|
|
Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian, actor, columnist and presenter of radio and television.
Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK for presenting a Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth, and for his radio show, among other television series and award ceremonies. He has also appeared in a number of films, including the romantic comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, St Trinian's, and Bedtime Stories.
Birth name: Russell Edward Brand (Sometimes misspelled Russel Brand or Russel Brands)
Born: 4 June 1975 (1975-06-04), Grays, Essex, England
Medium: Stand-up comedy, television, film, radio
Nationality: British
Years active: 2000 – present
Influences: Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, Peter Cook, Lenny Bruce, Tony Hancock, Jack Kerouac
Brand is noted for his flamboyant style, and he has described himself as resembling "an S&M Willy Wonka". He is also noted for various controversies that have surrounded him in the British media, such as the 2008 prank calls that led to his resignation from the BBC.
Early life
Brand was born in Grays, Essex, England, the only child of Barbara Elizabeth (née Nichols) and Ronald Henry Brand, a photographer. His parents separated when Brand was six months old. His mother brought him up on her own, giving Brand a somewhat isolated and lonely childhood.
Brand made his theatrical debut at age 15 as "Fat Sam" in a school production of Bugsy Malone, which prompted him to become an actor. He began working as an extra and applied to study at the Italia Conti Academy. He was accepted, and Essex council funded his tuition for an introductory year, with potential funding for three additional years. Brand joined the academy in 1991. During this time he began smoking marijuana, became bulimic, and eventually took LSD. Brand was expelled during his introductory year for his behaviour. Afterward, Brand had small acting roles in the children's show Mud and in The Bill.
In 1995, Brand applied for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Drama Centre London and was accepted to Drama Centre. By this point he was a heroin addict and an alcoholic. He was expelled in the final term of his last year for smashing a glass over his head and then stabbing himself in the chest and arms because of poor reactions to one of his performances. After leaving Drama Centre, Brand decided to focus on comedy and began writing material with Karl Theobald, whom he met at Drama Centre. They formed a short-lived double act, Theobald and Brand on Ice.
Career
Stand-up
Brand's first significant stand-up appearance was at the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year final in 2000. Although he finished fourth, his performance attracted the attention of an agent, Nigel Klarfeld of Gagged and Bound Comedy Ltd. That year, he also made his Edinburgh debut as one-third of the stand-up show Pablo Diablo's Cryptic Triptych, alongside ventriloquist Mark Felgate and Anglo-Iranian comic Shappi Khorsandi.
In 2004, he also took his first one-man show, the confessional Better Now, to the Edinburgh Festival, giving an honest account of his heroin addiction. He returned the following year with Eroticised Humour. He launched his first nationwide tour, Shame, in 2006. Brand drew on embarrassing incidents in his own life and the tabloid press's treatment of him since he became famous. The show was released on DVD as Russell Brand: Live. His second nationwide tour, in 2007, was called Russell Brand: Only Joking and released on DVD as Russell Brand: Doin' Life.
Brand appeared in a sketch and performed stand-up at the 2006 Secret Policeman's Ball. In March 2007, he co-hosted an evening of the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs with Noel Fielding. In December 2007, Brand performed for HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip as an act in the 2007 Royal Variety Performance.
While in the U.S. for film shoots, Brand began performing stand-up there and recorded a special for Comedy Central titled Russell Brand in New York, which aired in March 2009. Brand began touring the UK in January to April 2009 on a tour called Russell Brand: Scandalous.
Presenting
Brand's first presenting role came in 2000 as a VJ on the music channel MTV. He presented Dance Floor Chart, touring nightclubs in Britain and Ibiza, and hosted the teatime request show Select. However, Brand was fired after coming to work dressed as Osama bin Laden the day after the September 11, 2001 attacks and bringing his drug dealer to the MTV studios.
After leaving MTV, Brand starred in RE:Brand, a British documentary and comedy television programme that aimed to take a challenging look at cultural taboos. It was conceived, written and hosted by Brand, with the help of his comic partner for many projects, Matt Morgan. The series was shown on the now-defunct digital satellite channel UK Play in 2002.
In 2004, he hosted Big Brother's Eforum on E4, a sister show to Big Brother 5. The show gave celebrity guests and the public the chance to have their say on the goings-on inside the Big Brother house. For Big Brother 6, the show's name changed to Big Brother's Big Mouth. Following Celebrity Big Brother 5, Brand said he would not return to host the Big Brother 8 series of Big Brother's Big Mouth; in a statement, Brand thanked all the producers for "taking the risk of employing an ex-junkie twerp" to front the show. Of his time presenting the show, he said, "The three years I've spent on Big Brother's Big Mouth have been an unprecedented joy." Brand hosted a one-off special called Big Brother According to Russell Brand, in which he took a surreal, sideways look at Big Brother through the ages. On 8 January 2008, Brand was the fifth celebrity to "hijack" the Big Brother house, in the E4 show Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack.
Brand returned to MTV in the spring of 2006 as presenter of the chat show 1 Leicester Square, which initially aired at 8 p.m. on Sundays before being shifted to a post-watershed time of 10 p.m. on Mondays, allowing for a more adult-oriented theme. Guests have included Tom Cruise, Uma Thurman, The Mighty Boosh, and Boy George. A second series began in September 2006 on MTV UK. After Big Brother 7 finished, Brand presented a debate show called Russell Brand's Got Issues, on digital channel E4. The viewing figures for the first episode were seen as disappointing, being beaten by nearly all of E4's main multi-channel rivals despite a big publicity and promotional campaign for the show. The poor ratings prompted the network to repackage the show as The Russell Brand Show and move it to Channel 4. The first episode was broadcast on 24 November on Channel 4, and it ran for five weeks.
Brand presented the 2006 NME Awards. In response to his act, Bob Geldof called him a "cunt," to which Brand replied, "Really it's no surprise he's [Geldof] such an expert on famine. He has after all been dining out on I Don't Like Mondays for 30 years." Brand hosted the 2007 BRIT Awards and presented Oasis with an "Outstanding Contribution to Music" award at the event. He also hosted one hour of Comic Relief. On 7 July 2007, he presented at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London.
On 12 December 2007, BBC Four aired Russell Brand On the Road, a documentary presented by Brand and Matt Morgan about the writer Jack Kerouac and his novel On the Road.
Brand returned to Channel 4 to host Russell Brand's Ponderland, in which he discussed topics like childhood and science through stand-up comedy. The show first aired on 22 October 2007, and it continued for the next five nights. A second series began on 30 October 2008, drawing more than a million viewers, and was broadcast every Thursday night for four weeks, plus a Christmas special that aired in December.
Brand was announced as the host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, which drew scepticism from the American media, as he was relatively unknown to the American public. Brand's stint as host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards was not without controversy. At one point, he said the night "marked the launch of a very new Britney Spears era," referring to it as "the resurrection of [Spears]." He also said, "If there was a female Christ, it's Britney." Brand implored the audience to elect Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and later called then–U.S. President George W. Bush "a retarded cowboy fella," who, in England, "wouldn't be trusted with scissors." He made several references to the purity rings worn by the Jonas Brothers, but apologized for the comments later in the show. Brand claims MTV asked him to host the 2009 awards after the ratings for the 2008 show were 20% up from the previous year.
Acting
In 2002, Brand appeared on the TV shows Cruise of the Gods (although he was fired during filming) and White Teeth. In 2005, he played Tommy in the BBC sitcom Blessed, which was written and directed by Ben Elton. He auditioned for the part of Super Hans in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show, but was rejected by the writers in favor of Matt King.
In 2007, Brand played a recovering crack addict called Terry in the pilot for the ITV comedy The Abbey, written by Morwenna Banks. The Abbey was commissioned for a full series to be shown on ITV2. Filming was scheduled to begin in January 2008, but the series has since been canceled. In 2008, Brand also appeared in Cold Blood for ITV, playing an ex-con called Ally. He voiced the Earth Guardian in Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind.
Brand had a small role in the 2006 movie Penelope, though his first major film role was as Flash Harry in the 2007 film St Trinian's. It is not known whether he will reprise the role for the upcoming sequel, St Trinian's: The Legend of Fritton's Gold. His breakthrough role was in the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which he played Aldous Snow, the boyfriend of the title character (played by Kristen Bell). Brand received rave reviews for his performance as Snow, and he revealed the character was changed from an author to a rock star because of his audition. He will again play the character of Aldous Snow for a buddy comedy titled Get Him to the Greek, co-starring Jonah Hill. He is reuniting with Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow for the film. It is described in Variety Magazine as a "very dirty take on Almost Famous".
Brand starred alongside Adam Sandler in the Disney film Bedtime Stories, which was released on Christmas Day 2008. Sandler has cast Brand in another film and will produce yet another, co-written by Brand and Matt Morgan, about a con-man posing as a priest; it is tentatively titled Bad Father. Brand will appear in Julie Taymor's version of William Shakespeare's The Tempest as Trinculo. Brand will also appear in an Oliver Stone film, and he is in talks to star as the title character in a remake of Arthur, written by Peter Baynham.
Radio
Brand's radio career began in early 2002, when he hosted a Sunday afternoon show with Matt Morgan on London's Indie Rock station Xfm. Brand was fired from the job after reading pornographic material live on-air.
Brand co-hosted The Russell Brand Show beginning in April 2006 on BBC 6Music. In November 2006, the show transferred to BBC Radio 2 and aired on Saturdays from 9–11 p.m. The show regularly drew about 400,000 listeners. In an episode of the show broadcast on 18 October 2008, Brand and fellow Radio 2 DJ Jonathan Ross made a series of phone calls to the actor Andrew Sachs. Sunday tabloid The Mail on Sunday broke the story and regarded the phone calls as obscene. Both presenters were later suspended by the BBC due to the incident, and Brand resigned from his show.
Writings
Since May 2006, Brand has written a column for The Guardian that focuses on his admiration of West Ham United and the England national football team. A collection of the columns from May 2006 through June 2007 was released on 15 November 2007 in a book titled Irons in the Fire. A second collection of the columns for the 2007–08 season was released on 16 October 2008, titled Articles of Faith. The book also includes Brand interviewing Noel Gallagher, James Corden and David Baddiel about football.
Brand's autobiography, My Booky Wook, published by Hodder & Stoughton, was released on 15 November 2007 and received favorable reviews. The Observer commented that "Russell Brand's gleeful tale of drugs and debauchery in My Booky Wook puts most other celebrity memoirs to shame." Brand began writing his second memoir, which has a tentative release date of October 2009.
Brand signed a £1.8 million two-book deal with HarperCollins in June 2008. The first book was Articles of Faith, with the second expected to be released in 2009.
Music
Brand recorded a cover of The Beatles song "When I'm Sixty-Four" with Grammy Award–winning composer David Arnold for the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He contributed two songs to the soundtrack of the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall as Aldous Snow, lead singer of the fictional band "Infant Sorrow".
Personal life
Brand lives in Hampstead, London, with his cat, which he named after the singer Morrissey, of whom Brand is a big fan.
He has been a vegetarian since the age of 14, and he is a fan of football and a supporter of West Ham United; Brand says that his love of football is "intrinsically about my relationship with my father." He dresses in a flamboyant bohemian fashion, describing himself as looking like an "S&M Willy Wonka." He has bipolar disorder, and he has suffered from bulimia in the past. He also went through a period of self-harm.
Brand is a former heroin and sex addict and a recovering alcoholic. He has had numerous run-ins with the police, having been arrested 11 times. During the time of his addiction, he was known for his debauchery. Brand was ejected from The Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh, and he infamously introduced his drug dealer to Kylie Minogue during his time at MTV. He has abstained from drug use since 2002 and is now a patron of the addiction charity Focus 12. His abandonment of drugs and alcohol was instigated by his agent, John Noel, after Brand was caught taking heroin in a bathroom during his Christmas party. Brand regularly attends AA and NA meetings.
After a string of high-profile relationships, Brand developed a reputation in the media as a ladies' man. His dating life won him The Sun's Shagger Of The Year award in 2006, 2007, and 2008. The award has been renamed "The Russell Brand Shagger Of The Year Award" in honour of Brand having won three years in a row.
In January 2009, Brand and several other celebrities wrote to The Independent (as supporters of the Hoping Foundation) to condemn Israel's assault on Gaza and the "cruel and massive loss of life of the citizens of Gaza".
In February 2009, Brand and several other entertainers wrote to The Times defending Bahá'í leaders then on trial in Iran.
Filmography
St Trinian's
Penelope
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Bedtime Stories
The Tempest
Get Him to the Greek
Despicable Me
Awards
2006-Time Out, Best Stand-Up
2006-Loaded Laftas Best Stand-Up
2006-British Comedy Awards, Best Newcomer
2007-33rd Annual Television and Radio Awards, Best Television Performer In A Non-Acting Role
2007-Channel 4, 100 Greatest Stand-Ups, 69th
2008-British Book Awards, Biography of the Year
2008-British Comedy Awards, Best Live Stand-Up
Further reading
Brand, Russell (2008). Articles Of Faith. London: HarperCollins.. ISBN 978-0007298815
Brand, Russell (2007). Iron in the Fire. London: Hodder & Stoughton.. ISBN 978-0340961360
Brand, Russell (2007). My Booky Wook. London: Hodder & Stoughton.. ISBN 978-0340936153
Carey, Tanith (2007). Russell Brand. London: Michael O'Mara Books. ISBN 978-1843172406
Stone, Dave (2007). Russell Brand: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know. London: John Blake Publishing. ISBN 978-1844543960
Jeff Otto, ReelzChannel.com: For a Yankee who's not familiar with you, give me a little background on Russell Brand.
Russell Brand: I am a stand-up comic trained as an actor. I had a terrible drug problem whilst learning my craft as an actor... After I got thrown out of drama school I started doing stand-up comedy and very quickly got a job on MTV presenting TV shows... I used to go around to night clubs and talk bizarre and unusual things (with people)... It made very good TV because of course they were all on drugs. They didn't understand what was happening to them... They would talk about peculiar things and people would just get into the conversation. Of course, at that time, I was on crack and heroin, so I was on more intoxicating drugs than they were, so I was at a disadvantage.
Q: Did MTV fund the drugs?
RUSSELL BRAND: They didn't directly fund the drugs, but they were okay with me taking them as long as I was relatively professional. I was eventually sacked from MTV when I came to work on September the 12th in the company of my drug dealer Gritty, his son Edwin and I was to interview the pop star Kylie Minogue. I came in that day dressed as Osama Bin Laden. It was only the day after September the 11th. Too soon, people said. I was a bit high and daft and I don't think I understood the intricacies of global politics. I was sacked the next day.
After that I had my own radio show and I got sacked from that... People would come see my stand-up, see me on MTV, listen to my XFM show, which is an independent radio station. So then I had a following. I did a very risqué TV show called Rebrand where I challenged cultural taboos by having a homeless person come live with me. I had a bath with him to show how all homeless people are capable of being domesticated. I went and lived with a prostitute and her family... I tried to seduce an old lady...
Q: This was all part of your show?
RUSSELL BRAND: Yes, it was all part of the show, all filmed. It's all on YouTube.
I did that over the period of a few months, but I was very much a man in decline at that point.... Eventually, thanks to the courage of my agent John Knoll, was forced to go into rehabilitation for about three months. [I] came out very bruised, brittle, damaged. I didn't work for a little while... Started doing stand-up again, got on a TV show that was affiliated with Big Brother called Big Brother's Big Mouth, which was sort of a show where they examine Big Brother, but it gave me loads of room and it was live and it was funny... I went on a chat show which is really big on the U.K. called Jonathan Morris and had a really good performance... As a result of that, mad tabloid stuff started to happen as well. I started to get photographed with different women. Then it all went mad and blew up...
I got a radio show, which is now the most popular podcast in the U.K. I carried on doing stand-up, hosted the Brit Awards... I wrote my autobiography which was a bestseller ("My Booky Wook") and is now being made into a film by Michael Winterbottom... I play myself.
Then, on an MTV chat show I did, Adam Sandler came on as a guest and I got along really well with [him]... His agent was also there [and] they said, "Would you like to be an actor in Los Angeles?" I did general meetings and met Judd Apatow and read for Sarah Marshall... Then Adam and Disney put me in their new film (Bedtime Stories) and then I'm doing another film with Judd later on this year.
Q: And that's the one with Jonah Hill that you said you can't talk about?
RUSSELL BRAND: If it was up to me I'd tell you everything, but I don't know that much.
Q: Does the running theme from Sarah Marshall of Jonah being sexually attracted to you continue in this new movie?
RUSSELL BRAND: I think the reason this got sold is because of the stuff me and Jonah did together [in Sarah Marshall].
Q: How close is Aldous Snow to Russell Brand?
RUSSELL BRAND: A lot of time it's quite superficial things, like I'm a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. I had a public persona that's built with sex and decadence... Where it's vastly different is that he's got that sense of detachment and I'm not a detached person. I'm very engaged and sort of ambitious.
I'm not a "float through life" kind of person...
Have you been surprised how successful Big Brother's Big Mouth has become?
RUSSELL BRAND: I'm happy it's done well. I didn't have any expectations, except that it would be a laugh and be good, and it's got better. It's got really good people working on it, so I think it's inevitable that it's become so good. I'm glad people like it though – that's brilliant.
It gets an impressive audience for E4, doesn't it?
RUSSELL BRAND: Yeah. The last one in Celebrity Big Brother got more viewers than Channel 4 had at the same time. You can't argue with statistics! I think it's because it's a show that gives a voice to everyone who wants to talk about Big Brother, whether at home or in the studio.
In the same period your own stock's risen, culminating in you being named Time Out's Stand Up of the Year this year. Have you been tempted to give up presenting to concentrate on the stand up?
RUSSELL BRAND: The two can work quite well in tandem. Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother is at most four months a year, which gives me the rest of the time to do stand-up. And I really enjoy doing Big Mouth, so I've not been tempted to give it up.
And another thing...
Considering your politics, being a presenter on a Big Brother show isn't exactly an act of revolution, is it?
RUSSELL BRAND: You mean because Rob Newman wouldn't do it, or Mark Thomas? I like it because it's live, and it's talking to people about people. I think that's good, that is in keeping with what I believe. I don't feel at all compromised by doing Big Mouth. It's just people talking about humanity and people's behaviour towards each other. I'm always trotting out that Desmond Morris, the anthropologist, said: "If you visited some indigenous Australian tribe, and you listened to their campfire mutterings of an evening, they wouldn't be talking about Gods and mythology, they'd be talking about the next tribe and who was doing what." We're so atomised in society now, and Big Brother gives us common next-door neighbours. While it is on, we all live next door to that house. Of course you can look at it and say it's exploitative, it's sensational, it's salacious, but what's always amazed me about it is that humanity always emerges. Preston and Chantelle are in
love for heaven's sake, what more do you want from life?
How much of Big Brother do you watch when the series is on?
RUSSELL BRAND: I haven't got time to watch more than an hour a day. I watch the main show, and then maybe if something mad happens I'll tune in and watch that. But that's all I can manage, because we're so busy working on the programme.
Did you enjoy Celebrity Big Brother this year?
RUSSELL BRAND: I thought it was really fantastic. I loved Dennis Rodman – he was like a great big bear who slowed his heart rate right down to exist in there when he realised he wasn’t going to be having it orf. I loved George Galloway, for how seriously he took it. I liked it that he thought Preston was a plutocrat. Preston ain't a plutocrat, he's just a bloke in the Ordinary Boys. It's a term that should be used to describe Idi Amin or Robert Mugabe, not Ian Curtis or Preston. Pete Burns was intense, Traci was dead beautiful. I thought it was really great television. Not to mention the whole Chantelle thing – look what's happened to her.
The audience on Big Mouth are very vocal. Where do you get them from?
RUSSELL BRAND: I think they're just fans of Big Brother from across the country who have found it like a church. "If you build it, they will come".
Do you ply them with booze to make them so opinionated?
RUSSELL BRAND: I personally lacquer jelly beans with a high resolution alcohol solution so that they're off their heads by the time they get into that studio. I take personal responsibility for that. In fact, I delight in it, I delight in seeing people vulnerable.
It can be completely chaotic on the show. Do you ever worry that things are getting out of hand?
RUSSELL BRAND: No. I like it. I like it when things go mad. That's when I feel at home, whether it's someone getting up and walking out of the studio or someone starts going mental, that makes me excited. That's how I feel all the time.
Hoverboards for all, I say!
Has swearing been a problem on Big Mouth?
RUSSELL BRAND: Not really. It's better the show being on after the watershed so you don't have to worry about it. I don't swear on television unless it's absolutely called for. I'm not really into it. I prefer to talk like it's the old days.
Do you get a kick out of the fact that the show is live?
RUSSELL BRAND: Yeah, I love it. Live television is much better. I do get really nervous, but that nervous energy facilitates an excitement. That's just your body getting you ready to have a right laugh.
What have been your favourite moments on Big Brother's Big Mouth?
RUSSELL BRAND: I like doing things with Little Paul Scholes [his regular puppet guest], because I liked the development of that character and that relationship. I liked some of the returning fans, they can be a real laugh. I love the joke at the top of the show where we pick out a moment from the house and look at it again.
And on the series last summer?
RUSSELL BRAND: I liked Craig. I liked him wrestling with his dilemma, bless him. I enjoyed him enormously, I thought he was a hero. And I thought Anthony was lovely, and a worthy winner. And Makosi was gorgeous. I thought it was a great series.
Have things ever gone really badly wrong on Big Mouth?
RUSSELL BRAND: Yeah, loads of times. On the last show, the stuff that's meant to go directly into my ear was broadcast, so everybody heard "25 seconds to the competition". Michael Barrymore heard that and looked all confused, so I had to say "Don’t worry Michael, we all heard that voice".
What do you make of Big Brother obsessives?
RUSSELL BRAND: I like them. I like people. I think everyone's lovely. I've never had anyone on that show who I've thought: "Ooh, you horrible, spiteful, selfish bastard". Except perhaps for me. And even I'm alright really.
Will you be changing anything about the show this year, or is it a case of "If it ain't broke don't fix it"?
RUSSELL BRAND: It's a case of "If it ain't broke, meddle with it", that's the policy we're employing. Because it's going to be four shows a week over 13 weeks, we're introducing some new characters. As well as Little Paul Scholes there's going to be a menagerie of animals turning up in the show, and some interesting new items.
Is this the longest that you've been without being fired from a job?
RUSSELL BRAND: Yeah, definitely. Easily. By far and away. I've never done anything for that long. I was probably never even at a school for that long. It's a miracle that it's gone on as long as this. I don't want to get fired from this job. I want to leave with everyone saying "well done, you've done great", not with someone standing near a window with broken glass, crying, and someone else nervously shaking with spit on their chin. I don't want that energy any more.
Assiduous followers of celebrity culture will need no reminding that the man of the moment is a 31-year-old comedian with a girlish pout, snake hips and a distinctly racy reputation.
Two months ago, Russell Brand was a total unknown. But this summer, he has suddenly become one of the most recognisable figures in showbusiness, generating the sort of teen lust and media hype normally reserved for emerging rock superstars.
He certainly cuts a distinctive dash. Not content with Byronic curls, Brand also favours skin-tight trousers, floaty scarves, armfuls of bangles and lashings of eyeliner.
It is an individual look to say the least, but one which has made him the subject of feverish coverage in gossip columns and arts journals alike, and led to a deluge of lucrative offers of presenting work.
Profiles talk admiringly of his 'carnal magnetism', while his status as a 'sex insect' ? a beguiling cross between a sex symbol and a stick insect ? was cemented last month by his short-lived liaison with Kate Moss. And in recent weeks, he has had approaches from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 to host his own show.
The hype is all the more remarkable given that Brand's talents have largely been confined to low-budget shows on satellite and cable channels, coupled with work on the fringe comedy circuit.
But then came the Big Brother spin-off Big Brother's Big Mouth, a discussion show which Brand has hosted with such eccentricity that it has become one of the few interesting aspects of the otherwise lacklustre reality series.
Brand's on-screen persona, which appears to have been carefully constructed, revolves around a highly camp and mannered delivery which some have compared to Peter Cook, and others to Kenneth Williams.
He aims to outrage, talking insouciantly about drug abuse and group sex in the way others might discuss what they?d bought at the supermarket (sample line: "The thing about heroin is that it's very moreish").
One critic of his early stand-up routine observed: "If you've never participated in a seedy inner city orgy, picked a fight with a gang of yobs while high on heroin or bought the extreme behind-the-counter specials from a sex shop, then Brand will fill you in."
With any other comedian or presenter, such offensive material might be dismissed as a tedious shock tactic. But Brand has the edge because it's all based on personal experience. His early 20s were spent in a haze of drug abuse and sexual experimentation that make Pete Doherty look like an amateur.
Brand started using drugs after leaving school, but has been clean for three years after completing three months in rehab. These experiences have formed the basis of his comedy routines, and while it is entirely to his credit that he has apparently conquered his addictions, he makes a great play of the scrapes he got into.
"I started at 16 smoking stuff and drinking a lot," he says. "I was bulimic when I was 14. I had problems with food and self-harming, I've always had these odd compulsive traits looking for an outlet.
"I started with loads of grass and hash, then took loads of amphetamines, then loads of acid, then loads of Ecstasy and loads of coke, till in the end I took loads of crack and heroin."
Edinburgh Festival
His entree into showbiz came when he was spotted by MTV after a run at the Edinburgh Festival, who, unaware of his drug habit, offered him work interviewing stars for an afternoon chat show. Because he was well-paid, his drug use escalated: "I'd spend my days interviewing pop stars and my evenings in crack houses."
Brand was often so intoxicated that his behaviour verged on the insane. On one occasion, he brought a piglet into work in a blanket, pretending it was a baby. Then there was the time he accidentally set himself on fire when high on crack.
It couldn't go on. Brand was finally sacked from MTV for going into the office dressed as Osama Bin Laden the day after 9/11. Soon after, he was sacked from hosting a show on the radio station Xfm for bringing homeless people into the studio and reading out pornographic letters.
So far, so disturbing. As Brand now admits: " was basically ill at the time."
It was when he was discovered taking heroin in the toilets at his agent' Christmas party that he was sent to rehab and managed to kick his habit.
Honest to a fault, he admits he still misses drugs: "It was my whole life for ages and I loved it."
What he was left with was his immense charisma and a powerful friend in the form of his agent, John Noel. He was accepted again by MTV, for whom he presents a movie interview show, and was soon spotted by Endemol, the Big Brother producers.
It was the movie show that first brought him to the attention of Kate Moss, who apparently 'squealed' with excitement when she saw him on screen with his endless talk about sexual perversions, and asked Sadie Frost to engineer a date.
Frost and Moss went to see one of his stand-up shows at the end of May, and they all ended up in Annabel's nightclub together. For Brand, it was nothing unusual. He candidly admits he often picks up casual sexual partners at his stand-up gigs, and this was no exception.
When they met, he apparently said: "I know you want to s**g me, but you're just going to have to wait for a couple of hours." Sure enough, Brand was pictured leaving Moss's house the following morning.
But when he appeared to relish the ensuing publicity, Moss was enraged. "She accused him of being paid thousands and making money off her name, ranting, raving, calling him a t**t," says a friend of the model.
"When she found out he'd had loads of work offers since then, she went even more ballistic. Thinking that people are making money out of her is one of her big hobby horses ? she's always claiming people have sold stories about her for £500,000 when they?re not true.
'Russell made a total fool out of her'
"Now she thinks Russell has made a total fool out of her and made her look ridiculous, and she is on a big downer, moaning that her life is rubbish and she hasn't got a man." For Brand, though, the coverage of the affair in the downmarket Press led to the kind of publicity that was absolute catnip.
He was immediately booked on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, and within days his agent was fielding offers from major broadcasters. The buzz served only to fuel Brand's raging narcissism. Within days he was making passes at pop poppets Myleene Klass and Dannii Minogue.
Both turned him down, with Minogue labelling him a 'vile predator', while two former Big Brother contestants emerged, both telling somewhat unflattering stories about Brand's enthusiasm for sordid sexual encounters.
None of these stories seemed to dent his self-confidence. Embarrassingly, he subsequently tried to pick up an undercover tabloid newspaper reporter, telling her: "I?m sure you?re great at conversation, but right now all I?m really interested in is getting you into bed."
Brand, for his part, will admit only to being a "promiscuous singleton" with a lot of "energy". Whether such encounters are testimony to his libido or simply his thirst for fame and notoriety is a moot point. For despite the many skeletons in his cupboard, there is something all-too deliberate about Brand?s latest incarnation as showbiz?s premier lothario (a title previously held by Little Britain star David Walliams).
It has certainly generated amusement for his father Ron, a businessman who lives in Farnham, Surrey. "The sex talk is all a lot of nonsense," he says.
Ron, 63, whose telecoms company went broke but was later revived, has many intriguing points to make about his suddenly famous son. For a start, Ron says that despite his son?s druggy days, his looks were always rather conventional until he got a powerful agent (Noel also handles Davina McCall), employed a stylist and started wearing armloads of bracelets and heavy mascara, leading to comparisons with a young Mick Jagger.
'Self-made'
"His current look started just before Christmas," says Ron, laughing. "Russell is fundamentally self-made, because no one else would want to take the blame for it!"
Born on June 4, 1975, Russell Edward Brand did not enjoy a stable childhood, perhaps paving the way for his subsequent attention-seeking behaviour. He was only a few months old when mother Barbara left the family home in Brentwood, Essex. His parents shared custody, but Barbara also had cancer three times before Russell reached his teens.
Russell himself was diagnosed with depression and developed an eating disorder. A great turning point came when, aged 15, he was cast in the school production of Bugsy Malone. "He was sick before he went on, he was so nervous," says Ron. "But he did the three nights and when he came off stage he said: 'That?s what I want to do.' He recognised his future lay in entertainment."
Drugs
Russell left school at 16 and, aided by a grant from Essex council, spent some time at the Italia Conti drama school. It was around this time that he started to experiment with drugs.
Ron says: "While he was in the depths of it I did really worry, but I always wanted to keep communication open with him. That was important, to keep talking. He wasn?t killing his career, he was killing himself.
"He has had the strength of character to come back from what he went through and to be clean. He is an ordinary kid who has worked hard on himself and is a great example for any young person who has the ambition to succeed, because he has been through a lot. Even though a lot was self-inflicted, he faced the challenges.
"Now he won?t even drink coffee. He is exercising. He does yoga. He is into Buddhism. Every element of his life is clean and healthy.
"I think the energy you see on TV or stage is all adrenaline, because he is doing what he has wanted to do all his life."
So is he a good boy pretending to be bad, or a bad boy pretending to be good? With Brand, it?s hard to fathom. And that?s what gives him the edge that has made him the most talked-about star of the summer.
Only in his saner moments does he pause to consider just how fortunate he is to have climbed back out of the gutter.
"I probably forget 200 times a day," he admits. "But sometimes I remember and just think: 'Be nice to people. Don?t get carried away. You are not important ? you?re just a silly sod from Essex.'"
What’s it like being introduced to America with this stand-up special, even though you’ve been a comedian overseas for years?
Russell Brand: It’s peculiar, but also a welcome introduction to the subject and nature of fame. You can be really successful and famous in one country, but it don’t mean anything once you get on an airplane. It’s a reminder that fame is ultimately meaningless.
Q: Previous specials have dealt with drug use and sex addiction; this one talks about hosting the VMAs. Why is this one so much tamer in comparison?
RUSSELL BRAND: I think it was, like, when I first started, my immediate frame of reference was my life as an impoverished drug addict. So it made its way into my material. Then after that, I was endlessly fascinated with sex. Then I started working [in films], and ran into the embarrassment inherent in an industry beset with protocols for being embarrassed. The challenge is to make being in a film relatable, because ultimately, the human experience is embarrassment.
Q: You have to be accurate to what’s happening at the time, then.
RUSSELL BRAND: Yeah. Also, I suppose that when you’re on the TV, you can’t go, “Oh, this sexual experience, that sexual experience,” with the freedom one can with a live audience.
Q: A lot of the jokes involve your penis as a prop. What does it bring to the stand-up formula?
RUSSELL BRAND: It gives me the drive to get out there. Like Socrates said, “The male libido is like being chained to a madman.” And I suppose the fire of that insanity is this limp fleshy phallus, dragging us through life.
Q: At the end of your memoir, you talk a little about your experience looking back at that tough period of your life. That seems like a very “memoir” thing to do—was there any pressure to include some reflection?
RUSSELL BRAND: In a way, there was an element of catharticism or desire to draw a line on this period of my life—getting arrested, being a heroin addict. The last page does have thinking about it, a rather sentimental feel to it. I think that’s necessary in a conclusion to some point. But it’s not like, “Looking across the landscape of my life, I realize now, I owe it all to the movie Fame.” I don’t take that stuff that seriously, hence the title.
Q: You dedicate the book to your mom, then beg her not to read it. Has she caved?
RUSSELL BRAND: No. She won’t. Actually, a lot of that stuff, she’s not… it was a bit difficult, my childhood and my life, and she actually doesn’t want to go through with it again. It was hard enough the first time. She knew most of that stuff anyway, though here it’s explicit in a way that one wouldn’t describe to their mums. But she knew all the problems I had. She was getting phone calls from police stations and reports from drug-rehab centers, blood on her carpet. She knows what she knows.
Q: There’s the book, the countless recounts of your past, your extremely prolific Twitter—is there such a thing as TMI for you?
RUSSELL BRAND: Depends whether it’s interesting or not. I think there’s such a thing as “not interesting information,” which would be an accusation that would trouble me. But if it’s not offending anybody, and kinda funny, there’s no need to worry. I’m being myself, and I’m comfortable with that. I don’t have anything unpleasant or unsavory to hide; I don’t see the necessity for it, when we live already enshrined in convention.
Q: A lot of your jokes deal with you as a famous person, while most stand-up comics try their best to assert that they’re just ordinary people.
RUSSELL BRAND: I feel an obligation to be authentic. I cannot tolerate inauthenticity or insincerity. In my experience, things happened because I’m famous. Before, when I was a drug addict, my routine was about being a drug addict. And that’s all I’m really qualified to talk about, unless, you know, I read a book on astrophysics. Then I can do stuff about that. But there are qualified academics, I feel.
Quotes by Russell Brand
The queen said she wished it was me that broke into her bedroom. - Russell Brand quote
Some people, I think they're called racists, say America is not ready for a black president, but I know America to be a forward-thinking country because otherwise why would you have let that retard and cowboy fella be president for eight years? - Russell Brand quote
Russell Brand Quote: (on his plan to give up sex) There can't be any of that (sex and drugs) around. That's all got to go - until I'm in a position where I can say, 'Look I'm celibate, I'm a vegan. All I do is meditate, come out and do stand-up comedy and make films.'
Russell Brand Quote: (declaring he would seduce Dame Helen Mirren when they film Shakespeare's The Tempest) I'm going to try and get off with her. It's the big time, if I can get Mirren. I am going to seduce that queen.
Russell Brand Quote: (after receiving death threats for making disrespectful comments on various stars at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards) The VMAs were a lot of fun. Especially the death threats. If you are going to kill someone, don't give them advance notice, which gives you a chance to prepare. These Christian Republicans were watching me and thought, 'Well, this is no good, I shall do a death threat.
Russell Brand Quote: (on his crush on actress Dame Helen Mirren) She is so hot. There's something about her that drives me wild. She's so sexy and enchanting. Just look at her form. They're going to have to hold me back when we start work. I'll be all over her. I don't know how I'm going to get any work done. I'm going to try and get off with her.
Russell Brand Quote: (Joking about President George W. Bush at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards) Some people ... say America is not ready for a black President. But I know America to be a forward-thinking country because otherwise why would you have let that retard and cowboy fella be President for eight years?
Russell Brand Quote: I'll not be changing, but America will.
Russell Brand Quote: It would have been convenient to be gay. Just because of the grooming, the narcissism, stuff like that. But I have this kind of roaring heterosexuality. Traditional, uncomplicated heterosexuality, an almost clichéd Robin Askwith thing. People have always said, are you gay? I've had a lot of that. But it's just not in me. I really like women a lot; I'm repulsed by men sexually.
Russell Brand Quote: Sometimes, as a comedian, a line will come to you, that is so beautiful, so perfect, that you think: I did not create this line. This line belongs to all of us. Surely this is a line of God. The line was...Bob Geldof there... no wonder he's such an expert on famine, he has, after all, been dining out on I Don't Like Mondays for thirty years!It's got it all: it's funny, it's clever, it's succinct, it's true!
Russell Brand Quote: It's difficult to believe in yourself because the idea of self is an artificial construction. You are, in fact, part of the glorious oneness of the universe. Everything beautiful in the world is within you. No-one really feels self-confident deep down becuase it's an artifical idea. Really, people aren't that worried about what you're doing or what you're saying, so you can drift around the world relatively anonymously: you must not feel persucted and examined. Liberate yourself from that idea that people are watching you.
Russell Brand Quote: I remember one night playing that game all by myself... sitting alone playing that bloody thing, Grand Theft Auto, and the man that you operate, I think he's called Vinny, I had him, and we'd gone off the beaten track of the narrative. He was down an alleyway on his own, right, on his own, standing by some bins, and I was on me own, sat on a settee... and I just thought, I've ruined your life as well! Oh what have I done?!
Russell Brand Quote: I will resort to violence, this is not a democracy, this is like Iraq in the good old days!
Russell Brand Quote: You are about to see something now, it's quite a revelation it makes that ***Jesus used to harp on about look utterly trivial- not really Jesus was brilliant have a look at this.
Russell Brand ‘Scandalous’ Tour Jan - April 2009
Reading Hexagon, Sunday 18th January
Ipswich Regent, Monday 19th January
Birmingham NIA, Friday 23rd January
Belfast Waterfront, Saturday 24th January
Portsmouth Pavilion, Tuesday 27th January
Oxford New Theatre, Wednesday 28th January
Newcastle City Hall, Friday 30th January
Liverpool Echo Arena, Monday 2nd February
Sheffield City Hall, Tuesday 3rd February
Manchester Apollo, Wednesday 4th February
Blackpool Opera House, Friday 6th February
Brixton Academy, Tuesday 10th February
Brixton Academy, Wednesday 11th February
Hammersmith Apollo, Thursday 12th February
Hammersmith Apollo, Friday 13th February
Glasgow Clyde Auditorium, Saturday14th February
Plymouth Pavilion, Wednesday 18th February
Nottingham Arena, Friday 20th February
Edinburgh Playhouse, Sunday 22nd February
Edinburgh Playhouse, Monday 23rd February
Birmingham The NIA Academy, Thursday 26th February
Bournemouth BIC, Saturday 28th February
New York, USA, Manhattan Center, Thursday 12th March
Sydney, Australia, Enmore Theatre, Tuesday 17th March
Sydney, Australia, Horden Pavillion, Wednesday 18th March
Melbourne, Australia, Hamer Hall, Friday 20th March
Melbourne, Australia, Palais Theatre, Saturday 21st March
London, UK, O2 Arena, Friday 17th April
From Wikiquote
Russell Edward Brand (born June 4, 1975 in Grays, England) is an English stand-up comedian, radio DJ, television presenter, newspaper columnist, and sometime actor.
Unsourced
Nina nanna has landscaped her garden around the theme of my ball-bags. I wouldn't mind but she's let some gypsies set up camp there and now they're up all night dancing. I haven't had a winks sleep in a fortnight... the swines! - Russell Brand Quotes
Ben Fogle said that, during his canoe trip around the galaxy, the only thing that kept him sane was the intimate correspondence he kept with my ball bags. Imagine his dismay when he realised they can neither read nor write and the entire episode was brought about by delusional cabin fever. - Russell Brand Quotes
Finding heroin, it's like God, home, a lover. Just this feeling of being engulfed by warmth, everything moving away, your life, everything, and withdrawing into this beautiful sanctuary. - Russell Brand Quotes
Have you been out in society recently? 'Cause it's SHIT. - Russell Brand Quotes
I don't like doing anything that makes you sweat if you don't come at the end of it. - Russell Brand Quotes
It's difficult to believe in yourself because the idea of self is an artificial construction. You are, in fact, part of the glorious oneness of the universe. Everything beautiful in the world is within you. No-one really feels self-confident deep down because it's an artificial idea. Really, people aren't that worried about what you're doing or what you're saying, so you can drift around the world relatively anonymously. You must not feel persecuted and examined. Liberate yourself from that idea that people are watching you. - Russell Brand Quotes
I'm sure Hitler was a lovely bloke. You know. Beneath the mustache and all. - Russell Brand Quotes
Interesting to me is the relentless gratitude to God [by winners of awards]. Because I, myself, believe in God, right, but I kinda think it's a complex idea, God, you know? And if there is an omnipotent, omniscient being controlling all from the infinitesimally small to the inconceivably large, I don't reckon He cares what happens at the MTV VMA awards. - Russell Brand Quotes
RE:Brand [2002]
You know, the relationships we 'ave, everything sort of bubbles under the surface. No one ever says what they actually mean, do they? It's all
a bit pappy and rubbish. - Russell Brand Quotes
-Episode 1 - Dad Fight
MTV Video Music Awards [2008]
Some people, I think they're called racists, say America is not ready for a black president. But, I know America to be a forward-thinking country, right, because otherwise, you know, would you have let that retarded cowboy fella be president for eight years? We were very impressed. We thought it was nice of you to let him have a go, because, in England, he wouldn't be trusted with a pair of scissors. - Russell Brand Quotes
"One minute, he's just a teenage lad in Alaska having joyful unprotected sex, the next minute- get to the Republican Convention! I think that is the best safe sex message of all time. 'Use a condom, or become Republican!' " - Russell Brand Quotes
Brit Awards [2007]
Let's send actual love to Robbie Williams. Get well England's Rose. One day at a time old bean. Ooh, those bloody drugs! - Russell Brand Quotes
What about the rumours David Cameron smoked drugs as a schoolboy? What worries me most is that he dressed up as a schoolboy to do it, the pervert. Though perhaps, let’s not condemn him regardless. Who among us didn’t smoke just a little bit of weed at school, just to take the edge off those irksome crack come-downs? Actually, as it turns out, it’s about as good an anti-drugs campaign as you’re going to get, don’t take drugs you might end up leader of the Tories with a face like a little painted egg. - Russell Brand Quotes
Radio 2 Show
Pin, Pin!* - Russell Brand Quotes
Noel Fielding's not in, Noel Gallagher's not in, I think the message is don't trust Noels! Noel Edmunds, deal or no deal? No deal Noel! - Russell Brand Quotes
After the revolution we will be broadcasting constant messages into a microchip inside your brains. It's gonna be great! - Russell Brand Quotes
I've got a Migraine
I'll riverdance while that's happening, 'cause it seems to be what I naturally do anyway. - Russell Brand Quotes
That diamond encrusted goat's skull is the height of good taste! - Russell Brand Quotes
This is Hollywood, mate. People bring chihuahuas round! - Russell Brand Quotes
Oh no, my brain is broken. - Russell Brand Quotes
That's what keeps me alive, perversion and star quality. - Russell Brand Quotes
I believe Finland's economy is based on Moomin juice. - Russell Brand Quotes
I'm genuinely and actually a bit like Jesus. - Russell Brand Quotes
Cilla Black: What are you like?
Russell: A bit like Jesus but with an electric willy.
That's right middle America, I loves Jemus! - Russell Brand Quotes
Matt Morgan: Have you been thinking about your religion/new order?
Russell Brand: Yes I have actually Matt, and I've got a few more theories for it to make it absolutely watertight. We'll all be living on a nice island,
vegetarians doing yoga and that. We'll get rid of ideas such as the nuclear family and like in African tribes the word 'mother' will mean all female
members of the tribe and the word 'father' will mean all male members. There will be a lot of [wolf whistles] ... and also we're not going to have
no more currency, stuff like that, no brain-bending or mind-washing and we'll all be free to explore ourselves although there will be an age of consent
and it'll be the same as usual so as people don't go 'Oh no...'.
Matt Morgan: Pretty watertight, isn't it?
Russell Brand: Pretty watertight so far Matt, I'd like to see a political theorist drive a bus through that. If so where did he get his licence? As we're
in charge of issuing bus licences and they're not issued to possible dissenters, who are immediately killed on traitor's cove; one of the nicest parts
of our island, decorated with all lovely corpses.
Big Fat Quiz of the Year [2006]
Let's look beyond the divisions of football teams and look at the unifying force within our souls... SEX!
October... Is that when there's conkers?
The whole thing stinks, Carr!
Where's Guy?!
(after Noel Fielding has written "peep scarf" to describe a piece of muslim apparel) That's its proper name!
Shame [Live DVD]
The Neptunian underworld king unleashed a barrage of eels from his abdomen and each of the eels was carrying a zippo lighter and as they flew by they spelt across the sky in fire 'Tara can a borrow your eyeliner please?'...if you're gonna make stuff up go mental! - Russell Brand Quotes
I'm a sexy wild man! - Russell Brand Quotes
It's not really over. There's a little part of my brain that is: 'Russell, where are the opiates?' - 'I'm afraid we can't have any more opiates..' 'Why?' - 'You nearly killed me, didn't you?' 'Oh, that was just a joke!' - Russell Brand Quotes
Maybe put your finger up your arse a little bit.. maybe.. a little bit.. come on.. this lad here looks disgusted. I beg you, do not go to your grave not knowing what it's like! It's such a short journey from here to here. bodobodoo bodobodoo dadadadadadaaa uh! You better find out about it! We have access to a world of wonder! Our own internal brown Narnia.. - Russell Brand Quotes
I'd like to do a fuck on you. - Russell Brand Quotes
I like them blow jobs when it goes in their neck a little bit. - Russell Brand Quotes
She took my cock out of her mouth..."AAAAAGH"...That's an exaggeration! - Russell Brand Quotes
Ridicul-arse - Russell Brand Quotes
hmm, wa'er! If, right, your body is 90% water what have you got to drink water all the time for? Why can't you just have some crisps? - Russell Brand Quotes
Well, stick around love, cos I've got worse(chat-up lines). The worst being, simply, "Get in the van." - Russell Brand Quotes
Russell Brand; Shame DVD
I'm a MAN! - Russell Brand Quotes
Doing Life [Live DVD]
I kat you? - Russell Brand Quotes
So by being offended you've sorta acknowledged that you are thick, and none of us are, so we're all back on speaking terms! - Russell Brand Quotes
You'd think, if you was me, you would think this and I am me, so I'm in a perfect position to offer conclusive evidence on that... innit like when you go away on holiday, you think 'oh yeah, I'd better go away on holiday, cheer myself up, get away from it all" but when you go on holiday, you're there, so it's shit! - Russell Brand Quotes
so when I was staying with him, he went 'alright, okay, so what time do you go to bed then?' and I thought 'fucking hell! he doesn't know what he's doing!! SHIIIIIIT!!' I went 'oooh, about, 10 oclock?', 'ah yeah, alright then'. YEEEES!! it's like the same feeling that as an adult I would get walking through customs with heroin in my bottom. 'I'm getting away with iiiiit! - Russell Brand Quotes
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross [2006]
It's like Kilroy only talking about Big Brother and there's no racism allowed. - Russell Brand Quotes
-Describing Big Brother's Big Mouth
Blimey - Thank god my jeans are this tight - you could wear me like a puppet. - Russell Brand Quotes
Big Brothers Big Mouth
Charles Ingram’s views are so pugnacious that when I heard them I went back to ancient Arabia, sauntered into Aladdin’s cave said “open sesame” perused all the treasures and trinkets until I got Aladdin’s attention, pulled down my trousers and panties and forced a genie into my dinkle’s peep hole and shouted “Aladdin rub the lamp you’ll get more than three wishes.” He said he wished I’d leave his cave. - Russell Brand Quotes
Spiral's views are so enchanting that when I 'eard 'em, I cleared off to Australia, strolled up Ayres Rock to the meditating Aborigines, pulled down my trousers and pants, polished my dinkle 'til it was as stiff as a pipe, prised its end open and shouted: "Lads! Who wants a blow of my didgeridoo?!" They said they faced this ignorance from the white man on an almost daily basis. - Russell Brand Quotes
Radio One Interview, July 5th 2007
If you're going to use 'theatrical' and 'bent' in such close proximity, you're going to give people the wrong impression. - Russell Brand Quotes
In an infinite universe; eternal time, why just do what people tell you? 'ave a laugh; do what you want. - Russell Brand Quotes
If that's a euphemism - an egg and spoon race, - I'm probably gold medal class. - Russell Brand Quotes
"Could you imagine a wand that was not camp? Could you imagine, for example, Ray Winstone, with a wand? (Impersonating him) 'RIGHT OK. IT'S A KIND OF MAGIC, SIT DOWN.' " - Russell Brand Quotes
When asked what he puts on his hair: "Mostly orphans' tears, old clock parts, lizard's tails, spit, the concept of freedom; all up there, all shooshed up right nice and tight, like a bonfire that's never actually burned... it mutters follicular oddities into my mind." - Russell Brand Quotes
"I emerged from the womb, right, I was wearing a top hat and I had a cane and said: 'Mother, that was an awkward and embarrassing birth. You should be ashamed of yourself dear. Now pull your nightie down; that doctor looks salacious.' Then I trotted off outside, met up with Kenneth Williams and we both had tea, and we looked down at our dinkles with disgust." - Russell Brand Quotes
Keywords: Russel Brand, russell brand mtv, russell brand forum, russell brand wiki, russel brands, russel brand show