Russell Howard’s Five Brilliant Things

I tell you what’s fun to listen to: someone who loves cake, talking passionately about cake. Griefcast’s Cariad Lloyd sits with Russell and waxes lyrical about Pavlova and wider cakes. There’s more! We get all down and dirty with the Moomins and then there’s a weird bit where Cariad and Russell start acting out passages from Labyrinth. Which music star was originally slated to play Jareth? It wasn’t Bowie… the answer lies in this terrific episode. Cariad talked in the podcast about her book, the Christmas Wish-tastrophe, and that is available now, and if you know an 11-14 year old just get them this for Christmas. Then that one is done, another one off your list. They will read and enjoy it.  You can get that book at your local independent bookshop, or google the name of the book and choose an independent book provider online. You can do this! Don’t just default to the monolithic behemoths! Cariad’s regular podcast is Griefcast, where she talks to all manner of people about the various ways people deal with life when things are tough. Cariad is an absolutely incredible host and it’s a wonderful podcast, whether you yourself are struggling or not. Check it out HERE.  In this week’s Patreon show of Five Brilliant Questions, Cariad answered some deep knowledge questions about Gondor (It’s Lord of the Rings apparently. I have no idea). She also reveals what kind of hat she would be (as always, really probing questions from you guys) and Russell has a crisis about hat-wearing in general.  Go to: patreon.com/RussellHoward to get involved. Looking forward to seeing you there!  And that faint glugging noise means our Bathysphere has reached the surface of the water and our underwater journey through the Great Sea of Blurb has come to an end. Let us make our soggy way into the decompression chamber and talk about all the magnificent words we saw over a lovely biscuit and a cup of tea.  See you next week. Don’t leave your Christmas shopping until the last minute. This time of year is busy enough without having to hate yourself for being disorganised too. Bye bye x Producer: Dan Atkinson Line Producer: Daisy Knight Exec Producer: James Taylor Composer: Fat Lady Music Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You want wisdom? Here’s five bucketfuls of Wisdom poured into your ears. Britain’s top philosopher Alain de Botton sits down with Russell and, well, it’s an absolute belter. 🧠 He explains how to make your mind more healthy, how to get through the bad times and he tells Russell just how much he loves water parks. Yeah. You don’t get that on the other Alain de Botton interviews, do you? 🧠 There’s so much to enjoy, and so much nourishment in here for you. Give it a bloody whirl and you won’t regret it. Also, don’t double-screen it. Give it some attention. There’s proper good stuff in there, it seems a waste to have it on while your attention is 85% on finishing the next level of Balatro. So you’ve enjoyed the podcast, and you are keen to expand your curiosity further? Good. So you should. Alain’s books are available in all independent bookshops, and a good start point for your curiosity is Alain’s online home The School of Life.  Have a look around, watch some videos, check out the shop, and you can subscribe if you want to get really involved with your own mind.  In our Patreon show this week Alain answered your questions, and the show gets looser in a really fascinating way - Alain talks a bit more about himself and his own life, what drew him to his work and how he likes to organise his thoughts.  The Patreon community you can join for free, so please do join us, we’re growing and we’d love you to come along for the journey. We’ve got lots of exciting plans, but really it’s worth just getting more of Alain. I’m a big fan. Can you tell? Go to: patreon.com/RussellHoward. And that’s the end of the screed. It’s been a great ride having you along for this podcast blurb, I feel we’ve come a long way together and really connected. I hate goodbyes. Maybe it’s not ‘adieu’ but more ‘a bientot’? Same place next week? Lovely.  Until then. There’s no need to keep your ketchup in the fridge so take it out and free up some room. Better still, get rid of the red abomination you’re ruining perfectly good food.  Producer: Dan Atkinson Line Producer: Daisy Knight Exec Producer: James Taylor Composer: Fat Lady Music Get an Exclusive NordVPN deal here: https://nordvpn.com/fivebrilliantthings It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why did Robbie Williams leave Sara a voicemail out of the blue? Sara actually plays Russell the voicemail live on the podcast. The moment when Sara was contacted out of the blue by her teenage crush. It’s an ELECTRIFYING podcast moment!  You’d expect Sara to be fantastic and you’d be right. What a guest. She’s a woman with a borderline psychotic obsession with soup. She tells Russell about her great grandmother who was an extraordinary woman and potentially a killer (unproven), and of course we’ve got that insane Robbie Williams moment. Because it’s a voicemail we can’t say for sure if he was man or monkey when he recorded it.  Sara has just announced a mega-tour of the UK in 2025, which is immensely exciting. She’s a really excellent, funny and thoughtful comic who will give you an amazing evening of fun, and you’ll come away with some new fizzy brain ideas too.  The tour is called ‘I am a Strange Gloop’ and it’s going everywhere.  Find out the dates and get the tickets at sarapascoe.co.uk 🚨 BIG NEWS ALERT! 🚨 Today we launch our Patreon page, which you can join for free to get some extra goodies, and if you like it then you can join as a full member, which means you'll get our spin-off show, Five Brilliant Questions - and you'll get to make the show with us.  It's looser than the main show and a lot of fun.  On this week’s show, one listener asked for the recipe for a lasagna that Sara cooked in a dream they had. It’s very weird, a lot of fun and the recipe is not what you expect.  Go to: https://www.patreon.com/c/RussellHoward to get involved. Looking forward to seeing you there!  And we’ve come colliding to the buffers at the end of the track once again. This is the last stop, all change please. If you need me I’ll be in the little room with all the other drivers having a well earned cup of Bovril.  Next week, I will be here and I hope you will too.  Sayonara, you wonderful human being.  Producer: Dan Atkinson Line Producer: Daisy Knight Exec Producer: James Taylor Composer: Fat Lady Music Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Does Rugby's hardest man have a dog with the least hard name? It's all in this barnstorming show with England Rugby Union Prop Joe Marler, who announced his retirement just a week ago. Joe tells Russell about drug testing in Japan, he explains the fine art of shithousery and they both get incredibly passionate about biscuits. As we talk about on the show, Joe's post-rugby work is his weekly podcast that he does with Tom Fordyce, 'Things People Do'. It's well worth checking out, it really is one of the better podcasts around. You can get it on Spotify, Apple, your podcast app there on your phone, or if it's easier, just click this link to help you find it. Russell is working up some new material at the moment, popping up at gigs across the UK and for a little while in Australia. Keep up to date with all his latest gigs at Russell-howard.co.uk. Thanks once again for tuning in, and remember when the ball pops loose from the scrum you've got to just dive on it. Byeeee! Producer: Dan Atkinson Line Producer: Daisy Knight Exec Producer: James Taylor Composer: Fat Lady Music Get an Exclusive NordVPN deal here: https://nordvpn.com/fivebrilliantthings It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices