Tough Gig
- TV stand-up
- ITV1
- 2007 - 2009
- 6 episodes (1 series)
Each week a stand-up comedian performs to a group of people who wouldn't normally be their audience. ITV axed this show mid-run in 2007. Stars Frank Skinner, Dara O Briain, Arabella Weir, Patrick Kielty, Shaun Williamson and Russell Howard
Episode menu
Series 1, Episode 6 - Russell Howard's Tough Gig
Further details
Russell Howard travels to the coastal town of Lahinch, County Clare, where he joins a group of Irish extreme surfers - adrenaline junkies who live for the waves. Their surfing lifestyle is extreme, with freezing water, rocky coastline and 60ft high waves. After being taken under their care and introduced to all aspects of their world, will Russell understand what makes them tick - and can he perform a stand-up gig so high-octane it will make these hardcore surfers actually laugh?
Notes
Postponed from the 17th July 2007.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Tuesday 16th June 2009
- Time
- 10:35pm
- Channel
- ITV1
- Length
- 30 minutes
Cast & crew
| Russell Howard | Self |
| Angelo Abela | Director |
| Rita Daniels | Producer |
| Richard Allen-Turner | Executive Producer |
| Elliot Johnson | Executive Producer |
| Jon Thoday | Executive Producer |
| Amanda Wilson | Executive Producer |
| Iain Erskine | Editor |
| Dave Hill | Editor |
| Miyo Yoshida | Production Designer |
| Pete Baikie (as Peter Baikie) | Composer |
| Pete Baikie | Composer |
| Willie Dowling | Composer |
Press
Anyone whose day involves extreme surfing in the freezing water and 60ft waves off the rocky coastline of County Clare could probably do with a little warming up. Cue Russell Howard, whose boyish enthusiasm and sizzlingly funny sets are usually hard to resist... but can he win over these adrenalin junkies?
Sharon Lougher, Metro, 16th June 2009Rather less amusing was Russell Howard's unbroadcast episode of ITV's Tough Gig, a quickly shelved series in which the likes of Frank Skinner, Dara O'Briain and Patrick Kielty hung out with disparate groups of people for a week before performing comedy to them. 'Hopefully, it'll never appear,' Howard mutters. 'I spent a week with these extreme surfers in Ireland and though it was a lot of fun, I was quite naive about how they would edit it. They left out all the fun to give the gig a sense of jeopardy. Luckily, loads of great stories came out of it that ITV couldn't show. One of these surfers' initiation ceremonies is to go to a post office and try to buy pornography, which led to me being bollocked by a very angry old lady.
Jay Richardson, The List, 18th October 2007