Confessions of a randy dandy (Russell Brand features)
[align=center]Undesirable alien
www.chortle.co.uk
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American immigration officials have denied Russell Brand entry to the US. He was turned away from New York's JFK Airport after flying in to appear on the Late Show with David Letterman this week. He had been due to plug his new movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall on the talk show, but was instead put back on the next plane to the UK.
Brand joked: 'Now that I know what it's like to be an illegal immigrant, I've cancelled my membership to the BNP.' Brand has previously encountered trouble with US border officials because of his old drug convictions; but he would have secured a working visa to film Forgetting Sarah Marshall in Hawaii last year.
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Maybe the fact that he admitted to lying on his visa form had some effect?! haha
www.chortle.co.uk
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American immigration officials have denied Russell Brand entry to the US. He was turned away from New York's JFK Airport after flying in to appear on the Late Show with David Letterman this week. He had been due to plug his new movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall on the talk show, but was instead put back on the next plane to the UK.
Brand joked: 'Now that I know what it's like to be an illegal immigrant, I've cancelled my membership to the BNP.' Brand has previously encountered trouble with US border officials because of his old drug convictions; but he would have secured a working visa to film Forgetting Sarah Marshall in Hawaii last year.
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Maybe the fact that he admitted to lying on his visa form had some effect?! haha
Nice to be on Letterman on May 15th 2008. Citin, if anythin!
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Brand film canned
www.chortle.co.uk
Russell Brand has dropped plans to make his chequered life story into a film. The comic says he’s afraid a movie version of his warts-and-all autobiography, My Booky Wook, might tarnish his image with the American public, just as his Hollywood career is taking off.
The film – which was to have been made by 24 Hour Party People director Michael Winterbottom – would have highlighted his drug addiction and sexual debauchery in a way that might not have played will with conservative Middle America.
‘I’m not going to make the Booky Wooky into a film any more because then people in America will learn what my past is like,’ he told MTV News. ‘[Of course], people that can be bothered to read will know that I have a chequered past. Fingers crossed, we give them a book I’ve written already; I don’t have to do no more homework!’
Brand had previously said he wanted Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe to play the younger version of him, ‘But I thought he wouldn't be able to take all the drink. Or the drugs or fraternising with women. So I thought I should do it.’ He had also lined up a part for Oasis's Noel Gallagher as ‘seedy homosexual’ and had hoped to get parts for David Walliams and Michael Palin.
Instead, Brand’s next movie role will be in the comedy Get Him To The Greek, where he plays another wayward rock star – just as he did in the recent Forgetting Sarah Marshall. ‘I’m going to play rock stars for the first 10 years of my career, and then I’m going to move on, and I’m only going to play mailmen for the next 10 years,’ he said. ‘It’s going to be fun.’
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If this is genuine then I really don't give a toss what he does in future as he's just lost every ounce of credibility he had in my eyes...
www.chortle.co.uk
Russell Brand has dropped plans to make his chequered life story into a film. The comic says he’s afraid a movie version of his warts-and-all autobiography, My Booky Wook, might tarnish his image with the American public, just as his Hollywood career is taking off.
The film – which was to have been made by 24 Hour Party People director Michael Winterbottom – would have highlighted his drug addiction and sexual debauchery in a way that might not have played will with conservative Middle America.
‘I’m not going to make the Booky Wooky into a film any more because then people in America will learn what my past is like,’ he told MTV News. ‘[Of course], people that can be bothered to read will know that I have a chequered past. Fingers crossed, we give them a book I’ve written already; I don’t have to do no more homework!’
Brand had previously said he wanted Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe to play the younger version of him, ‘But I thought he wouldn't be able to take all the drink. Or the drugs or fraternising with women. So I thought I should do it.’ He had also lined up a part for Oasis's Noel Gallagher as ‘seedy homosexual’ and had hoped to get parts for David Walliams and Michael Palin.
Instead, Brand’s next movie role will be in the comedy Get Him To The Greek, where he plays another wayward rock star – just as he did in the recent Forgetting Sarah Marshall. ‘I’m going to play rock stars for the first 10 years of my career, and then I’m going to move on, and I’m only going to play mailmen for the next 10 years,’ he said. ‘It’s going to be fun.’
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If this is genuine then I really don't give a toss what he does in future as he's just lost every ounce of credibility he had in my eyes...
Hold your horses, Face, I doubt this is fully true. I've listened to every single Russ podcast and I know his tone when he gets interviewed. It's much more likely this is something taken out of context - or he said it as a subtle joke and it got reported straight. I doubt he would really mean something like this. Infact, he often makes jokes about his "hypocricy" in trying to break America, in a light-hearted way, and jokes about kissing the arses of execs, all of which, with his tone, you can tell isn't fully true.
I think this is probably just an exagerated story.
He will be sure to mention this on his radio show tomorrow evening, anyway, so if anything is said I will cap it and have it up here ASAP.
I think this is probably just an exagerated story.
He will be sure to mention this on his radio show tomorrow evening, anyway, so if anything is said I will cap it and have it up here ASAP.
[align=center]Brand rapped over hoax police call[/align]
Russell Brand has been criticised for making a hoax call to police about a serial sexual attacker. The comic told the operator that he had seen the so-called ‘underpass attacker’ who has pounced on at least two women in Northampton.
He always reads the local newspaper as part of his stage show, and during his Saturday night performance, he called the emergency response number published for witnesses to the assaults. Brand used a fan’s mobile phone to tell the incident room he had spotted a suspicious man – in a call that one audience member captured on their camera and posted on YouTube, below.
He told them: ‘I have got some information for you. I saw a gentleman who fits the description. He was wearing a light green top and polka dot trousers and I thought, well look at the state of him.’ Adopting a female voice he said: ‘I’ve had someone very near my underpass.’ He described the man and said: ‘He was dressed like Timmy Mallett’ and ended up singing a love song to the operator, before she put the phone down.
A Northamptonshire police spokesman said: ‘We would discourage anyone from making calls such as this.’ Three women have been attacked in underpasses in Northampton in recent weeks.
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I'm sure the victims would see the funny side of it. No?
Russell Brand has been criticised for making a hoax call to police about a serial sexual attacker. The comic told the operator that he had seen the so-called ‘underpass attacker’ who has pounced on at least two women in Northampton.
He always reads the local newspaper as part of his stage show, and during his Saturday night performance, he called the emergency response number published for witnesses to the assaults. Brand used a fan’s mobile phone to tell the incident room he had spotted a suspicious man – in a call that one audience member captured on their camera and posted on YouTube, below.
He told them: ‘I have got some information for you. I saw a gentleman who fits the description. He was wearing a light green top and polka dot trousers and I thought, well look at the state of him.’ Adopting a female voice he said: ‘I’ve had someone very near my underpass.’ He described the man and said: ‘He was dressed like Timmy Mallett’ and ended up singing a love song to the operator, before she put the phone down.
A Northamptonshire police spokesman said: ‘We would discourage anyone from making calls such as this.’ Three women have been attacked in underpasses in Northampton in recent weeks.
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I'm sure the victims would see the funny side of it. No?
[align=center]Brand sorry over hoax call[/align]
Russell Brand has apologised for making a hoax call to police about a serial sex attacker. He said he was ‘devastated by the possibility that I may have offended vulnerable people’ after the onstage prank was widely reported.
The comic called a crime hotline during his show in Northampton on Saturday night, claiming to have seen the so-called ‘underpass attacker’, who has pounced on at least two women in the town. He said he had ‘had someone very near my underpass’ who was ‘dressed like Timmy Mallett’ in polka-dot trousers and a pink cap.
However, not everyone was amused by the stunt. Lynda Yorke, of Leicester Rape Crisis, said: ‘It’s in very poor taste. The issue of sexual assault is often belittled and such callous behaviour is extremely hurtful to the victims.’
Northamptonshire police warned people against making hoax calls but did not say whether any further action would be taken against Brand. The clip had been posted on YouTube, but has since been removed.
Issuing his apology, Brand said that jokes about rape were not necessarily out of bounds. ‘I maintain that through discourse we can illuminate these dark behaviours,’ he said in a statement. ‘but that ought not to be at the expense of people\'s feelings. I appreciate the seriousness of the issue.’
During the call, which lasted about three minutes, the police employee asked why there was laughter in the background, and claimed it was from the TV in the background. The operator ended the call after the star began to serenade her down the phone.
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He's got a point about discussing 'dark behaviours' but I'm sure he'll think twice about how he goes about it in future!
Russell Brand has apologised for making a hoax call to police about a serial sex attacker. He said he was ‘devastated by the possibility that I may have offended vulnerable people’ after the onstage prank was widely reported.
The comic called a crime hotline during his show in Northampton on Saturday night, claiming to have seen the so-called ‘underpass attacker’, who has pounced on at least two women in the town. He said he had ‘had someone very near my underpass’ who was ‘dressed like Timmy Mallett’ in polka-dot trousers and a pink cap.
However, not everyone was amused by the stunt. Lynda Yorke, of Leicester Rape Crisis, said: ‘It’s in very poor taste. The issue of sexual assault is often belittled and such callous behaviour is extremely hurtful to the victims.’
Northamptonshire police warned people against making hoax calls but did not say whether any further action would be taken against Brand. The clip had been posted on YouTube, but has since been removed.
Issuing his apology, Brand said that jokes about rape were not necessarily out of bounds. ‘I maintain that through discourse we can illuminate these dark behaviours,’ he said in a statement. ‘but that ought not to be at the expense of people\'s feelings. I appreciate the seriousness of the issue.’
During the call, which lasted about three minutes, the police employee asked why there was laughter in the background, and claimed it was from the TV in the background. The operator ended the call after the star began to serenade her down the phone.
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He's got a point about discussing 'dark behaviours' but I'm sure he'll think twice about how he goes about it in future!
I heard this on the wireless radio-ma-jig today. I was pretty disappointed with him. There's a big difference between making sick jokes to a captive audience who expect such banter and actually phoning a genuine police hotline and wasting their time.
He made a joke on his radio show a few weeks ago about raping a ten-year-old girl who was in the studio with him, too. She was there with her dad, both fans, to watch him do the show live. I thought that was pretty bizarre, too. He didn't actually say he was going to rape her, but he was telling her to put her hands over her ears whenever he was about to say something mucky, and at one point he said something like "That's right, and I'll be putting my hands over your ears, too, later when I have my ... I'M ONLY JOKING!!!! OH NO, I ACTUALLY SAID THOSE WORDS!"
Actually, come to think of it, since his whole breaking America thing he's appealed to me a lot less. I still think he's very funny and devestatingly attractive, but something has definitely changed. Meh.
He made a joke on his radio show a few weeks ago about raping a ten-year-old girl who was in the studio with him, too. She was there with her dad, both fans, to watch him do the show live. I thought that was pretty bizarre, too. He didn't actually say he was going to rape her, but he was telling her to put her hands over her ears whenever he was about to say something mucky, and at one point he said something like "That's right, and I'll be putting my hands over your ears, too, later when I have my ... I'M ONLY JOKING!!!! OH NO, I ACTUALLY SAID THOSE WORDS!"
Actually, come to think of it, since his whole breaking America thing he's appealed to me a lot less. I still think he's very funny and devestatingly attractive, but something has definitely changed. Meh.
Yeah, I think he has lost some of his shine. It will be good to see how he deals with that when he realises. With him now having the millions and a guaranteed comfortable existence for the rest of his life it's hard to see where he'll get inspiration in future though... imagine if he turned out like Sting in 20 years! haha
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Prepare to become much more Brand conscious
BILL BROWNSTEIN,
The Gazette
Thursday, July 17, 2008[/align]
He stole the show in the flick Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and it's an excellent bet that Russell Brand will do plenty of show-stealing here at Just for Laughs during the next few days.
Brand unwinds in his untitled one-man show tonight through Saturday at the Centaur, and he will also be centre-stage - "strutting and swaggering like a buccaneer" - in the Apatow for Destruction spectacle, in which he does stand-up along with Forgetting Sarah Marshall producer Judd Apatow and Canuck wild-man Seth Rogen, tomorrow at midnight at the Metropolis.
North American audiences may have only become aware of the shaggy-haired Brand after his side-splitting romp as the babbling British rock star who hooks up with Sarah Marshall, but he has been something of a phenomenon in his native England for several years. Star of stage, radio, small and big screen there, Brand has been voted Best Comedy Newcomer, Best Stand-up, Funniest Male and Most Stylish Man of the Year as well as Least Stylish Man of the Year in Britain. (Gotta love that Brit irony.) And lest we forget: Brand, 33, was deemed Europe's as well as the world's Sexiest Vegetarian by PETA.
And you know a comic has made it when fellow wits start referencing him in their acts as the barking-mad Brendon Burns does with Brand - something about a dalliance with Kate Moss - in his explosive piece at Théâtre Ste. Catherine. This marks Brand's first appearance at the fest, but he has been following it from afar for years. "I've been a great lover of that little green monster. What a great icon," he says, apparently serious. Then again, maybe not.
But Brand is abundantly aware that his comic heroes, Eddie Izzard and the late Bill Hicks, have triumphed here. London pundits have compared Brand to Hicks. "That's one of the most flattering comparisons I have ever had levelled at me," he says. "I adore his authenticity."
Safe to say, Hicks would have adored Brand's authenticity, specifically his hit one-man plays at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival: Eroticized Humour and Better Now - described by one wag as "an odyssey through a twilight world of whores, heroin and hairdos, demonstrating that the road of excess leads to the palace of unemployment."
Given the outrageousness of his work, audiences may not be certain if it's confessional or the stuff of fantasy. "All my shows are confessional in nature," Brand acknowledges. "There's very little creativity involved. It's more simply a man reciting memories in the vain hope that one day there will be money in it. I try to spin a yarn or two, and make allegorical cross-references and occupy characters."
The ever-self-deprecating Brand may wish to downplay his comic smarts, but he is full of praise for his inspirations. "I love the passion of a Lenny Bruce and Bill Hicks, Richard Pryor's ability to inhabit characters, Eddie Izzard's use of language and Billy Connolly's raconteurish ways. All have had an impact on me and, hopefully, will be in evidence in Montreal."
Brand has been doing a test run of his latest one-man show in L.A. for the last six weeks - where it has earned thumbs-up from the likes of Slash and Morrissey. It is a mélange of new and old satirical material, a re-Branding of Brand.
"I'm not Noam Chomsky, but I have lots of scowling, scantily researched theories, and I mean scantily researched," he deadpans, before expounding on one: "I believe in egalitarianism, a spiritual unity. We have to get rid of the idea of family and currency. We have to cut the population by 50 per cent. When we get rid of the ideas of religion and nationality, we can all live in a blissful Utopia and await the return of our extraterrestrial overlords."
And would these overlords be of the tiny Spielbergian, greenish ilk? "No," Brand shoots back. "More grayish, abstinent, even Nordic types. Frankly, Spielberg's E.T.s would be an annoyance in any revolution."
Don't be fretting for Brand, whose "vain hope" is that there will be one day "money" to be generated from his act. That day has already come. No sooner did Brand complete Forgetting Sarah Marshall than he was signed to do another picture to be produced by Apatow, this pitting him up against Superbad's delightfully corpulent Jonah Hill. This one is not to be confused with Apatow's just-announced comedy on Sherlock Holmes and Watson with Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell - although Brand and Hill would bring a dimension of delirium to it. The film with Hill is a follow-up to Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which Brand's rock star character moves to L.A. Brand also recently wrapped shooting with Adam Sandler on Bedtime Stories, and he is slated to star in another Sandler affair shortly.
Between films and stage shows, Brand spent a summer touring the U.S. in an SUV for a BBC documentary on another cultural hero, Jack Kerouac. "I was expecting the worst, but I was astonished by American intelligence. I met hillbillies speaking with authority about the Federal Reserve and Mormons talking about sexual freedom. I was blown away, and I'm very optimistic about America." No joke, even after spending considerable time with Sandler.
Tickets for Russell Brand's shows at the Centaur Theatre and Apatow for Destruction at the Metropolis are sold out.
Prepare to become much more Brand conscious
BILL BROWNSTEIN,
The Gazette
Thursday, July 17, 2008[/align]
He stole the show in the flick Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and it's an excellent bet that Russell Brand will do plenty of show-stealing here at Just for Laughs during the next few days.
Brand unwinds in his untitled one-man show tonight through Saturday at the Centaur, and he will also be centre-stage - "strutting and swaggering like a buccaneer" - in the Apatow for Destruction spectacle, in which he does stand-up along with Forgetting Sarah Marshall producer Judd Apatow and Canuck wild-man Seth Rogen, tomorrow at midnight at the Metropolis.
North American audiences may have only become aware of the shaggy-haired Brand after his side-splitting romp as the babbling British rock star who hooks up with Sarah Marshall, but he has been something of a phenomenon in his native England for several years. Star of stage, radio, small and big screen there, Brand has been voted Best Comedy Newcomer, Best Stand-up, Funniest Male and Most Stylish Man of the Year as well as Least Stylish Man of the Year in Britain. (Gotta love that Brit irony.) And lest we forget: Brand, 33, was deemed Europe's as well as the world's Sexiest Vegetarian by PETA.
And you know a comic has made it when fellow wits start referencing him in their acts as the barking-mad Brendon Burns does with Brand - something about a dalliance with Kate Moss - in his explosive piece at Théâtre Ste. Catherine. This marks Brand's first appearance at the fest, but he has been following it from afar for years. "I've been a great lover of that little green monster. What a great icon," he says, apparently serious. Then again, maybe not.
But Brand is abundantly aware that his comic heroes, Eddie Izzard and the late Bill Hicks, have triumphed here. London pundits have compared Brand to Hicks. "That's one of the most flattering comparisons I have ever had levelled at me," he says. "I adore his authenticity."
Safe to say, Hicks would have adored Brand's authenticity, specifically his hit one-man plays at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival: Eroticized Humour and Better Now - described by one wag as "an odyssey through a twilight world of whores, heroin and hairdos, demonstrating that the road of excess leads to the palace of unemployment."
Given the outrageousness of his work, audiences may not be certain if it's confessional or the stuff of fantasy. "All my shows are confessional in nature," Brand acknowledges. "There's very little creativity involved. It's more simply a man reciting memories in the vain hope that one day there will be money in it. I try to spin a yarn or two, and make allegorical cross-references and occupy characters."
The ever-self-deprecating Brand may wish to downplay his comic smarts, but he is full of praise for his inspirations. "I love the passion of a Lenny Bruce and Bill Hicks, Richard Pryor's ability to inhabit characters, Eddie Izzard's use of language and Billy Connolly's raconteurish ways. All have had an impact on me and, hopefully, will be in evidence in Montreal."
Brand has been doing a test run of his latest one-man show in L.A. for the last six weeks - where it has earned thumbs-up from the likes of Slash and Morrissey. It is a mélange of new and old satirical material, a re-Branding of Brand.
"I'm not Noam Chomsky, but I have lots of scowling, scantily researched theories, and I mean scantily researched," he deadpans, before expounding on one: "I believe in egalitarianism, a spiritual unity. We have to get rid of the idea of family and currency. We have to cut the population by 50 per cent. When we get rid of the ideas of religion and nationality, we can all live in a blissful Utopia and await the return of our extraterrestrial overlords."
And would these overlords be of the tiny Spielbergian, greenish ilk? "No," Brand shoots back. "More grayish, abstinent, even Nordic types. Frankly, Spielberg's E.T.s would be an annoyance in any revolution."
Don't be fretting for Brand, whose "vain hope" is that there will be one day "money" to be generated from his act. That day has already come. No sooner did Brand complete Forgetting Sarah Marshall than he was signed to do another picture to be produced by Apatow, this pitting him up against Superbad's delightfully corpulent Jonah Hill. This one is not to be confused with Apatow's just-announced comedy on Sherlock Holmes and Watson with Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell - although Brand and Hill would bring a dimension of delirium to it. The film with Hill is a follow-up to Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which Brand's rock star character moves to L.A. Brand also recently wrapped shooting with Adam Sandler on Bedtime Stories, and he is slated to star in another Sandler affair shortly.
Between films and stage shows, Brand spent a summer touring the U.S. in an SUV for a BBC documentary on another cultural hero, Jack Kerouac. "I was expecting the worst, but I was astonished by American intelligence. I met hillbillies speaking with authority about the Federal Reserve and Mormons talking about sexual freedom. I was blown away, and I'm very optimistic about America." No joke, even after spending considerable time with Sandler.
Tickets for Russell Brand's shows at the Centaur Theatre and Apatow for Destruction at the Metropolis are sold out.
Russell has made a pretty in-depth and passionate defence of his recent jokes about the Northampton sex attacker.
If you listen to all of this he becomes quite serious and animated towards the end, which shows how much he cares about this, because his radio show is supposed to be a madcap comedy show but he sacrificed that conceit for about 10 minutes (I've edited it down) for the sake of this serious discussion.
I have regained a lot of respect for him. I think he's a fucking decent man.
*audio now expired - if you have it, plese let an admin know so it can be replaced...
If you listen to all of this he becomes quite serious and animated towards the end, which shows how much he cares about this, because his radio show is supposed to be a madcap comedy show but he sacrificed that conceit for about 10 minutes (I've edited it down) for the sake of this serious discussion.
I have regained a lot of respect for him. I think he's a fucking decent man.
*audio now expired - if you have it, plese let an admin know so it can be replaced...