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June 10th, 2007
08:12 am - Russell Brand
Also, driving back from the party I was listening to Russell Brand on Radio 2. I was amazed at how good he was. I'd previously sort of written him off as a fashionable tosser, not my type at all. But listening to him ad-lib for well over an hour (there was a hold-up on the M6, for a change) I was astonished and impressed. There were a few bits, as there would be in any sustained unscripted rant, that went off the boil, but the whole thing was exciting, funny, and clever. And quite risky I thought. Like Douglas Adams' writing you got the impression of wild improvisation, and then later, as the various diverse ends tied up, realised there was at least some semblance of method in the madness.
Anyway, I don't expect most people to agree, because I was surprised, but I think the guy is a big comedy talent and very clever, not just a daft geezer in girls' trousers who hangs out with Noel Fielding.
Oh, here's the podcast for the week before, which I didn't hear.
(Just off to my course now)
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I think Russell Brand is a clever guy too, he just hides it really well sometimes.
I remember seeing him presenting a series on UK Play before he was well-known. In each episode he confronted a particular taboo. The only ones I can remember are him getting to know a member of the BNP, inviting a homeless man to live in his house for a week and manually stimulating a gay man in a public toilet. Obviously they are fairly extreme ideas, and in the hands of a regular TV presenter they would probably have ended up as pretty sensationalist and tacky television. What Brand came up with, however, was incredibly insightful and often touching. It's a shame he's only really famous for drug-taking and sexual excess now. | From: |  srk1 |
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| Date: | June 10th, 2007 05:57 pm (UTC) |
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Oooh, thanks for the tip. The show I listened to last night Russell and his side-kick recounted visiting a prostitute to film a pilot for a Channel 4 documentary, and it all really got out of hand, and Channel 4 didn't want the film in the end. I was laughing my head off, but it was also quite shocking on Radio 2. | From: | srk1 |
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| Date: | June 10th, 2007 05:53 pm (UTC) |
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I agree. His TV work is mostly quite mediocre, but on radio I think he has more space for free-association and it really allows his talent to come through. Well, glad I'm not the only one who thought so. I had completely the wrong impression of what he could do. He's a clever chap. I thought he was just a bimbo. Aye, after I saw the guy's stage show, I realised he's actually terribly clever and knows exactly what he's doing. (My previous exposure had been through Big Brother's Big Mouth. Er, guilty pleasure. Ahem.) Yeah, he was quoting philosophy from memory on the radio. Can't remember what it was now, but it was relevant to the subject so it wasn't just some random line. |
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