Russell gets a word in at last

GOING by his blonde hair and baby-face features, Russell Howard looks more like a member of a boy band than a comedian. Looks, though, can be deceiving. Howard might appear suspiciously scrubbed, however, there's nothing overtly clean or harmless about this Bristol comedian's brand of comedy.

Like Frankie Boyle – both are performing in the Capital over the weekend – the 28-year-old is best known for his regular appearances on satirical TV game show, Mock The Week.

Unfortunately, Howard, rarely gets a word in edgeways when Boyle is on the show, so Sunday's stand-up gig at the King's Theatre ought to give him a chance to display his cheeky, chatty observational brand of comedy without interruption. Got your tickets yet?

It's a quick return to Edinburgh for Howard, whose (fifth) new stand-up show, Dingledodies, first came to the Capital in August.

On Sunday, though, he arrives in town as part of his 58-date tour. The English comedian, however, doesn't exactly have too many fond memories of performing comedy in the Capital during the Fringe.

"Edinburgh's brilliant, but the further you go in, you feel more and more like a teacher who's got Ofsted inspectors in," says Howard, who performed five sell-out shows during the Fringe this year.

"It's not a good way of seeing comics. Every comic up there is terrified because everything they say is at the mercy of the journalist's perception. You could rip the s*** out of a gig and it could be that there's someone at the back saying, 'Well, I prefer the new wave of DIY comedy.'

"The only snag with Edinburgh is that you sometimes think it needs to be something more than funny. I don't know if it does."

Whatever the case, people can't seem to get enough of Howard at the moment. Following three sell-out tours in the space of a year, Howard has spent the last 11 years cementing his position as one of comedy's hottest properties.

So, how'd it all start out for the Fringe favourite?

"When I was 19, I went down to a new acts night in Bristol, and there was a guy eating a banana with a spoon while singing the theme tune to The Sweeney," recalls Howard.

"I loved the madness of it. I thought, I can't be worse than that, can I? I went back and started doing five-minute spots.

"My first six gigs were brilliant. I was just so energetic, and, looking back, I think people were just laughing at this goofball, excited kid. Then, on my seventh gig, I properly tanked.

"It was the first time I did an opening line and it got nothing. I died. That's the real turning-point, because you think you've lost it. You have to do it again to get back to where you were in the earlier gigs. That's the conveyer belt element of stand-up. You're always chasing gigs you had, trying to better yourself."

A regular on television thanks to shows like Never Mind The Buzzcocks, as well as presenting his own radio show on BBC6 Music, it's Howard's regular appearances on Mock The Week for which he is best known.

Where co-star Frankie Boyle's comedy is brutal and below-the-belt, it's Howard's charisma and chirpy, almost apologetic demeanour that ultimately makes Mock The Week all the more appealing. But, as he, reveals, the show is not as off-the-cuff as it may seem.

"Some bits are prepared and some bits are genuinely improvised," he reveals.

"You look at what's going on over the week and before the show's recorded, we'll have a fair idea of the topics we're going to chat about. The best bits are always born out of knowledge – a joke will appear that wouldn't have if you hadn't done research that week."

For those who think Howard might be tempted to reuse or develop any of the routines from Mock The Week for his stand-up shows, however, worry not.

"I'd never do that," he maintains. "When you're live, it should all be brand-new for that audience – certainly for a touring show.

"The most enjoyable thing about stand-up is that new idea, that spark – when you're working it out on stage and it becomes a really good bit.

"I remember seeing a well-known comic a few years ago, and he did the exact set that I'd seen him do on DVD and it was a horrible experience. You just feel cheated – not out of the money but out of an amazing evening.

"Having said that, if I was going to do some gigs in New York, I'd probably select my best 20 minutes. At the moment, I do loads of little gigs where I just go along and do a new 15 minutes where I throw s*** at the wall."

Whether he's joking or not, at the end of the day it's Howard's improvisational skills that are his main strength. How much improvisational comedy, then, can we expect at the King's Theatre on Sunday?

"In an hour-and-a-half set, probably 20 minutes. I try to treat that 20 as the liquid funny – the things that kind of link all the set pieces. You present your ideas and you bend them around the crowd."

• Russell Howard, King's Theatre, Leven Street, Sunday, 7.30pm, £15, 0131–529 6000