VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Comedian Russell Howard On The Real Differences Between American & British Audiences

In his new uInterview, comedian Russell Howard reveals what the real differences are between American and British audiences as he sets off on his new U.S. tour.

Howard explained to uInterview founder Erik Meers that, in his opinion, U.S. audiences “are absolutely incredible.”

His goal is to make sure that people “look up from the food and engage them” throughout the set. He claimed that this is “the only place in the world where I’ve ever had standing ovations when you walk on stage.”

On the other hand, in the U.K., he’ll “get standing ovations but gradually.”

“We struggle to show love, whereas Americans seem to have no problem like admitting that you like the person you’ve paid money to see,” he joked.

Howard shared some details about his road trip across the U.S. with his mom that took them to Naples, Florida.

“We spent time with some bodybuilders, and they were kind of lifting my mum, and then they were bench pressing my mum and one of them accidentally grabbed my mum and she screamed, ‘He’s got me in the crotch, he’s got me in the crotch,’ which is a real moment. A week later, we were both getting high in Portland.”

He explained how he has to change some of his jokes when adjusting from a European audience to an American one. He tries to learn about the city he’s in and then adjusts the references and jokes about the specific area so that each show is unique.

“I very much try and chat about each area rather than having the same like show every night,” Howard stated. “It definitely changes as it goes, you know.”

American audiences aren’t afraid to talk back to you, the comedian observed. “You’re just very open and you can have a proper conversation,” he shared.

Americans are “not embarrassed” and “confident,” according to Howard. 

The only place in the States that Howard had trouble was in Nashville.

“For whatever reason, just couldn’t crack it,” he said.

Howard has created a steady fan base that trusts him so that he doesn’t have to worry about offending anyone.

“The audiences trust me, do you know what I mean? So they’ll kind of let me go as far as I want to go, really,” he said. “The magnificent thing about stand-up is the audience will let you know if it’s working or not and it’s so binary it’s like is there a laugh, it works. Is there no laugh, it doesn’t, you know.”

Get tickets for Howard’s U.S. tour here.