Milton "Lil Rel" Howery Jr. (born December 17, 1979)[1] is an American stand-up comedian and actor.

[3] At Crane, Howery wrote jokes and created a script in a senior talent show, after which he decided to pursue comedy professionally.

[3] Playing high school basketball, he reminded people of his older cousin Darrel, and was nicknamed Lil Rel.

Howery went on to work as a writer, producer, and one of the regular cast members of the truTV sketch comedy series Friends of the People.

[12] In early 2016, Netflix added Howery's first exclusive solo stand-up special, Kevin Hart Presents: Lil Rel: RELevent, for streaming in the United States.

[14][15] On May 10, 2018, Fox picked up Rel, a sitcom starring Howery in the lead role and Jerrod Carmichael and Mike Scully serving as executive producers.

[17] From 2019 to 2022, Howery had played the character Bishop on the HBO Max sitcom South Side.