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| Russell Brand: messiah or very naughty boy? | Russell Brand: messiah or very naughty boy? |
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| Everyone is familiar with Russell Brand, even those who have somehow avoided the succession of electrifying scandals and stunts that propel his name into the headlines with the reliable jolt of a defibrillator shock pad. We all recognise him because every school and town has a naughty boy like him: a boy who supplies a line of hair-raising gossip that brings tutting crowds together and causes some to boast about how well they know him. | Everyone is familiar with Russell Brand, even those who have somehow avoided the succession of electrifying scandals and stunts that propel his name into the headlines with the reliable jolt of a defibrillator shock pad. We all recognise him because every school and town has a naughty boy like him: a boy who supplies a line of hair-raising gossip that brings tutting crowds together and causes some to boast about how well they know him. |
| Brand, from Grays in Essex, is a more extreme version of every local bad boy, having projected himself on to the national stage and then on to the world's cinema screens. Now he plans to take on the whole world. His newly announced Messiah Complex stand-up show will be visiting venues in Palestine, Israel, Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. | Brand, from Grays in Essex, is a more extreme version of every local bad boy, having projected himself on to the national stage and then on to the world's cinema screens. Now he plans to take on the whole world. His newly announced Messiah Complex stand-up show will be visiting venues in Palestine, Israel, Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. |
| "All great people are flawed, all of us," Brand announced last weekend, in a manner that can only be described as grandiose, one of his favourite words. "This show looks at the importance of heroes in this age of atheistic disposability. Plus there's sex. Obviously." | "All great people are flawed, all of us," Brand announced last weekend, in a manner that can only be described as grandiose, one of his favourite words. "This show looks at the importance of heroes in this age of atheistic disposability. Plus there's sex. Obviously." |
| In celebrity terms, Brand is at the stage where everything he says is controversial. In April, he upset readers with an article in The Guardian that some felt danced on Margaret Thatcher's grave. And in the last few days, on the back of the announcement of his tour, he told the Huffington Post that he had once enjoyed nine orgasms in one evening. In Dublin. | In celebrity terms, Brand is at the stage where everything he says is controversial. In April, he upset readers with an article in The Guardian that some felt danced on Margaret Thatcher's grave. And in the last few days, on the back of the announcement of his tour, he told the Huffington Post that he had once enjoyed nine orgasms in one evening. In Dublin. |
| On Thursday, this scurrilous wordsmith might meet his match when he faces Boris Johnson on the frontline of British politics: BBC1's Question Time panel. Despite the disparities in their backgrounds, both are inveterate attention-seekers. Like Johnson, Brand has trenchant views and tends to put them over in the guise of jokey taunts. They have also both done their share of apologising: Boris for sexual infidelities and slights on the nature of Liverpudlians, Brand for dressing up as Osama bin Laden the day after 9/11 and then for his graphic account on BBC Radio 2 of a romp with the granddaughter of 78-year-old Andrew Sachs. | On Thursday, this scurrilous wordsmith might meet his match when he faces Boris Johnson on the frontline of British politics: BBC1's Question Time panel. Despite the disparities in their backgrounds, both are inveterate attention-seekers. Like Johnson, Brand has trenchant views and tends to put them over in the guise of jokey taunts. They have also both done their share of apologising: Boris for sexual infidelities and slights on the nature of Liverpudlians, Brand for dressing up as Osama bin Laden the day after 9/11 and then for his graphic account on BBC Radio 2 of a romp with the granddaughter of 78-year-old Andrew Sachs. |
| In the forthcoming sequel to the cartoon feature film Despicable Me, Brand reprises the role of Dr Nefario, a scientist who assisted an evil villain in a plan to steal the moon. Brand's own plan for planetary domination is more benign, though, emanating as it does from his Hare Krishna-influenced philosophical beliefs. He wants to bring people together or, rather, to remind us that we are already cosmically linked. After the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich, he preached peace: "The murderers want angry patriots to desecrate mosques and perpetuate violence. How futile their actions seem if we instead leave flowers at each other's places of worship." | In the forthcoming sequel to the cartoon feature film Despicable Me, Brand reprises the role of Dr Nefario, a scientist who assisted an evil villain in a plan to steal the moon. Brand's own plan for planetary domination is more benign, though, emanating as it does from his Hare Krishna-influenced philosophical beliefs. He wants to bring people together or, rather, to remind us that we are already cosmically linked. After the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich, he preached peace: "The murderers want angry patriots to desecrate mosques and perpetuate violence. How futile their actions seem if we instead leave flowers at each other's places of worship." |
| The only child of divorced couple Ron and Barbara Brand, he had an unhappy childhood, suffering sexual abuse from a neighbour and falling into bulimic eating patterns. With the benefit of therapy, he says he looks back and thinks: "You poor little sod." His father, a photographer, was an absentee god who periodically materialised in a Porsche at the school gates and then promptly lost everything. His mother, on the other hand, was the beating heart of his world and her remarriage troubled him. "I loved my mum madly, but I had a lot of prohibiting, inhibiting things around," Brand has said. At 15, following a number of school expulsions, he found performance, playing the role of Fat Sam in a production of Alan Parker's Bugsy Malone. He was not the first to discover that the stage is a good outlet for exhibitionism and that comedy, in particular, operates like an equivalent to boxing for a brainy boy "with issues". | The only child of divorced couple Ron and Barbara Brand, he had an unhappy childhood, suffering sexual abuse from a neighbour and falling into bulimic eating patterns. With the benefit of therapy, he says he looks back and thinks: "You poor little sod." His father, a photographer, was an absentee god who periodically materialised in a Porsche at the school gates and then promptly lost everything. His mother, on the other hand, was the beating heart of his world and her remarriage troubled him. "I loved my mum madly, but I had a lot of prohibiting, inhibiting things around," Brand has said. At 15, following a number of school expulsions, he found performance, playing the role of Fat Sam in a production of Alan Parker's Bugsy Malone. He was not the first to discover that the stage is a good outlet for exhibitionism and that comedy, in particular, operates like an equivalent to boxing for a brainy boy "with issues". |
| At drama school, he was soon distracted by the appeal of a stand-up career. His style was florid and he developed the camp gothic look he is still working today. The Observer's Miranda Sawyer described him in 2008 as "much taller, hairier and better-looking than I expected: a young George Best let loose in the Addams Family dressing-up box". Soon, his gigs began to be fuelled by the way his wild boy image was exciting the press. "I'm fascinated by tabloid culture," he told the Observer. "Out of sheer narcissism, it's interesting to see yourself abstracted from yourself." | At drama school, he was soon distracted by the appeal of a stand-up career. His style was florid and he developed the camp gothic look he is still working today. The Observer's Miranda Sawyer described him in 2008 as "much taller, hairier and better-looking than I expected: a young George Best let loose in the Addams Family dressing-up box". Soon, his gigs began to be fuelled by the way his wild boy image was exciting the press. "I'm fascinated by tabloid culture," he told the Observer. "Out of sheer narcissism, it's interesting to see yourself abstracted from yourself." |
| His baroque verbal style was sometimes cruelly barbed, something still evident when he hosted the NME awards show in 2006 and was attacked by a sweary Bob Geldof. "It's no wonder Bob Geldof knows so much about famine – he's been dining out on I Don't Like Mondays for 30 years," Brand retaliated. | His baroque verbal style was sometimes cruelly barbed, something still evident when he hosted the NME awards show in 2006 and was attacked by a sweary Bob Geldof. "It's no wonder Bob Geldof knows so much about famine – he's been dining out on I Don't Like Mondays for 30 years," Brand retaliated. |
| Critics often poke fun at Brand's verbosity, implying it is a symptom of an uneducated mind, but Russell laughs at himself on this score, too. His confessional volume of autobiography, My Booky Wook, is full of the wordiness that drives his detractors mad. | Critics often poke fun at Brand's verbosity, implying it is a symptom of an uneducated mind, but Russell laughs at himself on this score, too. His confessional volume of autobiography, My Booky Wook, is full of the wordiness that drives his detractors mad. |
| "He genuinely loves words and he wants to communicate that," says the veteran comedy critic Veronica Lee, a Brand fan who invokes the Marmite clause. "That is what he is like. People either love him or they hate his loquacious, walking dictionary act." | "He genuinely loves words and he wants to communicate that," says the veteran comedy critic Veronica Lee, a Brand fan who invokes the Marmite clause. "That is what he is like. People either love him or they hate his loquacious, walking dictionary act." |
| In any case, he should not be easily dismissed. There is, after all, a shortage of fluent commentators from outside the comfortable British establishment. As to narcissism, Brand is far from the only comic to talk about himself. Even the comic Daniel Kitson, darling of the intellectuals, begins his new show with a bit about Googling his own name. True, Brand does not wear his smarts as lightly as Kitson does and it is he and not Kitson who will conversationally name-drop Schopenhauer or Michel Foucault. But, like many good comics, Brand is also ruthlessly honest. | In any case, he should not be easily dismissed. There is, after all, a shortage of fluent commentators from outside the comfortable British establishment. As to narcissism, Brand is far from the only comic to talk about himself. Even the comic Daniel Kitson, darling of the intellectuals, begins his new show with a bit about Googling his own name. True, Brand does not wear his smarts as lightly as Kitson does and it is he and not Kitson who will conversationally name-drop Schopenhauer or Michel Foucault. But, like many good comics, Brand is also ruthlessly honest. |
| Aside from the Sachsgate incident in 2008, which cost the jobs of his co-presenter, Jonathan Ross, and Radio 2 controller, Lesley Douglas, Brand is now best known for his brief marriage to the saucy, bubble-gum pop star Katy Perry. Since their divorce last year, he has maintained a chivalrous silence, perhaps learning from his indiscretion about a night-long fling with Kate Moss in his bachelor days. | Aside from the Sachsgate incident in 2008, which cost the jobs of his co-presenter, Jonathan Ross, and Radio 2 controller, Lesley Douglas, Brand is now best known for his brief marriage to the saucy, bubble-gum pop star Katy Perry. Since their divorce last year, he has maintained a chivalrous silence, perhaps learning from his indiscretion about a night-long fling with Kate Moss in his bachelor days. |
| Sexual incontinence is something Brand remains generally unashamed of, however. As Sawyer noted five years ago, he "works hard to be a stereotypical bloke", playing up his interests in women and in football. Indeed, he portrays his urges as "a kind of roaring heterosexuality". It is a sensuous abandonment that seems founded on the same dangerous nihilism that drew him into drug abuse. | Sexual incontinence is something Brand remains generally unashamed of, however. As Sawyer noted five years ago, he "works hard to be a stereotypical bloke", playing up his interests in women and in football. Indeed, he portrays his urges as "a kind of roaring heterosexuality". It is a sensuous abandonment that seems founded on the same dangerous nihilism that drew him into drug abuse. |
| "I've always had this impulse to be destructive," he has explained. "I'm more on my guard now. But I've always had this thing in me, a bacchanalian impulse. The thing that says there's only this, there's only now, there's nothing else, so fuck everything." | "I've always had this impulse to be destructive," he has explained. "I'm more on my guard now. But I've always had this thing in me, a bacchanalian impulse. The thing that says there's only this, there's only now, there's nothing else, so fuck everything." |
| Hooked on heroin in his 20s, Brand finally got clean in 2002 after his agent, John Noel, discovered him taking heroin in the office lavatory at a Christmas party. He checked him into an abstinence-based recovery programme called Focus 12 and the comedian now regularly raises funds for this independent charity. | Hooked on heroin in his 20s, Brand finally got clean in 2002 after his agent, John Noel, discovered him taking heroin in the office lavatory at a Christmas party. He checked him into an abstinence-based recovery programme called Focus 12 and the comedian now regularly raises funds for this independent charity. |
| His autobiography details his misdemeanours in what close observers suggest was a wise strategy for getting all the bad stuff out into the open before it could be hauled up and used against him. This drug-induced stuff included stealing his nan's pension, losing his job at MTV in the Osama costume debacle, and being fired as a DJ on XFM for reading out soft porn. | His autobiography details his misdemeanours in what close observers suggest was a wise strategy for getting all the bad stuff out into the open before it could be hauled up and used against him. This drug-induced stuff included stealing his nan's pension, losing his job at MTV in the Osama costume debacle, and being fired as a DJ on XFM for reading out soft porn. |
| Brand's rejection of a life on drugs led to what some critics regard as his best show yet, a revealing saga played out in a sweaty Edinburgh fringe festival basement venue in front of transfixed audiences. "It remains one of the most involving bits of comedy I have ever seen," said Lee. "I was pre-disposed to dislike it, but he is such an amazing live performer and that doesn't always come across on television or in films." | Brand's rejection of a life on drugs led to what some critics regard as his best show yet, a revealing saga played out in a sweaty Edinburgh fringe festival basement venue in front of transfixed audiences. "It remains one of the most involving bits of comedy I have ever seen," said Lee. "I was pre-disposed to dislike it, but he is such an amazing live performer and that doesn't always come across on television or in films." |
| A vegetarian since he was 14, Brand has been arrested 11 times at public demonstrations and remains a campaigning, political soul. The piece written the day after Thatcher died pondered whether the idea of her had really died in 1990 "as she sobbed self-pitying tears as she was driven, defeated, from Downing Street, ousted by her own party". He accused Thatcher and Norman Tebbit, her "acolyte and fellow Munsters evacuee", of breaking an "unseen bond" of community connecting all Britons. | A vegetarian since he was 14, Brand has been arrested 11 times at public demonstrations and remains a campaigning, political soul. The piece written the day after Thatcher died pondered whether the idea of her had really died in 1990 "as she sobbed self-pitying tears as she was driven, defeated, from Downing Street, ousted by her own party". He accused Thatcher and Norman Tebbit, her "acolyte and fellow Munsters evacuee", of breaking an "unseen bond" of community connecting all Britons. |
| So, if television audiences are concerned about being asked to take Brand seriously as a Question Time panellist following his appearance as Willy Wonka at last summer's Olympic closing ceremony, they should first remind themselves of his passion and then consider that they are also being asked to weigh the views of Johnson, a man who recently dangled on a zip wire over London. | So, if television audiences are concerned about being asked to take Brand seriously as a Question Time panellist following his appearance as Willy Wonka at last summer's Olympic closing ceremony, they should first remind themselves of his passion and then consider that they are also being asked to weigh the views of Johnson, a man who recently dangled on a zip wire over London. |
| THE BRAND FILE | THE BRAND FILE |
| Born Grays, Essex, June 1975, to Ron, a photographer, and Barbara. Expelled from school, he opted for drama after appearing in a production of Bugsy Malone . | |
| Best of times In 2002, Brand left a residential rehab clinic in Suffolk, to develop a flinchingly honest show about his former addictions to heroin, crack cocaine and alcohol, not to mention sex. The show revealed he could be more than a dandy daredevil. He also won good reviews in 2008 for his portrayal of rock star Aldous Snow in the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a role he returned to in Get Him to the Greek . | |
| Worst of times A history of expulsions continued after school, losing him jobs at MTV, XFM and the BBC. Last year, he formalised his divorce from Katy Perry, his wife for two years. The remake of Arthur, in which he starred in 2011, has been judged one of the worst films of the decade. | |
| What he says "Here's a bit of bargain basement metaphysics and new-age rhubarb. The idea that we live our lives in the past, the present and the future is illusory. We only live moment to moment. But we forget that," he told the Guardian 's Decca Aitkenhead. | |
| What they say "He is a cross between the Artful Dodger and Harry Flashman." David Walliams in the New Statesman. |