Russell Howard on keeping the laughter going

After more than a decade on comedy’s A-list, Russell Howard has a decent claim to being our best known ‘arena’ comic. Yet last July, in the midst of an already strange year, the rockstar comedian – used to selling out venues across Britain – found himself having to reconsider his definition of a stadium gig: as he performed to a sparsely-arranged audience of 2,000 spread across a 27,000 capacity football stadium.

Tiny numbers by Russell Howard standards. But the gig itself still sits in a class of its own: as one of the largest live shows to take place in the gap between Britain’s spring and winter lockdowns. Even for a workaholic comic, that’s quite a coup. And it’s also become the subject of Howard’s first backstage documentary – released this week as a companion piece to his latest comedy special.

The special – titled Lubricant – will be his second show on Netflix.