Russell Howard’s Five Brilliant Things Stevie Martin
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Feb 25, 2026 
Stevie Martin, comedian and Taskmaster regular, reflects with sharp wit and warm honesty. She chats tour life and gig-rating rituals. She ruminates on handwriting, rigatoni devotion, sea air for perspective, interior-design indecision, and why a Pyrex jug feels like putting down roots. Quick, funny, and unexpectedly introspective.
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Gig Rating Ritual With Smileys
- Stevie tracks every gig on tour in a paper book and gives two smiley ratings after each show.
- One smiley records whether she liked the gig and the other whether she thinks the audience liked it, and she crosses off dates with smiley faces.
Use A Smooth Pen To Aid Memory
- Use a smooth-flowing pen to make writing pleasurable and improve recall when learning lines.
- Stevie buys black biros from WHSmith because they "flow like a dream" and she writes lines repeatedly to memorise timing and rhythm.
Handwriting Locks In Spoken Rhythm
- Writing by hand strengthens the hand-to-brain connection and helps embed rhythm and phrasing of spoken lines.
- Stevie rewrote sketch lines repeatedly when last-minute changes broke the cadence she needed to perform.