E109: Russell Howard: How To Laugh Through Fear, Anxiety & Imposter Syndrome

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

FlightStory

Society & Culture, Business, Education

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2021

⏱️ 105 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Russell Howard has barely been off our screens for 15 years now. The host of The Russell Howard Hour and Russell Howard’s Good News, his new special on Netflix is ‘Lubricant’ and he has a new documentary about trying to keep comedy alive during the pandemic, ‘Until the Wheels Come Off’.

In this episode, Russell opens up to us about what it took to get to where he has. When he was 18, he did a stand-up gig for the first time, and instantly knew it was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Russell quit his job and his dad gave him one year to establish himself in comedy, he managed to get signed on to an agency… with three days to go until his year was up.

In a touching conversation encompassing everything from why he does comedy and what he sees as the value of it, to his closeness to his family, this is Russell as you’ve never seen him before.

Topics

Your family
Why you ultimately became a comedian
Dealing with the high of comedy shows compared to normal life
Getting into stand up
What are the key things that got you here?
How does the laugh impact you
Looking for the 'bit' in everything
How do negative reviews impact you?
Impostor syndrome
Mental health implications and using fear as a motivator
Therapy
Your pre show rituals
The lowest moment of your life
What would happen if you could never write a joke again?
Are you happy?
Your Netflix special
The last guests question

Russell:

https://twitter.com/russellhoward

https://www.instagram.com/russellhoward/

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	If they're laughing, it's fine, if they're not, it ain't.
0:03.0	This is the Russell Howard we have never seen before.
0:06.9	When you're low, it leaves you mentally fragile,
0:10.0	but then that makes you work hard and go again
0:12.4	because you know the excitement you get
0:14.3	from making them laugh.
0:15.3	It's an unhealthy treadmill,
0:17.2	but at the end of that treadmill,
0:18.5	there is this incredible cherry.
0:21.4	That's what happiness is.
0:22.8	Figure out a healthier way of being the best you
0:26.7	without it being so draining,
0:28.2	to realize what you have.
0:30.1	There will always be sort of shimmering lights of hope
0:34.5	in the misery,
0:35.6	but sometimes somebody has to help you find them.
0:38.7	When he died, it was just this ledge hammer
0:41.1	to your heart where you just go,
0:43.0	Jesus, one of the, one of the,
0:45.4	good souls isn't here anymore.
0:59.6	Russell Howard.
1:00.8	I've watched Russell Howard on TV for years and years and years,
	...

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