Comedian Russell Howard On Performing At The Gramercy Theatre & Dave Chappelle

(CBS Local)-- British comedian Russell Howard loves performing in America.

While Howard plays big arenas in England, he finds that audiences in the U.S. actually like to clap when they come to comedy shows. Howard will be at the Gramercy Theatre Friday and Saturday and notes that the stages are smaller in New York for a particular reason.

"I like New York, I think you've got some of the best comics in the world here," said Howard in an interview with CBS Local. "I've been here when someone like Dave Chappelle has done an hour. It's great and I get all excited as a comedy nerd. There's such little space in this city, so your performers stand still and bust it out. A lot of British performers are moving all over the place because we have bigger stages. You can't have a big stage in New York because you want to get more people in."

Howard started performing stand-up when he was 18 and grew up admiring people like Chappelle and Richard Pryor. The British comedian finds it fascinating how some things hit big here in America while other things don't work at all back in England.

"Seinfeld was never a show in the U.K.," said Howard. "We have a show called 'Only Fools And Horses', which I doubt you've ever heard of. That would be our 'Seinfeld', which never translated here. 'Monty Python' was never on TV in the U.K. when I was a kid."

Remarkably, Howard already has all his comedy shows planned out until 2021! In an extremely competitive field, Howard looks to the titans of the industry as he tries to hustle his way to the top.

"Chappelle is incredible. He is comfy on stage and he talks about big things and small things. He's a version of himself," said Howard. "That's what I've always wanted to be and hopefully I still am."