He’s a comedian/ actor/ TV and radio presenter-host/ author/ columnist, and he’s one of England’s funniest men. He is, of course, Russell Brand.
Here he is performing a Tamara Beckwith routine on his live DVD:
and an Ian Huntley/Sun newspaper routine at The Secret Policeman’s Ball . He was – and is – hilarious.
Since then I’ve watched his stand-up (live and on DVD); I’ve watched all available episodes of RE-Brand; I’ve also watched (and loved both series of) Ponderland; and I’ve read My Booky Wook and Articles of Faith – and I’ve just finished reading Booky Wook 2: This Time It’s Personal.
I enjoyed St. Trinians (a little). Here’s the trailer:
I enjoyed Forgetting Sarah Marshall (a lot). Here’s the trailer:
and Bedtime Stories (a little). Here’s the trailer:
and I’m looking forward to him playing Arthur in Arthur. Here’s the Arthur trailer:
and to him playing Trinculo in Julie Taymar’s version of The Tempest. (Note for trivialists – in the BBC version of The Tempest, Trinculo was played by Andrew Sachs). Here’s the trailer to The Tempest:
I’m also looking forward to Hop. Here’s a Hop promo trailer:
And here’s the trailer for Get Him to the Greek (a sequel of sorts to Forgetting Sarah Marshall):
He’s recently been in (with Alec Baldwin) the film version of Rock of Ages:
He also voiced Dr Nefario in Despicable Me:
I’ve watched everything he’s in on Youtube; and I’ve listened to him on TalkSport, and to every podcast of his Radio 2 Russell Brand Show (Saturday 21-23.00), a show I enjoyed very much.
Here are the podcasts:
http://www.russellbrandpodcastarchive.com/
What I like about Brand is his intelligence, his wit, his use of language to make valid points about us and our world, his (former) use of a camp persona as a strategy to seduce women, and his unflinching use of his own (often painful) experiences for his comedy.
Many don’t care about his seedy past; hopefully he does. He must realize that the moment he stopped the drugs/alcohol, his career sky-rocketed and he became world-famous.
His acting/film career is blossoming; hosting the controversial (2008) and relatively incident-free (2009) MTV VMAs raised his profile; his television career in the US and the UK is going from strength to strength; he’s just signed a very lucrative book deal; the podcasts of his TalkSport radio show attract million of listeners, as do his BBC radio show podcasts; his newspaper football column is popular and widely read; his stand-up shows sell out – not bad for someone who could be described as a self-obsessed introverted extrovert from Essex.
As Russell Brand thrives on controversy, it looks as though he is going to have a long and successful career – and as long as he stays funny, I’ll continue watching him and listening to him.
Here’s a clip from the 2009 DVD Russell Brand in New York. It’s a perfect example of Russell Brand’s intelligence at work, particularly towards the end of the clip (at 6.20) where Brand makes a reference to Michel Foucault’s refutation of the ‘repressive hypothesis’; a theory Brand uses in relation to the media image of the Jonas Brothers.
And here’s Russell Brand being interviewed (in 2010) by Jeremy Paxman:
And here’s Russell Brand offering his thoughts on politics after guest-editing The New Statesman in 2013. Here he talks again to Jeremy Paxman:
It seems that there’s more to Russell Brand than just being a clown.
Enjoy.
Russell Brand: self-obsessed introverted extrovert?
Text © R J Dent (2014)
R J Dent 