, fuck. You know what it is? It's like, the dog's like, I need a break. Yeah. And the guy's like, can I come inside? You know, he's just like, fuck. You know what it is? Like a dog's like, I need a break. Yeah, and the guy's like, can I come inside? They go, we only let dogs in here. Only if you dress up as a Labrador.

He's got a little black on his nose and ears. He's like, can I sleep inside, mister? We are the world's. People sometimes pick up my shit, move along. They work for the city, they have to. They, that's what's funny, is walking my dog in New York City, she tries to smell where there's like shit or whatever.

And then one time we're on Broadway and there was just clearly human diarrhea in the corner. And then every time we walked by there, my dog's like, I want to go there. And you go, I know it was there. And we're not going there. That was human waste. I think America is the world's monster truck rally like we are like we just do like we're like You ever see a truck turn into a t-rex in the world goes. Why would we need to see that and then America's like It's like you see truckasaurus Rex breathing fire

We are the you know, it's like everything that is popular here like soda chips Everything is like packaging. It's all like loud in your face. You know what my friend Joe, Joe Masjio, he's like a director. He's brilliant bloke. He was in the gym the other day and he noticed all the fast food adverts. It was all about things. You could get your pizza and put it in the dip, get a sandwich, put it in the dip. Who doesn't love the dip?

Well, his thing was he thinks Donaldald trump is the dip of america i wouldn't you know what if you 100 i would 100 agree with that if they go like have you ever had chipotle horseradish and you go i wouldn't want to dip in that and then you find the people around you're going i'll dip whatever the fuck i can get that is i would i would agree with that i think trump is like it's that thing of like you kind of like Oh, well, who doesn't it's interesting to try the dip and I hate that His point was like that's the phase that you're kind of in at the minute of like well We had four years of kind of like this invisible referee

Let's also in the age of we love to say things are better for us than they actually are when we know that they're not Good for us like diet coke. Yeah. Like diet coke, you could argue is worse for you than regular coals because it's got aspartame. It's got like all this, like all these carcinogenics and like shit that you're like, this is really bad for you. But they're like, but there are people that are convinced that they go like, no, I'm drinking diet coke. I'm fine. And you go, I don't really know if you are. I, I, I'm drinking diet coke. Yeah. I'm fine. And you go, I don't really know if you are. I, I, I'm clearly addicted to caffeine and it's that thing with diet coke where I read all those things and it's 100%.

You know, like it's, it's carcinogenic. It's going to kill you. And yet the fears. I love McDonald's. Oh, Russell, you have no idea how much I love McDonald's and quick And quick secret for any of you that might be traveling to this wonderful country of ours, if you're ever on a road trip in the United States and you're on a highway, whether 95, Boston, the Massachusetts Turnpike, a major highway, they have rest areas where you pull over and there's like a Starbucks. And if there is a McDonald's at that location and you are hungry, eat that McDonald's because

highway rest stop McDonald's are the best McDonald's in the country. Why? Because of the turnover, because people are coming in so they're making the shit right then and there. We had every Christmas, Katie and I drive to Chicago, then to Denver, and we drive all the way back. So we drive across the country. It's very fun. With the dog, it's a fucking blast. We love doing it. What are we doing? Are you planning your music? Oh, we go a lot of shuffle. We download new albums to see if one of us, like this car

trip, she got me into Dochi who's fucking sick. I love that album. I got her into like a old Queens of the Stone Age album. We just do that. We kind of go like, have you heard this? Have you heard this? Sometimes we listen to podcasts and shit on people. It's kind of what we do.

But we stopped in Ohio. We were like driving to Chicago and we stopped in Ohio and we're like, let's get McDonald's, we're hungry. And we pull off at this restaurant. And both of us were making noises while we were making this night where we're like, oh, I just like a bite of a Big Mac. You're like, me a better.

Me a better, oh, are you a double me? It's like, it is, but we know it's bad. I know McDonald's is not real food, but I fucking love it. And that's just where Americans need to come together. We just need to go, yeah, it's bad for us. We fucking love it. That's what's interesting. It just feels like everything's very tribal here. And it feels like the only thing that's really tribal in the UK is football. Outside of that, it's got you-

But you guys also do sports in a way that I wish we were better at because I think you get it out of you. You don't what yeah with the songs with even with uh when you have people that fight. Well there's no violence that's the thing that's fascinating about American sports that it's like that I've seen I've only you I've admitted, but I've been to basketball, baseball, and American football, and it's all just very, I went to a soccer game, and it was, it was an amazing moment where it was in LA, Robbie Keane scored, and the announcer went,

the goal scorer, Robbie, and the whole crowd went, Keane, Robbie Keane, and then the guy went, thank you, and the whole crowd went, you're welcome. And it was just like, whoa. You could feel all the English people. There's about 10 of us in the room, in the grounds. What the fuck is it? Because football is so impressive. Well, it's your guys' thing. And it's, you're right. We kind of like... You guys have had decades, if not hundreds of years to come up with songs.

Yeah. With like, when you become a fan, you know, there's like- We look at Beckham. Beckham, it like, it's so like America's obsessed with him. And he, when he started going out with Victoria from the Spice Girls, for the rest of his career in England, everyone would chant, does she take it up the ass? Does she take it? Does she take it?

Does she take it up the ass? And this is one? Does she take it? Does she take it up the ass? And this is one of the best footballers we've ever had. Ever had. So you're saying like if Arsenal was playing Man U, they would be singing that against him. Arsenal fans would be singing that nonstop. Nonstop. Yeah, yeah. Just constantly. And then- Can you imagine if we did that with Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift? This is my point. It's so fascinating seeing like Taylor Swift made, I was here when she started going out with Travis Kelce and she made the news because she went to watch him play football at, Janet Jackson had to get a tit out. Like the game has changed.

It's not, I really wish we had more honest aggressiveness with our sports because it feels like- Were you aggressive in everything other than sports? That's what I mean. Yeah. And then they go like this fake thing of like, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's not sportsmanship. And you go, well, there's no sportsmanship in the regular. Why are we doing it right here?

Yeah, that's really- You guys have goons. You guys have a way of like, you guys have a way of doing it where you go like- Yeah, you have the- You get it out. You get it out of you. You go like, fuck them. I don't fucking like them. Fucking die. And then you go home and you go like, and it's all forgotten about. Yeah. And you go like, Hey, good to see you. Oh yeah. You're a fan of man city, right? And you're like, yeah, fuck you. We play you on

Saturday. Like here it's like, if you do that, you're, they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're a little aggressive. But it's, it's, but it's the only thing that we're kind of tribal about in the UK. Like you can be a bit, I mean, it's changed slightly, but you can be a bit more pick and mix you can take from different bits of the buffet, but it feels like here increasingly everything is like, you can be this or you can be that. I mean, you look at like even in comedy, it's like, Hey, what are you, are you one of these guys or you want to those? And it's so silly that you can just go. There's no way you can like both Joe Rogan

and Andy Kindler. And you're like, yeah, you could. There's absolutely a world where you could like both of those guys. Absolutely. And it just feels like so much great standup, kind of like billows between where you look at like Bill Burr. Like Bill Burr could have a chat with Mike Bobiglia and Rogan.

It's a great comic. Exactly. And it's that, I don't know, it sort of increasingly, it feels like which side are you on? Well, there's money in that. That's where I think you guys, you know, colonize the world. Yes. We do a different thing where we just, everything we do, every action we make, there's a dollar attached to it.

So like, that's what I was talking about with marketing people coming into comedy is there's people that like, you know, I know someone specifically that like saw someone I knew that wasn't doing comedy, saw me do comedy and then came in and was like, Oh, he's not marketing himself. He's not doing this and this and this. And then just was like, oh, I don't need to, I don't have to care about writing the jokes and doing the standup. I'll just steal memes and fucking market it.

And then now, and their audience doesn't care. Cause their audience goes, oh, it's marketed well. It's like, oh, this is what I'm coming, I'm not coming for the jokes. And you're like, the whole point of standup is to come for the jokes. But that's the, but his, so my question to you're like, but the whole point of standup is to come for the jokes. But that's the, but here's, so my question to you would be, if you had that sort of, you know, this kind of, you know,

that kind of wild fame, but you knew you weren't interested, would it be fun? I don't think it would. No, I think that's also why American celebrities always go insane. Yeah. Because there isn't an exit. There's like, it's like a hallway without an exit exit like they just keep going farther and farther down the hallway

Then they go like I think I'm going fucking crazy Whereas a lot of other things you can go like and go and then take a left and then you're out of it And you're like that was nuts. We push people in America until they break Brittany Spears is the best example. Yeah, well, we just pushed her as a kid until they break. Britney Spears is the best example. Where we just pushed her as a kid, she fucking snapped, her family was like, hey listen, we gotta kinda watch out for her,

she's fucking nuts, and then everyone went, no, she needs her independence! And then they got her out of that, and then she's like, I'm gonna dance with knives. And everyone was like, fuck, I don't know if we shoulda let her fucking on her own. I've got, it's funny, I've got a bit in my special about that where it's about how people are different

and trying to meet in the middle, you know, people are different, Britney Spears, Nelson Mandela. That's so funny. Very different people, they were both freed. They just did different things with their freedom. He's like, But it creates this really, I want to show you my dances with knives.

Well that was it. And he goes, king, king. He's like, that's so funny. He goes, I am finally free to show you the sand dance move every time. And you go like, what the fuck? That is a good Mandela. Thank you! Because when do you ever have the opportunity to put it out?

Brother, I've watched speeches of his. But this is what I mean. This is what I'm on about, about the comic's brain and the doctor's brain. I said Nelson Mandela and your brain went, do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do It's not a Sam, baby. It's not a Sam, it's talking to you. It was, and it's funny, my wife would like, she'd love it. And then every so often, you know, the dog would go too far. And she's like, can you not have him be like that? And you're like, well, it's what he is. Do you know what I mean?

Then it's that. We don't have a good voice for Myrtle yet. We've tried, we did a little, she's free. She was, we adopted her from Tennessee. So we gave her like a Tennessee accent, but then we're like, nah. And she's got so much personality that it almost feels like she's offended

when we give her a voice where she's like, motherfucker, I don't talk like that. Yeah, it was, we, no, Arch was, he was very much like that, sort of a bit like Beckham. Oh yeah. Quite, you know, so it sounded cheeky, but it was very cutting. Yeah.

And you're like, well, Jesus Christ, look at that fucking mess over there. You know, and it was just- Our voice that didn't stick was a big fat black woman for our dog. Okay, there's a thing there. There's definitely a thing. She'd be like, ah, ah, I ain't eating that shit, it's dry. And then we're like, no, we can't do that to Myrtle.

She's a black dog, so chill out, keyboard warriors. But yeah, I think that's like, that's my favorite part of being in a relationship is having like little bits with We have this thing, me and my wife called the viewers where there's this sort of fictitious audience that's always so, you know, if you say something a bit too much, you just turn to this sort of imaginary or sorry about that views. That's just kind of this

That's great. That's a good insight that we do a thing where whenever one of us gets something right, like we watch Jeopardy or whatever, if it's like something, we get something right. We'll shake hands, but then we do it for fake cameras. We'll go one for the TV, one for over there. Like it's a press op. We do press op and it's, and it brings me so much joy that we'll be in the middle of target or something. She'll be buying something. She'll go great for the travel aisle.

will be in the middle of Target or something. She'll be buying something. She'll go, great for the travel aisle. Those are the moments of like where you just, it's such deep, deep, I've got so many with my brother, just these like non-sequiturs about like, you know, my granddad or my auntie, which, and it means nothing to anyone. But if my brother goes, not her face, it will always make me laugh. And it means nothing, but it's that kind of like, sort of almost like low level Tourette's where it's just comforting to the two of you. Sometimes I'll do it too much and she'll be like, all right, I got it.

Yeah. But you're like, no, no, no, I just need to say it over and over because it comes. Especially because I used to have a ton of those inside jokes with Big Jay on the bonfire. We did a radio show for eight years. So you have those and then like when you're doing it on the radio, it's like fun and it's always a bit, but eight years. So you have those and then like when you're doing it on the radio It's like fun and it's always a bit but in your relationship. You don't realize you're not on air Yeah, so you like do it too much and she's like I've got a headache and I woke up early like I don't need to hear this right and you're like, that's fair, but My stupid bitch wife and my right

Why did you I'm gonna be obsessively thinking about that this weekend just a British guy the car going then why did you, I'm going to, I'm going to be obsessively thinking about that this weekend. Just a British guy in the car going, then why did you marry her? Well, I never thought about it like that. I don't know. I guess I've changed. Time is cruel. I remember watching a rathaniel and I've, I found that so interesting because the audience, when he was talking about, you know, coming out to his mom and the audience asked such deep questions and they're kind of like things like,

do you think your mom would ever reconsider her thoughts to what? And it's, I just can't imagine that in England because I think, you know, I really liked the special but if he said those things, people would be like, people would start fucking around and trying to break the tension and go, how much longer is it gonna be?

And it feels like, I just wanted to know whether any of things were cut out, whether, do you know what I mean? When you kind of- You know what's really funny is he, Gerard taped that at the Blue Note, which is a famous jazz place here in New York City. It's across the street from the Village Underground.

Oh, right. Where all the spots are. And I was outside having a little smoke of the weed. And I was with a couple other comics. And the green room for the Blue Note is on the second floor, very lit up. And it's funny to be on the street with a couple of comics being like,

oh, there's Gerard. Oh, he's like getting into the show, like watching him walk around the green room and get into it. You're like, I don't know if he knows we could see all that, but it's funny with someone doing like a deep special. And then we're just outside like, why is he all fucking serious?

And because we weren't at the taping. We didn't know what he talked about. And you have no idea what he's talking about. I have no idea what he's talking about. You're like, man, this guy takes his comedy real seriously. And then you watch the special and you go, right, right, right, right, right. He was coming out to his parents. Got it. OK, it's maybe we should have been talking about that shit.

But you know what I mean? But that's what I mean. It's that thing of like the. That's what like I just know so many people that say the unsayable. So I keep, so my brother's just, I just find him so interesting because he's like absent in the way that a comic is like a nice bottle of red wine. It's just, but my brother's just too much. But some people, like, he's kind of like famous

in the comedy scene in the UK because he's my brother. It's just this weird, just a bit much. And we have bits about him too. Because he's just like, and I guess everyone's like this about their sibling, but we have this moment at Christmas where my aunties had like UTIs. And if you have like enough urinary infections,

you kind of go slightly do lally. And it's just a byproduct, and then you have to get medication to calm it down. I sort of said I kind of my mum said of my auntie she was just talking about and I went yeah but she's genuinely a bit crazy at the minute isn't she and my brother went an ugly it was so unnecessary timing but my mum put a knife and a fork down and just it was so, and like to me when someone has the courage to be pointlessly mean for the sake of it, just for the joke, there's something to that. But you can't justify that. I would call that my joie de vivre. I would

call that my joy of life. I'd be like, because I, but it's not for everyone, but if it is like Bob Dylan, it goes deep. Do you know what I mean? You know, I grew up an only child and my mom is great. I love my mom to death. She's one of the best people in the life, but she, she leaves open a lot of spaces to be made fun of. And when you're alone and by yourself, you can't really, like I can't shit on her to my, I can't make fun of her my stepdad or whatever when I had a stepdad, because he'd be like, I can't shit on her to my, I can't make fun of her, my stepdad or whatever.

When I had a stepdad, because he'd be like, that's my wife. What are you doing? Kid. But now I got Katie and Katie comes home with me and my mom will say something and I can like give one of those. And I'm like, and it's fun to finally have someone that goes like, that was hilarious. You're like, yes. Or my mom will say something and I'll like look at Katie and be like, yeah. And she'll be like, I don't know. Yeah. And it's just great to have a, you growing up with your brother like that, you had a partner,

you had like a sounding board. I remember there was, there was a really vivid, and again, this is the Mandela effect because the way I remember it is so different. But so I'm eight, my brother is six, and we are cleaning out my sister's rabbit hutch. And my sister is inside the house with my mom having a hot chocolate. This is her animal.

And me and my brother are sort of all the, picking up all the newspaper with rabbit piss and shit on it. And my brother, age six, looks at me and goes, "'It's not even our animal.'" And it was this really adult moment where we're smoking in it. And it's just like, I guess it's just, what happens if you're a man in this family?

And it was, but it was just- Well, it's also like, you know, it's funny is it's like your nephew at 10 being like, show off the breast. Is he off the breast? It's not even our beast. It was, it just, I don't know. Yeah, those are the moments that I, as an only child, I really, really wish I would have had because you kind of like you have this like

There's someone in the foxhole with you. Yeah, it's so funny you turn around you go like this is fucked up so comedy for you must have been because I The longer you do it you realize basically a laugh means that you're not mad Yeah, because it it's a thing. so you must have had years thinking you were mad. Well I would, I would get in trouble at school. Yeah of course. Because that's where I could get it out. Yeah. I could, if I, like my favorite thing in the world was getting kicked out in the hallway. Yeah. Because it meant I was, I was fucking killing. Yeah. It meant, it meant the teacher was losing control of the class. Yeah. Because I was doing, I was being funny. So when they'd be like, miss dance soda out in the hallway right now. You get the fuck. I know.

I had this amazing conversation with a German teacher, my frown kindler. And she sort of said, cause you sent me out and she was like, I don't understand you, you know, you're bright, but you just won't shut the fuck. You know, she was like, and I said to her, I said, I, I'm not in control of it. You, you leave so many mistakes. And I feel like I have to say it. I don't want to say it, but it makes me feel good. And I hit her with like such honesty. She was like, okay, fair enough. And it was like this again, it was like this really adult moment where you're like going, look,

I'm not a dick. I'm just fucking around. I can't help it. I know it's pathetic, but it makes me feel good. And I'm sorry. And a lot of teachers will get that. I remember a lot of teachers being like a little more graceful to me because I was funny. They're like, listen, like I was friends with the bad kids who were like setting shit on fire or like pulling fire alarms. But I was like witty. So they were like, why are you doing this? And you're like, cause it's fun.

And they're like, okay, okay, fine. I get that it's fun. Cause they could see that I was making the class laugh. If you're like, if you're doing something like that, and no one's laughing, then you're just like crazy. Yeah, but that's what I mean. It's sort of that thing of that. So presumably you must've felt crazy at home

because if your mom is saying these really wild things, in your brain you're like, God, that's so funny. God, if I had a sister or a brother where you could just, but just being able to look at each other. And get a laugh. But during, like there was this moment during Christmas where my mom, she sort of said, I just, I really want to get jacked this Christmas.

I'd like to get jacked. And with, and without meaning to be funny, it's the beauty of my mom. She was like, come on Daniel to my brother, let's, let's you and me, let's, let's have a jack off competition. And you're like, and it's just this moment where you just get to, you look at your brother and you're like, can I have a jack off competition with mama? And scene. I had one specifically. So when I would come home from college, my mom would cook dinner when you're like gonna have a jack-off competition with mama and scene. I had one specifically. So when I would come home from college, my mom would cook dinner for me and my friends. Uh, you know, I was,

I've been friends with the same group of guys since I was like 12 years old. And, uh, my buddy Danny and one of my other friends was over eating dinner and my mom said something and she meant to say like, Oh, I'm a, I'm a bit anal retentive, but it was her and her new boyfriend Keith or whatever and and I remember she goes oh that's just me being anal and I go Jesus already giving it up to the guy like that and dude my friend was like down he had to like walk away he was like what the fuck and my mom's like dang y'all and you're like okay first off don't hang that fastball over the plate if I'm not fucking taking it yard, I'm fucking going deep with that one. But it's like that anal. Hey, that was one.

But it is that that that's. God, you must have felt so great. I mean, there's moments. But again, what's great about my mom is the thing that saved me. She's got a great sense of humor. Yeah. So when I was when she would say something and I would say it's funny, even if she was embarrassed, she'd be like, that's really funny, but don't, you know, she would like check it. I might not get the laugh that I would get with a sibling,

but she would go like, that's funny. And you're like, okay, good. Yeah. Cause I didn't want to do something that. Does she watch you do stand up? Yeah. Did your nan watch you do stand up? No, I don't think so. I think someone showed my grandma one clip of my Conan, right? But I don't think she ever did. And then she died last March. And so, you know, we're talking about doing the same bits or whatever. I've had like on.

Two out of three of the specials I did, I had bits about my grandmother, and then now my whole closers about her dying because it's like crazy to go through by yourself or, you my cousin Lisa but that was it like two of us had to deal with all that and it really is in my mind comedically like a nice bookend where you're like and there you go and I won't have any more bits about her because she ain't walking the planet. Yeah man. But it's funny isn't it it's that thing of because I remember you spoke really fondly

about her wasn't she really into boxing? Uh, yeah, she liked sports. She really, really liked sports. That would, no, no, fuck. I'm confusing different stories. The story I love about you. I don't know if you've ever done this as standup, but what you were, when you were doing billions, you had to have a boxing competition and you know how to box and it was killing you. Because you couldn't box properly. Well, there was a guy, there was like, um, I'm not good at boxing. I love boxing,

but I I'm not like good at it in any way. I don't have any skills, but I can throw a punch and this, the, the stunt coordinator, this guy that we brought in, um, there was a guy that choreographed the fight, who was unbelievable. He like worked in boxing corners. Matt, it was unbelievable. And Matt taught Kelly and I all this stuff. And he really, but then they brought in this, the guy that did all the stunts for the show. So he wasn't the guy we were working with, right? Matt, the guy we were working with did fight

scenes with Matt Damon and like these big fight scenes where he choreographed them. So we had everything choreographed. We're like, all right, you're going to slip. And then, so we wanted to make it look really bad. And then they bring in this stunt guy who wasn't on set with us, who did not know anything. And he's like, all right, you guys are going to do this, this, this, I got stunt doubles for you guys. And uh, and I was like, oh, okay. And he's like, I think he thought we were just like, wusses?

Yeah, yeah. Cause he goes, he brings in one guy and he goes, this is for Kelly O'Coin who played Bill Stern, Dollar Bill. He's like, this is Kelly's stunt double. Try to throw a punch on him. And I was like, what? And we're in the ring with gloves on and shit. He goes, I go, I can just throw punches on this guy.

And I think he thinks I'm like a musical theater guy. Like I'm gonna be like, huh. And I was like, I can throw a punch. And the guy didn't believe me. He was like, yeah, you're fine. This is a pro. And I was like, all right. And he's like, I mean, really haul off on him if you want.

And I was like, you're sure about this. And we were at, we were in Brooklyn at a boxing gym. And I was like, okay. And so then we start and I'm like, I'm throwing hooks at this guy's head and he's blocking it. And he fucking left his stomach uncovered. And I fucking landed one on him. And he went, like that.

And the guy was like, all right, all right, all right, all right. And you're like, dude, what did you think was gonna happen? And it was just funny. Cause you were like, you saw him and he went, like that. And the guy was like, all right, all right, all right, all right. And you're like, dude, what did you think was going to happen? And it was just funny. Cause you were like, you saw him basically be like, you guys are pussies. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then you hit him and the guy was like, ah, shit, ah, shit. I didn't mean that.

And then he got kind of like shitty with me. He's like, all right, all right. You didn't need to like hit him in the stomach. I was like, I asked you if I could throw a fucking punch. And then I unintentionally broke Kelly's rib while we were filming the thing because they were like, Oh, then I just started throwing it. And then I caught Kelly. And then after one, we were going back, like they, they broke down, they had to like reset the cameras or whatever.

So we got sent to our trailers and Kelly's walking and he goes, I think he fucking got me. And I was like way and then I broke his rip it turned out and I was like he but then I also found that stunt coordinator and I was like told you I could punch yeah like I hurt my friend but I told you I could fucking throw him but that guy that guy came on it was like he basically was like what's up queer you can't throw a punch and you're like I can yeah and the guy was really nice the stunt guy was like oh no I get it dude I heard him he said go 100% how do you get a job where you just don't even like try well the guy's doing

like you're just I'll just do that fine fine and I think he thought I don't think he understood what we were really doing cuz Matt had it like choreographed and when we came in Matt again Matt was like a pro trainer. He like worked with like Angelo Dundee. He worked with like these big trainers or whatever. And when this guy came in, Matt kept looking at us like, this guy, what is this guy talking about? Because Matt would be like, no, no, no, I have them.

Well, they're going to they're going to they're going to hug and then push. Throw a couple of punches. He's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, we'll do it like this. It really was the most American thing where the guy came in and goes, nah, you guys playing that? Nah, this is what we're gonna do. And both Kelly and I were like,

we've been working on this for like two weeks. But shout out to that guy for getting hit and the stomach and being cool about it. Cause I think that guy probably would have beat my ass if you wanted to. If you would have turned it back at that stunt guy, if you would have turned it back on. And if he'd have gone, and now you on. Yeah, I would have turned it back to that stunt guy if you would have turned it back on and if he'd have gone and now you on like,

shelled up. I like, I've never liked box properly, but I've kind of bit. I used to go to this gym where it was called 12 three and you did 12 things that would sort of like skipping boxes are an incredible shape. Fucking hell. To do 12 rounds of three, even like with a punch bag, and then have just a minute break, do that, but and that's without even getting hit.

Yeah. Fuck, can you imagine? Boxers, even people that want to shit on Jake Paul for like boxing and being like, ah, it's not real or whatever, you're like, he might be fighting older guys, that is very true, but he's still like putting in the work. Like the guy can box.

Yeah, but also it's the stamina and the kind of getting hit and like... Well that's why I love the Fury family, because you watch them and they're all like fucking gypsy bare knuckle boxers. I interviewed him. Really? So he was on my TV show and it was one of the most surreal moments of my life because he goes, do know, JLo Yeah, and well Jennifer Lopez, you know her no no

He went I thought you would and he grabbed my phone and went is she in your phone? I was like, are you under the belief? Did you come on this show? Because you thought I was a gateway to To JLo and he was like, well, who'd you know? And he was like look at Greg my friend Greg. Does he know nobody knows JLo. So JLo and he was like, well, who do you know? And he was like, look at Greg, my friend Greg, does he know JLo? Nobody knows JLo. That's so funny. Why are you Tyson? Why do you want to know JLo so bad?

But he's six foot seven. He's kind of looming over me and he wants Jennifer Lopez and I'm like, I don't fucking know. That's my favorite thing about Tyson. He's so big that when he sings after his songs, occasionally you'll see the guy, whoever's microphone because no, you can't. okay, you're gonna do that. He just takes the mic and he's like, ah! He's just singing Aerosmith.

How many karaoke bars have wanted to shut? And the guy's gone, it's a bit like when you do like a university gig and it's students who are doing the security, this gig's going, as long as it happens. Yeah, no one's shutting Tyson. I can, okay, fight Sweet Caroline is. You know what I. No one's shutting Tyson. Okay.

Fight sweet Caroline is. You know what I mean? It's just like. Okay. Oh no, do the whole Armageddon soundtrack. No, that's fantastic. That's incredible. The special is out. This is going to come out.

Yeah. When, when is this out? This is going to come out, uh, either next week or two weeks. So the special will be out. So the special's out so you can stream it. You can stream it. RussellHoward.com it Russell Howard comm Russell slash Howard co.uk. Oh you motherfuckers fucking English Russell slash Howard. Yeah, well, I'll put it by the way If you're probably watching this on YouTube if you're listening to it, it'll be in the description on YouTube

Yeah, we'll put the link. Yeah right there in the bio Smash that link below. But yeah, I mean, this is a number eight, number eight, dude, number eight. And then you were you filmed it somewhere. Awesome. I filmed it at the Palladium. So we did. We did a London Palladium. We did a bunch of shows there. And it's it's just it's probably similar. I've not done The Beacon, but it's how I hear it's like this. It's like a 2000 series that three years. They're kind of on you. The Beacon Theater is it's how I hear it's like this, it's like a 2000 C or it's the three tiers. They're kind of on you.

The Beacon Theater is my favorite theater in New York City. Cause it's just basically a straight wall of people. Yeah. It's sort of like, it's, it's the only one I've done. I've done the town hall here, which I loved as well. That felt like a really like, yeah, you're really on top of them. But it's, I've been super lucky with New York. I've only ever done, I did the Gramercy, Great. Which is a fucking great. It's very fun. It's like it the laugh just comes back to you, but it's small enough that you can. It's great. I mean, yeah, but a ton of great

specials have been taped at the Gramercy. Yeah. And then the Gramercy Beacon and Town Hall are all three great venues. But London Palladium is pretty fucking awesome. I was nice man, it's just a good room and you know, it's sort of like, when you do shows in arenas, I've never taped a show in an arena because like when you're at home,

the laugh is like, I mean, fuck this, it's too long. Yeah. And you sound like a dick for saying that, but it's that, ah. Yeah, you gotta wait for it to come back to you. And so you're sat on your sofa going, well. Yeah, why are they waiting? Yeah. Yeah, whereas a's that, ah, yeah. You gotta wait for it to come back to you. And so you're sat on your sofa going, well, yeah. Why are they waiting?

Yeah. Yeah. Whereas a theater is right on, especially when they're right on top of you like that. Yeah. It's pretty great. But it's also that thing of you, I don't know, you can just be a bit calmer in 2000. It's like I kind of watched I watched Nate Bargatzi, especially the other day. But, you know, but it's really what we're going. But what's really great about that is that he's so calm in an arena that he plays it, not dissimilar to Chappelle where you go, it's so interesting to see somebody play a room

and be themselves in the room, irrespective of the room. Do you know what I mean? You see some people like, hello, I'm trying to fill the space. Yeah, that would probably be me. I think that's the energy I have in an arena. But watching Nate, he really is, he's always himself. Yeah, he's just always himself and it's great. But I think I like a special in the theater because it does, as a fan of comedy, because it does feel like you're right there. It's enough, you go tink-a-dumpf.

Yeah, and are you gonna take, now that you've done this hour, are you taking the time off? So no, basically I've got, I'm doing some shows in Europe, so I'm in Helsinki in a week's time. That's sick. It's fucking great, but it's also that thing of, it's so, like I was, somebody was asking me,

are you doing spots while you're in New York, and you're like, I'm doing Helsinki in a week, so I don't think anything that works here is going to work. Like, do you know what I mean? Yeah, it's Helsinki. You get this. But it's it's it's like gigging in Scandinavia. It's so close to us, but so different in England. Oh, yeah. But it's so honestly, you've got to do it, man.

It's so much. Oh, I would love to. I would love. I mean, we've been talking about going to Sweden. I went to Sweden. I went to Sweden on a vacation in 2018 and I want to go back there so bad. But the but also your stuff would work great. And this the it's even that thing like doing doing a 400 seater in New York as an English person is so fucking exciting. And it's the same as you. If you're doing a 400

seat in Sweden, they're listening to you in their second language and they're laughing and you pick up little bits and you just there's something about doing comedy in different kind of cultures. They've got a thing in Norway called a venter pulse, which is a waiting sausage. So if you keep a Norwegian waiting, they will eat a hot dog. So that's hilarious. As far as excuses for gluttony go, but I love that. Well, there's a comedian. This is that sort of street level knowledge about there's something about being in a place and you sort of, I don't know, your observational skills are just a little bit more heightened because you are on holiday. Yeah you notice a thing and you're like,

we don't have this here. And suddenly, that's what I loved about when I did the Soho. You're fucking great. The thing about that though. So you were fucking wallop in that and then you got ill. Yeah. And I had to cancel two out of the six shows because of the hay fever. I was there on the hottest day in the history of London. Yeah. That was dope. That felt crazy. But, fever brought you down. But I had hay fever and I went over with a head cold and I woke up one day and I

was like, and I was like, shit, I get hay fever and my gay friend said that it's the gayest of all the things. But it's like, but it's like, yeah, hey, fever, dengue scarlet. What you're to? Flowers. Dude, I will say ever since Michelle Wolf introduced us back in 2019, you are one of the funniest, one of the fucking greatest dudes that I know. I was so happy that you were like, I'm going to be in New York. I was like, please come do the podcast. This is great. The hour is

out now. Check out Russell. Go check out if you've never heard of go check out all the other seven specials. He's fucking incredible. I look very different. First time I saw you in Edinburgh was before we had met. And you came to my show and we had DM'd and you were like, oh, you're sticking to my show. And I went and you fucking murdered in a way. It was so fun to watch, but you don't know a guy and you go like, yeah, I'll go check your show out and you walk out and you're like, this theater is giant.

You fucking murdered. But it's not funny thing, isn't it? Where you kind of, it's like, again, it goes back to that thing of, I remember seeing your show and it was fucking funny. And that bit about smoking Marlboro. Yeah, and playing with my wrestlers. And playing with wrestlers. Shout out, dude. But it was such a great bit of light.

And just I really remember that line of like, Barbie's not doing to what it was. So it was so funny. Yeah. But and it was and and you instantly that's the cool thing about the brotherhood, sisterhood of of of stand up. When you, you're like, oh, that person's fucking hilarious. I want to be that person's friend. And it was the same with Michelle, because Jimmy Carr had basically said, she's in, Edemarie, she doesn't know anybody,

go and say hello. So I kind of was like, oh, Jimmy said, and then you see her and you're like, fuck me, she's funny. It's great, that's always- But it's that thing where you kind of then suddenly, so I saw your show and I was like, uh, come and see my show because I wanted you to like me, but I knew that was a better way of getting you to like me is if you

saw me do stand up, then if you like, if we met, if we met, it would be so like, I had you get Hannah. I'm funny. Do you like jokes? Yeah. Watching you and you're like, Oh fuck, this guy can ball. It's just kind of like jokes. Do you like jokes? Yeah, watching you, you're like, oh fuck, this guy can ball. It's just kind of like that thing where you're like, fuck, all right. And I think there is like, that's a great way to start friendship is mutual respect.

It's just kind of like this like, oh fuck. I love what you do. Well, I remember years ago. Because a lot of business friendships are people faking it and be like, oh, I love him. But it's also, again, that's something that I get in my way of, I remember years ago at Montreal. So I was not familiar with, you know, Chappelle and Chappelle shows wasn't a thing in the UK. So we saw him do,

I went to watch him do some gigs with Jimmy Carr in Montreal. This would have been at the beginning of, you know, when he came back and was doing like Oh four or five, this guy's fucking funny four, oh, five. I was like, fuck, this guy's fucking funny. Yeah. Who is this guy? Like, do you know what I mean? Oh, that's the best man. Finding out, I remember the first time

I ever saw Kyle Kanane. Well, he's a- We were doing this show for Comedy Central called Live at Gotham, and everyone came in for the whole season and ran their thing at this old club, and Kyle Kanane did his spot, and I was like, Oh, this guy's fucking fucking hilarious. Yeah, he's just fucking brilliant.

But special is out now. Go to the website. Stream it. Watch everything. Russell's done. Thank you for coming on the show.