Russell Brand
Dec. 16th, 2007 10:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloRussell Brand is all over the place. I see they even had him on the Royal Command Performance the other day- which was risky, surely? I assumed I'd hate him and I've been avoiding him as best I can, but then he guested on Have I Got News For You- a show I regularly watch- and it was like we were stuck in a lift together and I had to make the best of it.
Two things.
One he's got a whiff of sulphur about him. He's dangerous. You don't know quite what he's going to say or do next. On HIGNFY he got up in the middle of the show to go to the toilet and- I mean- that's just not done. He's fiercely intelligent but also damaged- all those drugs, all that sex- and you fear for him. He could show himself up by saying something really tasteless or stupid. That nearly happened on HIGNFY when he started off on a ramble about coffins and waste bins which was neither clever nor funny- but he kept going and kept going until the weirdness trumped the unfunniness and he'd got a surrealist masterpiece on his hands. Most comics have a constituency- the politically right-on crowd, the jack-the-lads, the mums and dads- and their material is tailored to the prejudices of their chosen audience. Outsiders may find them offensive but they're always on safe ground with the home crowd- which means that they're never really as edgy as they'd like us to think. But Brand seems to be inventing his constituency as he goes along. He really is winging it. He's out there, on his own, without peers. When was the last time a high-profile comic took such risks? I don't know. Kenny Everett, perhaps? Peter Cook?
Two. He dominates. HIGNFY belongs to team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton. Their guests are there to back them up- sometimes to act as patsys. Brand stole it from them. Effortlessly. You weren't interested in their practised ding-dong, you were fixated on this extraordinary man with the pasty face and the gob-stopper eyes and the Amy Winehouse hair-do. The other guests were Jack Dee in the chair and Charlie Brooker- our number one stand-up and our funniest TV critic. They got slaughtered too. The whole shooting match looked tired and dated and contrived compared to free-form Russell. He dominated proceedings even when he was off-set- having a wee- because we missed him and wanted him back. He reminds me a little of Kenneth Williams- not because of his style- Brand's camp is very different from Williams' camp- but because- whaetever company you put him in- he'll always be the star.
God knows where he's going. He could be a portent of things to come or simply this season's freak. Maybe we'll soon be sick of him. But right now, at the close of 2007, he's the best thing on telly .
Two things.
One he's got a whiff of sulphur about him. He's dangerous. You don't know quite what he's going to say or do next. On HIGNFY he got up in the middle of the show to go to the toilet and- I mean- that's just not done. He's fiercely intelligent but also damaged- all those drugs, all that sex- and you fear for him. He could show himself up by saying something really tasteless or stupid. That nearly happened on HIGNFY when he started off on a ramble about coffins and waste bins which was neither clever nor funny- but he kept going and kept going until the weirdness trumped the unfunniness and he'd got a surrealist masterpiece on his hands. Most comics have a constituency- the politically right-on crowd, the jack-the-lads, the mums and dads- and their material is tailored to the prejudices of their chosen audience. Outsiders may find them offensive but they're always on safe ground with the home crowd- which means that they're never really as edgy as they'd like us to think. But Brand seems to be inventing his constituency as he goes along. He really is winging it. He's out there, on his own, without peers. When was the last time a high-profile comic took such risks? I don't know. Kenny Everett, perhaps? Peter Cook?
Two. He dominates. HIGNFY belongs to team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton. Their guests are there to back them up- sometimes to act as patsys. Brand stole it from them. Effortlessly. You weren't interested in their practised ding-dong, you were fixated on this extraordinary man with the pasty face and the gob-stopper eyes and the Amy Winehouse hair-do. The other guests were Jack Dee in the chair and Charlie Brooker- our number one stand-up and our funniest TV critic. They got slaughtered too. The whole shooting match looked tired and dated and contrived compared to free-form Russell. He dominated proceedings even when he was off-set- having a wee- because we missed him and wanted him back. He reminds me a little of Kenneth Williams- not because of his style- Brand's camp is very different from Williams' camp- but because- whaetever company you put him in- he'll always be the star.
God knows where he's going. He could be a portent of things to come or simply this season's freak. Maybe we'll soon be sick of him. But right now, at the close of 2007, he's the best thing on telly .
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no subject
Date: 2007-12-16 02:42 pm (UTC)He thinks about comedy; a lot. He thinks about the structure, he thinks about what's important, he thinks about what he can and can't do. He thinks about it until he's buried deep in it.
Then he goes out on stage and just does it.
I really didn't expect to like and respect him half as much as I did after that interview.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-16 03:00 pm (UTC)Maybe I'll catch a repeat.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-16 07:01 pm (UTC)Frankly, I find him fascinating, but in the way I'm fascinated by someone with Tourette's walking down Oxford Street. His general appearance and scrawniness indicate that his drug use and rumoured bulimia are not over. I think he's supremely intelligent, in that he's playing the role of a freakshow idol, encouraging us to laugh at him but really, he's laughing at us. However, its pretty evident that drugs have destroyed part of his brain, and possibly him too.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-16 10:20 pm (UTC)I wonder if he's one of those people- like Peter Cook- who are always "on" and never stop performing. I would guess that he was.
I've been reading some of his journalism today. He's got a real way with words. His piece about meeting Keith Richards is brilliant.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-16 10:25 pm (UTC)Camp but allegedly straight.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-17 11:58 am (UTC)