Russell Howard: 'My son gives me a cosmic feeling of otherworldly happiness'

“You think there’s nothing new, nothing funny to say about the [former] Prince Andrew story ,” says Russell Howard . “Then you find out that part of his punishment could include being banned from all royal grouse hunts. I mean…” The 45-year-old comic unclamps the palms cradling his dinky Americano cup and throws them wide to express the open gag goal of such “madness”.

We’re sitting in a hotel bar a grouse’s flutter from the London Palladium, where Howard will be spending three nights of his 2026 stand-up tour Don’t Blame the Algorithm . And we’re on the topic of the disgraced royal because one of Howard’s 2019 skits about him has gone viral, again. The clip from his weekly satirical show, The Russell Howard Hour , sees the comedian unpacking Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s “car crash”