The Russell Howard Hour returns to Sky Max on Thursday 8th September at 10pm

Russell Howard is back to share his hilarious takes on the spiralling headlines with the 6th series of The Russell Howard Hour, coming to Sky MAX and streaming service NOW on Thursday 8^th September at 10pm. The Russell Howard Hour immediately became one of Sky’s most successful entertainment series when it launched and has also gone on to see huge success online with over 400 million views on social media.

Obsessed with the news, the comedy megastar makes his highly anticipated return, following his third and biggest sell-out world tour. The satirical and topical series, which will include Russell’s 100th episode on Sky, is perfectly timed to launch during the week the new Prime Minister is set to be announced.

Throughout the series Russell will be joined by guests in studio and via a satellite link, with the show previously featuring interviews with well-known faces including Ed Sheeran, Matthew McConaughey, Dizzee Rascal, Elizabeth Day, Billy Connolly, Akala, Keanu Reeves, Lady Leshurr, Guz Khan, Naomi Klein, Jim Carrey, Jack Black, Louis Theroux, Tyson Fury, John Oliver, Alesha Dixon, Tan France, Brian Cox, Rob Delaney, Armando Iannucci, Elizabeth Banks and Jimmy Carr, while also spotlighting unsung heroes such as disability activist Sinead Burke, anti-knife crime campaigner and former champion boxer Mark Prince and KKK converter Daryl Davis.

We will see the welcome return of Playground Politics, where Russell talks to entertaining school children around the country on a whole host of topics and issues and Good Deeds, with the show continuing to celebrate the nation’s acts of kindness plus live guest performances from the world of comedy.

All episodes of the series are available to catch-up on NOW. Each episode is also available to watch worldwide on Russell’s YouTube channel, with over 1.4 million subscribers, as well as being broadcast on Foxtel in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand close to UK transmission.

Russell has over 10 million followers on social media. His recently created TikTok channel attracted over 100k followers within 48 hours of launching and is currently tracking over 1.1 million with over 50 million views including the first video featuring a sketch on the fuel crisis from the previous series of The Russell Howard Hour clocking up over 6.4 million views.

The sixth series of The Russell Howard Hour was commissioned by Zai Bennett, Managing Director of Content for Sky UK and Ireland and Phil Edgar-Jones, Director, Sky Arts and Head of Entertainment. The Commissioning Editors for Sky are Shirley Jones and Dwayne Eaton. The Executive Producers for Avalon is James Taylor and the Series Producer Jason Dawson.

NOTES TO EDITORS

For more information, please contact Calum McGarry: Calum.McGarry@premiercomms.com

About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of Comcast Corporation, a global media and technology company that connects people to moments that matter. Across six countries, Sky connects 23 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own award-winning original content.

Following the launch of Sky Glass, we now offer customers our strongest ever line-up of products and services. As well as the new streaming TV with Sky inside and everything integrated, customers can enjoy the award-winning Sky Q with all your favourite channels and apps in one place, and with Sky Go you can now access an even better experience on your devices. Sky TV has new channels, new shows and new deals with Peacock, Paramount+ and more. Sky Mobile was voted Best Pay Monthly and Best Value Pay Monthly network by Uswitch, and with Sky Broadband we’re offering our fastest speeds yet.

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, Gangs of London and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years alone. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free; Sky Arts is the UKs only dedicated free-to-air arts channel making the arts accessible for everyone and Sky Sports, our leading sports broadcasting service, brings customers some of the biggest and best global sporting events from the Premier League to Formula 1 and everything in-between. Sky Cinema is the home of Sky Original films with brand new films launching every month alongside an unrivalled range of the latest cinema releases and on demand library.

We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030 and we’re proud to be a Principal Partner and Media Partner of COP26 – the UN Climate Change Conference. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity, and we’ve set ambitious 2025 targets to continue to increase diversity and representation. We’re also committed to investing £30million across our markets over the next three years to improve our approach to diversity and inclusion, and to tackle racial injustice.

About NOW 

NOW is the home of brilliant entertainment. We’re one of the UK’s leading streaming services with critically acclaimed shows, new and exclusive movies, unmissable sport and epic kids TV – all with no contract. Join in with an Entertainment, Cinema, Sports, or hayu Membership to stream instantly across TV, mobile, desktop and over 60 other devices. Watch on the go and even offline with our app by downloading shows and movies. 

Entertainment Members can enjoy critically acclaimed dramas, documentaries and comedies, Emmy award-winning shows, the best of HBO and exclusive Sky Originals. Cinema Members can discover over 1000 brilliant movies, from the latest blockbusters and classic favourites and a new premiere every day. Sports Members cheer on unmissable Premier League, international cricket, F1, golf and more – all live, across 11 Sky Sports channels. 

Plus, members can enhance their experience with NOW Boost – that’s full 1080p HD, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and streaming on up to 3 devices at once, ad-free in VOD. 

For super-fast broadband, members can enjoy a contract-free connection with a NOW Brilliant Broadband, Fab Fibre or Super Fibre Membership. 

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About Avalon

Avalon is a multi-award-winning talent management, television production and live promotion group with offices in London, Los Angeles and New York.

Avalon, Artist Rights Group (ARG) and The Agency represent a prolific roster of artists including comedians, actors, presenters, writers and directors. Avalon’s numerous ground-breaking returning television shows currently in production include: Not Going Out (BBC), the UK’s longest running sitcom on air; Taskmaster (Channel 4), the BAFTA-winning hit entertainment format showing in 100 countries; multi Emmy-winner, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO); The Russell Howard Hour (Sky), the network’s most successful entertainment show launch since 2010; Starstruck, a new sitcom from the 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Rose Matafeo (HBO Max/BBC); Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, from creator Josh Thomas (Freeform); Breeders, a sitcom starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard (FX/Sky); a new series of the iconic British satirical puppet show, Spitting Image (BritBox UK); and multiple comedy specials for Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and Netflix.

Other landmark Avalon shows include BAFTA winning and multi-Emmy nominated Catastrophe (Amazon Prime Video/Channel 4), Fantasy Football League (BBC/ITV), multi BAFTA-winning TV Burp (ITV), and Workaholics (Comedy Central USA). Avalon also distributes its catalogue of programmes to over 150 countries worldwide. Avalon has produced many globally successful podcasts and is at the top of the UK iTunes chart with the multi-award-winning Shagged. Married. Annoyed by Chris and Rosie Ramsey.

As a leading promoter of live comedy, Avalon produced Newman and Baddiel: Live at Wembley, the UK’s first arena comedy show; Jerry Springer: The Opera, the first West End show to win all four UK ‘Best New Musical’ awards; and has continued to produce and promote live shows globally, as well as promoting more winners and nominees of the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award than any other company.

For Avalon news visit: www.avalonuk.com/press or follow @avalonent