With 2.5 million Facebook fans, the most successful entertainment show in the history of BBC Three and a world tour spanning three continents, Russell Howard is a comedy force. But by the way he talks, you would be hard pushed to believe it.
The likeable comic said: "It's going all right. It's all a bit bizarre that someone like me is doing gigs at the Royal Albert Hall and in America."
The Hippodrome gigs, where he will also film his DVD, will be a homecoming for Russell, who was born in Bath but spent many years living in Bristol, studying at the University of the West of England and forging a stand-up career in Bristol's then-burgeoning comedy scene.
He said: "I look back on those days in Bristol with such fondness. Doing comedy in Bristol gave birth to the life I now have.
"We didn't know it at the time, but there was a whole bunch of us on the Bristol scene who would go on to forge successful careers in comedy. As well as me, there are Mark Olver, who does warm-up for Jonathan Ross and Eight Out of Ten Cats, Jon Richardson, who is a famous comic, Wil Hodgson, who won the Perrier Award...
"One of the regular gigs we did for about three years was at a pub called The Bunch of Grapes around the back of the Hippodrome. So there's something really cool about me walking down that same alley now and turning left into the Hippodrome instead of right into The Bunch of Grapes. The Hippodrome to me is what New York was to Bob Dylan."
I first interviewed Russell in 2004, when the then Clifton-based comic was being mooted as the next big thing. His gigs at Bristol's Comedy Box, The Bunch of Grapes, Richmond Springs and Ashton Court Festival were already creating a buzz among local comedy fans.
Today, the comic boasts his own television show, Russell Howard's Good News, can sell out London's 02 Arena, is set to be the first comic to play four consecutive nights at the Royal Albert Hall, and has already extended his Wonderbox tour across the world.
He said: "I'm still in the process of writing Wonderbox. I've been doing warm-up gigs to try the material out and, hopefully, in six months' time it will be all together and ready to tour. The title Wonderbox comes from this thing that German families do. They put trinkets and mementoes with interesting stories attached into a box and pass it down through the family. I was really taken by that, and had the idea of doing a show where my head is my Wonderbox where I keep all these stories and memories about family and friends."
So are the Howards ready to be thrust into the limelight once again, with Russell's public airing of their most toe-curling moments?
Russell, 33, who lives with his long-term girlfriend in Leamington Spa, said: "They're getting used to me talking about them, and to the whole showbiz word. My sister Kerry has been in a film this year called I Give It A Year, so mum has been exposed to the world of celebrity even more. Putting my whirling dervish of a mum in the world of celebrity has, and will, create hilarious situations.
"Kerry and I had a very normal upbringing, so it's quite bizarre that we both find ourselves in this world.
"All we did in our house was watch the telly and about once a year we would go to The Harvester.
"Occasionally my dad would say 'Let's have a Chinese meal', and it would blow our minds. It was a great childhood but very normal. I think that's why my family enjoy being part of this absurd world of showbiz – it's so not us. I also think it's why people seem to relate to me."
Wonderbox will be Russell's first live stand-up show for three years and follows his three-times-extended 2011 tour, Right Here, Right Now, which included a trio of sold-out dates at London's O2 and saw him perform to more than 240,000 fans nationwide.
By contrast, his first gig was performed with less fanfare at the now-defunct Le Chateau on Park Street. He said: "I had to follow a man who would eat a banana with a spoon and sing the theme tune to The Sweeney."
Soon after, aged 19 and with five gigs under his belt, Russell shot to the final of Channel 4's So You Think You're Funny?, losing out to Irish musical comic David O'Doherty.
Russell played all of the regular local comedy nights in Bristol and on the national club circuit for six years before landing his next big gig, as a guest on BBC Two's Mock The Week.
He soon proved himself in the bear pit of Mock The Week – and after becoming a regular panellist, he was given his own topical clip show, Russell Howard's Good News, by BBC Three in 2009. That became the channel's most successful entertainment series, peaking at more than five million viewers a week.
Russell said: "The show has done really well and I enjoy it but it has meant that I haven't had time to do much stand-up. I'm looking forward to getting back to doing the live gigs and to bringing the show to Bristol.
"I come back a lot to see family and I often meet up with Olver, go for a stroll on the Downs and reminisce around old Bristol haunts. I always have a spring in my step when I'm back."
