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From London’s Evening Standard:

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending two performances of What About Dick?, a stage play by Eric Idle of Monty Python fame, starring our own Russell Brand in the title role.

What About Dick? also stars such titans of British comedy as Eddie Izzard, Tracey Ullman, Billy Connolly, and Tim Curry.

The play is set “between 1910 and eight o’clock,” according to Idle, and is performed as a radio play, with the actors reading from scripts. The stage is set to look like a cozy living room, with a rug, couch, and chairs. All the actors remain on stage at all times, whether they’re speaking or not, and they simply sit down in one of the chairs if they’re not in a particular scene.

I’m not sure I can accurately describe the plot, which almost didn’t seem like a plot, but more like a loose narrative on which to base a whole lot of double entendres and weird but wonderful conversations. Basically, it was about a piano, but the piano is a metaphor for numerous things, and not an actual piano. And the piano is played by Eric Idle, who is the narrator of the story. See what I mean about it being hard to explain?

(Read on…)

This is the first review I’ve found for What About Dick, which had its first of four performances last night in Los Angeles.

Excerpt from Huffington Post:

It proved to be one of the most exciting theatrical evenings of my eventful life. Utter madness, brilliant innovation, weirdly wonderful… and deeply moving. Think of a half-dozen of the greatest comic talents of the English-speaking world on one stage for an evening of somewhat scripted, somewhat improvised performance, and you will understand what I mean. The lead role in what is basically a radio play set at the self-same Orpheum Theatre during a radio broadcast in 1941 with the cast reading from scripts, was played by that tabloid British actor/comedien/ bad boy (ex-husband of Katy Perry) Russell Brand.

Read the rest here.

I don’t like that the first word used to describe Russell here is “tabloid” or that he continues to be referred to in relation to Katy Perry, but whatever … obviously this guy isn’t particularly a fan and he still says Russell did a good job, so that’s what matters.

This is the best article about Russell that I’ve read in ages. Amazing and insightful.  Excerpt:

I once wrote a book about a man who made comedy dangerous. Last night I saw someone who embodies that and more.

Russell Brand’s danger differs from O’Donoghue’s. It’s more playful, seemingly uncontrolled. An anarchic dancing id that O’Donoghue’s forensic mind might not abide. Yet for all of Brand’s play, there’s a physical menace that if pushed, would kick your ass.

It’s there the second Brand steps on stage. Laura and I were in the fifth row, center. Largo’s theater is old and intimate, so Brand was practically on top of us. The crowd went crazy as Brand strode left to right, long legs extended, hands slicing the air. Total rock star. I felt envious but also taken away. Before Brand said a word, he established his turf, his magnetism palpable.

Read the rest at Dennis Perrin’s blog here. Read it!

Russell leaving the Hudson Theater. Photo by Fame/Flynet.

Russell Brand at Hudson Theater in Los Angeles
February 6, 2012

For those of us who long ago decided to ride the snake, being in a small room with Russell Brand is on a par with the best of the celebratory moments in life: Christmas, 8 days of Hanukah, or the 2 minutes it took to lose our virginity.

Roughing it on the bare “non” stage of the Hudson Theater in Hollywood last night, Brand offered a preview of what we can expect in his upcoming FX TV series, which is arriving in a matter of weeks.

The Hudson Theater is an ideal setting for mirroring the intimate nature of a small TV audience, who will be happily manhandled and coerced into becoming Russell’s accomplices.

Pointing out that the show will be centered on what is topical for the day, Brand noted that the evening’s conversation will be irrelevant by the time the next wave of nonsense hits the Daily Mail, Fox News and other makers of visceral garbage. The sheer lunacy of what surrounds us in the media will serve as the ever-flowing fountain of rich material for the brilliant and provocative mind of Russell Brand, who has the remarkable capacity to process his news bites into both both informational and hilarious overviews of our society, and what society will allow.

The evening’s menu ran an incredible range from vampires & cannibals uniting in a pre-Valentine love mush that (they hope) will include spending time with their dogs and hobbies, to the GOP (complete with wicked prancing), to child labor with farm machinery, to the fact that those off-shore customer service numbers are no longer going to foreign exchanges, but to our local prison population. (WTF?! when I’m bitching about my cable billing, I’m giving my personal account info to a guy who may be in prison for embezzlement?!)

The small room gave him license to use his ‘inside’ voice and allow for some quieter moments, which doesn’t happen too often at a Russell Brand event.

In between this barrage of information, Russell managed to get physical, which I think may be best described as a psycho (simulated) fucking machine (giving himself a bit of a headache) with occasional character changes. It was the good kind of psycho.

For the more frivolous/superficial stuff: He came as himself: a lean, sexy-funny love machine in ravaged faded jean cloth, a few chains, T-shirt and vest topped off with one shiny gold ornament ’round the neck, a killer smile and that gorgeous hair.

Out of respect for the man, I didn’t get a sneaky phone photo or dog him at the entrance or exit. A night in a room was everything a person could reasonably ask for.

Russell will be headlining at LARGO on February 13th. If you wait until you have read all of this, it may be too late. Secure tickets online right away!

- Carol Lynn (rustyboots.net reader)

Photo by Raylene Habstritt

Review of Russell’s gig in Calgary, Canada last night:

Brand has one of the fiercest, funniest and fastest minds in the comedy game. At one point, he referred to himself as a “performance artist” and that’s a fair call. He’s also the rock ’n’ roll bad boy of the comedy scene, and he played the part, wearing a tank top under a vest, ripped jeans that defined skinny, white sneakers and a crotch-skimming silver chain around his neck.

“A lot of times, I say things that shouldn’t be said,” he confessed.

Read the rest at Calgary Herald.

Here’s a review of Russell’s recent standup gig in Atlantic City.

Excerpt:

Russell Brand’s act was a triumph. Not only did we laugh at him but we all fell in love with him. Charisma, charm, wit, cleverness, and accessibility drew us in and left us limp.

Read the rest.

(A few thoughts)

Great review of Russell’s 2nd Vancouver BC show from Straight.com:

Having only seen comedian Russell Brand on talk shows and acting in movies, I sensed his popularity had something to do with his rock star looks. That may be true, but I was completely wrong about his standup chops. Turns out the guy is genuinely funny, as well as totally charming and intelligent.

Brand strolled on stage looking like punk Jesus with long hair and a beard, torn jeans, boots, down-to-his-waist neck bling and a ratty T-shirt. But at no time did his look get in the way of his solid act.

Almost immediately, he walked up the aisle at the River Rock Show Theatre and through the crowd, sitting on people, shaking hands, taking pictures and riffing. This can be a gimmicky time-waster in lesser hands, but it was one of the most-fun opening bits I’ve seen thanks to Brand’s non-stop patter.

Read the full review here.

Photo credit: Kevin Statham

From CTV British Columbia:

Deep down, after all the MTV and BBC controversies, the celebrity marriage merry-go-round and movies of varying quality, Russell Brand is first and foremost a stand-up comedian. And a fine one at that, as he proved Friday evening at the Red Robinson Theatre in Coquitlam, the first of two nights of brilliantly blue comedy in the Greater Vancouver Area, the second taking place in Richmond later tonight.

Although Brand has twice played a rock star on the big screen, and his grand entrance to Oasis’ ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’ was suitably overstated, there’s still something genuinely down to earth about him. Indeed, for a comic who has courted celebrity so openly, there still appears to be little difference between Russell Brand the performer and Russell Brand the human being. His comedy all stems from his experiences and his mistakes. Thankfully, there have been plenty of both.

And so, without giving away any punchlines for anyone attending this evening’s show, Brand looks back on his two stints hosting the MTV Video Music Awards, his ill-fated love letter to Serena Williams and a plethora of outrageous bedroom incidents. All of which, naturally, took place before he met his wife, Katy Perry. It’s all as brutally honest as it is hilarious.

Read the full review here.

Photo by Kevin Statham.

By John Katsilometes

Saturday, July 23, 2011 | 8:40 p.m.

Roughly 30 minutes into his single performance Friday night at Mandalay Bay Theater, Russell Brand deviated from his script. Or did he, really? Was there a script at all?

Brand improvises frequently and whimsically, but the quick, innuendo-laden response to the cries of a few female fans may well have been written before the show and swiftly memorized by Brand.

In any event, the moment in reference: Brand began recounting his stint as host of the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, when Kanye West’s onstage interruption of Taylor Swift’s Best Female Video Award honor dominated the program. A few women screamed at Brand during this bit, and he stopped suddenly. The break in pattern was tinged with the “adult content” promised in signs of Brand hanging in the hotel, a concept he mocked throughout the show.

Read the full review at the Las Vegas Sun.