Russell Brand, Live From New York

Written by Catherine Kustanczy Friday, 13 March 2009 00:00

He’s become just as notorious for his off-stage antics as for his onstage ones. Brand, who has been a star (and tabloid fodder) in his native Britain since roughly 2000, resigned from the BBC last year when his radio program was cancelled because of a series of prank calls he and host/BBC personality Jonathan Ross made to actor Andrew Sachs, whose granddaughter Brand had previously been involved with. And the black-clad, eyeliner-wearing, attention-loving Brand is no less saucy onstage.

In the live special, he mocks Britney Spears, calls former President Bush “that idiotic cowboy fellow,” and pokes fun at celebrities who thank God in their acceptance speeches, noting wryly, “I don’t think He cares about the people who win MTV VMA awards…” This is a reference to his recent hosting duties of the MTV Video Music Awards, which was met with a mix of delight and horror across North America. “It made me much more famous,” he remarks, but it also “made me more notorious in this country.” From there, he relates that, along with being the fifth “most googled thing in the world” following the broadcast, he received a litany of hate mail for his mocking of the Jonas Brothers' celibacy rings (which he dismisses as a clever marketing ploy) and for his outspoken political stance.

Brand happily reads a list of death threats emailed to him following his much-talked about hosting of the VMAs. The emails are angry, immature, and mainly puerile (“Who the f*ck do you think you are?” reads one, to which he merrily retorts, “I’m Russell!”) but it’s the nature of his responses –sarcastic, coy, deft, and oozing intelligence –that separates Brand from other comics. He isn’t angry, like so many other comics; he’s just himself, as the Oasis song bookending his appearance underlines (“Supersonic” –British rock, of course). He swats off his haters like bothersome bugs, mocking their ignorance with a dramatic flip of the hand, stick-out of the tush, and theatrical skipping. Along the way, he freely references English history, French culture, and classic literature. He doesn’t get too high-minded-however, and at one point launches into the explanation of a particularly vulgar practise called “seagulling.” Shock for shock’s sake –sure, but it’s still funny.

Brand, with his unique mix of sinuous sexuality and boyish charm, is perfectly aware of his position as a scandal-monger, and he milks it for all it’s worth. Along with relating his experiences of filming Forgetting Sarah Marshall (which raised his profile considerably in North America), he points up his own sordid personal history, noting, interestingly, “I like me better when I’m having it off.” He shares the confusion of two vastly different sexual personae, admitting that, post-coitus, he feels a sense of “profound existential angst… like somehow I’ve let my mum down.” One senses an acute sense of lonely desperation, but it’s hard to feel empathy when in the next breath, he’s flippantly singing the praises of threesomes, making the rationale that “if I audition two women, I’ll find (a girlfriend) faster.”

While his definition of “autograph” leaves one thinking Brand may not be the safest bet to take home to granny, it’s an equally safe bet that Russell Brand in New York City is just the kind of introduction that will make the British comic a household name across North America. And if not, one can safely assume Brand will merrily skip off, bravely flip his hair back, stick out his tush, and show his sorrow to no one, except for a fast laugh. Everyone loves the tears of a clown, after all.

Russell Brand In New York City premieres Saturday, March 14th at 10pmET/PT.
It will be repeated on Monday, March 16th, at 10pmET/PT.

Comments

0 #1 2009-03-17 10:49

So this guy that spews hatred towards traditional America is being reverred and celebrated among those that thing food originates from a bag or a box... may he and those that celebrate such shallow lack of any meaning suffer what they deserve.