The comedian on mining his very large family for material, avoiding the celebrity circus, and being an unashamed standup fanboy

Born in Bath in 1980, Russell Howard is one of the UK’s most successful comedians. He started his career on the standup circuit while studying economics at the University of the West of England in Bristol. Television beckoned; he was headhunted for TV show Mock the Week in 2006, and from 2009 to 2015 had his own show on BBC Three. Howard now has a podcast, Five Brilliant Things, and his new standup special, Russell Howard Live, will be available to stream on his website from 15 January. He lives in London with his wife and their baby son.

This photo was a happy memory: I was two and outside my nan and grandad’s house in Midsomer Norton – a place filled with magic. I was playing with my grandad’s cigarettes, and afterwards I’d go and play football with him. He’d probably make his amazing toast later – he used really thick slices of bread and we named it Grandad Toast.