Russell Howard’s Five Brilliant Things
Join our Patreon for two shows a week, ad-free listening, early access and much more... Follow this link and get involved! - patreon.com/RussellHoward Each week Russell sits down with fantastic guests to chat about their Brilliant Things; the items, places and people that make life worth living.
Episodes
October 14, 2025 • 64 mins
Star of Celebrity Traitors, and Ted Lasso, and Slow Horses…Nick Mohammed is here revealing the five things that make him happiest.
What happened when he was asked to perform one-on-one for his hero Andrew Lloyd Webber (awkward!)? Who was the inspiration for his hit character Mr Swallow? And what invaluable tips did he get from Paul Daniels? That’s all in here and so much more. It’s a Nick Mohammed fan’s dream hour.
Oh, and if...
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October 7, 2025 • 66 mins
From Corrie, Phoenix Nights and the Madame Blanc Mysteries, Sally Lindsay is here with her Five Brilliant Things and they are belters.
It’s a romp through the majesty of Chas and Dave, some strong opinions about loudspeakers on public transport and taking wild train trips from England to Italy in the early 1980s.
As we talked about on the show, Sally stars in and wrote the Madame Blanc Mysteries and you can find that paragon o...
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September 30, 2025 • 64 mins
Which famous author does Dom Joly feel he may have to kill in order to get his perfect job?
And why is he compelled to jump off every high perch that he comes across?
And why was he caught in the bathroom of a High Court Judge semi-clothed?
The answers are all in this fabulous podcast, where Dom Joly selects the Five Things that make his life most exciting - and it is an exciting life. The show takes us across the globe, throu...
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September 26, 2025 • 81 mins
A bumper month of truly excellent shows! This podcast contains the best bits of each of our September shows so there's no new content (unless you include some links and a little bit of chat about Beef Rendang).
But here you can enjoy a brief bit of:
Irish stand-up powerhouse Ardal O'Hanlon!
Podcaster and actor Georgia Tennant!
US comedy megastar Taylor Tomlinson!
From Taskmaster - the brilliant comedian Phil Ellis!
And Stacey...
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September 23, 2025 • 68 mins
How did Joanna Page nearly cock up her Gavin and Stacey audition? How did she end up following Kenneth Branagh around in secret?
The stories, the stories! This delightful episode with Gavin and Stacey’s Joanna Page is a delight from cover to cover (yeah yeah, podcast/book/bad analogy get lost).
Her Brilliant Things include her unhinged dog Daisy (the stories!), her Dad’s Prawn Salad and her refuge, a wonderful caravan. It’s a...
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September 16, 2025 • 59 mins
He’s in Taskmaster, he’s had his own Radio series and for years he’s been one of the downright funniest stand-ups in Britain. Welcome to the Five Brilliant Things of Phil Ellis!
Expect incredible stories about Rik Mayall, an awful kid’s game where you either get mauled by a dog or soaked in your friends urine. Expect the most harrowing ‘bad gig’ story you’ll ever hear in your life. Hedgehog NO!
Watch Phil on Taskmaster on Channel...
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September 9, 2025 • 69 mins
Comedy megastar Taylor Tomlinson has dropped into the studio in the middle of her world tour! And as you might imagine it’s an absolute belter of an episode. Her favourite things include siblings (where she talks about starting comedy as a 16 year old on the US Church circuit 😮)
Taylor tells a chilling tale about leaving her comedy notebook lying around, and the significance to her of the ‘umble walnut.
An hour in the compan...
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September 2, 2025 • 64 mins
Warning: This podcast starts with Very Strong Opinions about potatoes.
It continues in a similarly esoteric vein as star of The Horne Section and Dr Who Georgia Tennant gives her opinions on the versatility of the humble glue-gun, some pretty straight-talking on MoonCups and how to psyche out opponents as an older netball team. It’s a cracking good fun episode. You’re going to enjoy this one. Even if Georgia has unusual opinion...
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August 29, 2025 • 51 mins
It's a taster of all the shows broadcast through August 2025, including Michael Dapaah talking about why Bernie Mac was such an influential comic, Tiff Stevenson running through some of her astonishing accent skills, Jake Lambert on the hunt for the person who shot his cat and a story about Howie Mandell from Red Richardson that you simply won't believe.
Tuck in if you haven't heard any of them and if you hear something you like w...
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August 26, 2025 • 63 mins
One of the best comedians to ever come out of Ireland, Ardal O’Hanlon is a complete treat. He is brimming with excellent stories from his extraordinary life of stand-up comedy, acting and amateur tennis; illicit late-night oysters, holidays in Ireland back in the day, footballing heroics on exotic islands. This episode that is like a hot bath of delights. Get those clothes off and get on in.
As mentioned in the show Ardal is abo...
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August 19, 2025 • 59 mins
Which mega-famous US celebrity has a room full of AI holograms that he talks to? It’s all in this podcast with ‘Stay Toxic’ Instagram star and brilliant comedian, Red Richardson.
Aside from this extraordinary anecdote about being taken through rooms of madness, there’s also wonderful tales about Keith Floyd, some great stories about living wild in Devon and the whole podcast is packed full of laughs from start to finish. A trea...
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August 12, 2025 • 57 mins
Food poisoning in Kyrgyzstan with Jack Dee? It's just one of the fantastic stories told by comedian Jake Lambert on today's fantastic episode of Five Brilliant Things.
Other highlights include a vigilante mission to discover the man (or woman) who shot his cat and much much more. 🙀
Jake is huuuuge on Instagram where his reels do some serious numbers - you can see him on Instagram where he's @jakelambertcomedy
🌞 Jake is also...
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August 5, 2025 • 59 mins
Are you an Umarell? Or will you become one? What is an Umarell? It’s all in Tiff Stevenson’s Five Brilliant Things.
Tiff is a fantastic UK-based comic who has joined us in the studio to talk about the majesty of accents, the beauty of weddings, the taste of childhood sweets and the mysterious Umarell.
It’s worth listening just for Tiff’s wonderful way with accents. Come for the accents, stay for the brilliant things. And of co...
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August 1, 2025 • 53 mins
Four short clips from this month's episodes for the indecisive or time-poor podcast listener. This gives you a taster of what we did this month and if you like the sound of any of them you can go back and devour the whole thing.
July's guests were Australian comic Felicity Ward, Ironman competitor and TV presenter Ashley Cain, comedian Sophie McCartney and Internet Food Sensation, What Willy Cook.
Please enjoy responsibly.
Tha...
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July 29, 2025 • 55 mins
The YouTube sensation, the brains behind Big Shaq and the international hit 'Man's Not Hot' - it's Michael Dapaah and he's in the studio to tell Russell about his Five Brilliant Things.
Michael's Brilliant Things include Bernie Mac (which has an unexpected story about Michael meeting Dave Chappelle in Ghana?!) and his ex-girlfriends.
Michael talks in the show about his new project 'Comfortably Speaking' and that show began just...
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July 22, 2025 • 57 mins
Will can cook. And he’s become rather well-known on Instagram for his no-nonsense, chirpy recipes under the Instagram handle ‘What Willy Cook’. Well here he is with his Five Briliant Things, including the smell of mini-eggs, sandwiches in general and Portuguese food. It’s a cheeky sashay through these marvellous things and there’s some excellent food and cooking tips to take away too.
As mentioned in the show, Will is putting o...
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July 15, 2025 • 60 mins
Do you fancy a romp through 90s nostalgia? Because comedian Sophie McCartney has got you covered. Her brilliant things include the X Files, Keanu Reeves, as well as some amazing frank stories about the less glamorous side of being a Mum (as you may expect from Sophie).
Lots of fun and our Patreon episode is equally exciting with a run down of Russell’s plan to approach Dame Judi Dench to play him in a biopic. Honestly it’s real...
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July 8, 2025 • 54 mins
This episode of Five Brilliant Things is an enormously powerful listen; an emotional journey through the extraordinary life and times of the TV Host and endurance athlete Ashley Cain.
He talks with disarming honesty about finding strength and wisdom after the tragic death of his daughter, and his Five Brilliant Things are actually borne of his adversity.
He also goes into detail about what it was like to canoe around the Britis...
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July 4, 2025 • 47 mins
The best of our June shows!
Starring Jake Humphrey, Harriet Kemsley, Jordan Banjo and Max Fosh.
A snippet from each show that you can sample as a little amuse bouche (amuse oreille?) and see if you fancy listening to some more. It's the perfect way to find out about people you don't know or just trot away an hour or so. Please enjoy.
Normal shows are still released as always every Wednesday, this is just an extra bit for the i...
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July 1, 2025 • 63 mins
Australian actor, comedian and infectious company (can we say that positively in a post-covid world?!) Felicity Ward is in the studio with Russell today.
She’s here to talk about the five things that make her happiest, and they are belters.
Felicity shares her passion for turning up as a surprise when you said you couldn’t make it, she talks about the joy of passing on generational family weirdness and she reveals just how gruel...
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