'It was like meeting God ... and then it turns out that God knows who you are and gives you a hug'

COMEDIAN Russell Howard loves coming back to Liverpool.

- By RYAN PATON

The ardent Reds fan had his first professional gig here - and has a story to tell about the time he met God... or Jurgen Klopp, as Russell likes to call him.

Russell shot to stardom with his role as a regular panellist on Mock The Week and he has been a household name in comedy ever since.

The comic, 45, has been touring across the UK making people laugh for more than two decades, and he told the ECHO in an exclusive interview how it was at the Albert Dock, at Liverpool's famous Rawhide comedy night, where his professional career officially got under way with his first payday. He said: "It was £50 to open on a Thursday in 2001.

"It was the greatest. I did the Rawhide a lot. That walk around the dock with my notes, memorising those 20 minutes. I spent a lot of time pounding those pavements.

"Everyone used to really dress up for that show as well. I'd look like s**t and you'd see me outside memorising my notes. For whatever reason, it always clicked."

Russell says a Liverpool show always feels like "a weird sort of homecoming" and he can't wait to return to where it all began, when he plays a series of shows at the Empire Theatre next spring with his new tour, Don't Tell The Algorithm.

He said: "I don't think I've ever done a tour show in Liverpool where it is the same as every night of the tour. There's always something that happens, or there's some kind of energy that just makes it that little bit more exciting.

"Scouse crowds like to see you think on your feet. You can have a script going in, but the crowd might react in a certain way, or someone might say something [that changes it]. But if you can kind of dance with the crowd a bit, they will reward you so much.

"Because you are a funny city, there's a higher plane of comedy."