A teaser/trailer for Russell’s upcoming late night show “Brand X” has been released! The show, previously titled “Strangely Uplifting,” will premiere June 28 on FX. It will also air on Sky Atlantic in the UK.
I can’t embed the clip here, because they’ve disabled embedding, but click the image above to watch the trailer directly on Vimeo.
This article appeared in the Telegraph in 2007, written by Nigel Farndale. I thought some people might enjoy taking a look back.
Before I meet Russell Brand I meet his cat. At least, I’m assuming it’s his cat because: a) I’m sitting in his kitchen in Hampstead, and b) The cat has one of those diamanté-studded collars on it, the sort of thing that Brand himself might wear, only around his wrist, and with metal studs rather than fake diamonds.
It is early evening and he is behind schedule, upstairs somewhere meeting a deadline. When – eventually – he descends the staircase, he is barefoot; tall and lean in black jeans and black jumper; padding as softly as a panther. His left eyebrow forms a permanent arch; his lower lip a puffy curve; his long, black mane is down, rather than back-combed up, which is how he wears it when doing his show on television or when performing comedy on stage- award-winning comedy, quirky, effervescent, streamofconsciousness comedy.
By his own exuberant standards, he seems subdued, weary and, well, dignified today – more dignified than you would expect. He also seems distracted: he fiddles with the flat-screen Bang and Olufsen TV; he languidly circles the kitchen table; he plays with the dimmer switch before opting for muted lighting, which casts his neatly bearded features into partial shadow. When he settles it is with the side of his head resting on an upturned hand, as if offering it on a plate. He has about him an air of wanton self-possession. This, you sense, is not a man to whom you would lightly entrust a wife or grown daughter.
From The Guardian:
Russell Brand is in talks with the BBC about presenting his first TV programme, a film about addiction, for the broadcaster since being forced out over a prank phone calls row in 2008.
The comedian – eager, it would appear, to mend fences after the scandal – has said he would waive any fee to forestall criticism of the proposed BBC3 programme.
Discussions are continuing, as the corporation weighs the sensitivities, but it is thought the film will explore the issue of addiction in a similar way to how Stephen Fry tackled depression for BBC2 in 2006.
Last year, after the death of his friend and fellow addict Amy Winehouse, Brand paid tribute to her, saying they “shared an affliction, the disease of addiction”.
Brand left the BBC in 2008 following a row over a prank phone call he and Jonathan Ross made to the actor Andrew Sachs about Sachs’s granddaughter. Since then Brand has gone on to appear in a number of Hollywood films.
He has returned to broadcasting in the UK – in 2009 he co-hosted a sports show with Noel Gallagher on TalkSport, and in 2010 appeared as a guest on Dermot O’Leary’s BBC Radio 2 show – but has not fronted a TV programme since leaving. His only recent appearance on BBC screens has been in BBC4 reruns of his BBC2 documentary, On the Road.
A BBC spokesman said: “We are working with Russell on a programme about addiction in the UK but it’s currently only in its early stages.”
Brand, who has spent time in rehab, has often called for addicts to be treated as “sick people in need of care”. He also said: “We need to review the way society treats addicts … we need to look at the way our government funds rehabilitation. It is cheaper to rehabilitate an addict than to send them to prison, so criminalisation doesn’t even make economic sense.”
Click here to watch the new trailer for Rock of Ages, which will be out on June 15.
Russell will return to the Music Box at Borgata Casino in Atlantic City, NJ on May 4 and 5.
Tickets can be purchased here.
The Music Box has 1000 seats and is located at 1 Borgata Way, Atlantic City. Phone: 609-317-1000.
These dates have been listed for a while – I apologize for not posting them sooner!
From BBC News Magazine:
Shakespeare loved a fool and not just on 1 April. He used them in most of his well-known plays, but who would their equivalents be today?
It was never about bright clothes, eccentric hats and slippers with bells on them. Shakespeare’s fools were the stand-ups of their day and liked to expose the vain, mock the pompous and deliver a few home truths – however uncomfortable that might be for those on the receiving end.
“Shakespearean fools, like stand-ups today, had a licence to say almost anything,” says Dr Oliver Double, who teaches drama at the University of Kent and specialises in comedy. “It was an exalted position.”
…So, smart and articulate or stupid and foolish, who are the closest modern equivalents of Shakespeare’s fools and comic characters?
Full article here.
I normally don’t post stuff from TMZ/tabloids here, but since this is an actual occurrence & not just gossip … might as well document it here.
From TMZ:
Russell Brand has been arrested for allegedly grabbing a photog’s cell phone and firing it through the window of a New Orleans law firm … TMZ has learned.
Russell turned himself in to New Orleans police within the last hour and is currently in police custody.
TMZ broke the story … Russell got pissed [pissed off, not drunk] Monday night, after a photog began taking pictures on his iPhone. Russell allegedly took the cell phone and hurled it through the window of a law office.
The photog got the phone back and Russell agreed to pay for the window, but that didn’t satisfy cops and prosecutors. A warrant was issued for Russell’s arrest.
It’s since been reported that Russell was held for about an hour and then released on $5000 bail.
Here are a couple clips of Russell participating in the Versus War on Drugs Debate yesterday. (The first minute or so has Richard Branson, but I thought it would give some context for when Russell starts speaking.)
The full debate is available to watch on Youtube here.
Join Russell Brand for an intimate evening of hilarity.
Seats will be assigned beginning at 6pm, Doors open for drinks at 7pm, Showtime 8pm
