Howard has cited comedians Lee Evans, Richard Pryor, and Frank Skinner as influences.

[5] In 2004, he was commissioned by BBC Radio 1 to write, sing and perform on the comedy series The Milk Run.

Howard has also appeared on the shows Banter (hosted by Andrew Collins) and Political Animal for BBC Radio 4.

[7] Howard frequently worked with other members of the Chocolate Milk Gang, a group of comedians who often collaborated and performed with one another, including Daniel Kitson, John Oliver, David O’Doherty, and Alun Cochrane.

Russell Howard's Good News was voted the Best Ever BBC Three show on 9 February 2013[18] as part of the channel's 10th birthday celebrations.

In November 2013 Howard made a surprise appearance in the North East market town Barnard Castle to preview his latest tour show, Wonderbox.

However, in 2017 due to tour commitments, Howard was unable to present the show's third series and was replaced by Chris Ramsey.

In December 2015, Howard made his acting debut in BBC Two's hour-long comedy-drama A Gert Lush Christmas, which he also co-wrote.

In the film, Howard played Dan Colman, who takes his girlfriend to meet his family in Bristol for Christmas.

[33] On 23 April 2013 Howard confirmed that he would be performing a stand-up tour called Wonderbox starting in February 2014 with dates in Britain, Ireland, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

In advance of the tour, Howard planned to memorise the capital city of every country in the world alphabetically, in order to recite the full list at the start of each performance.

[42] In April 2010, Howard ran the London Marathon for the first time with both his brother and sister, to raise money for Epilepsy Society.

They cycled from John o' Groats in Scotland to Land's End in England in 4 days trying to raise £1 million.

[15] In November 2011 whilst filming a Mystery Guest segment for Good News, Howard broke his left hand when attempting to do press ups on a stunt chair.

[45] Russell was voted Heat Magazine's "Weird Crush of the Year 2013",[46] with his friend and former flatmate Jon Richardson coming second.