Russell Brand

He's a sexy wildman

Russell Brand (born 4 June 1975 in Grays, Essex) is an English comedian best known for being the former host of Big Brother's Big Mouth, his current BBC Radio 2 show, and stand-up comedy tours.

Brand is friends with Karl Pilkington. Karl was Russell's producer on his first 6Music show presented some radio shows together on BBC 6Music. They also belong to the same talent agency, John Noel Management. Ricky Gervais and Russell Brand have also run into each other while Ricky was being interviewed on The Chris Moyles Show and during a co-interview after LiveEarth.

Russell is a fan of West Ham United FC. He is also a big fan of The Smiths and their ex-frontman Morrissey. Brand owns a cat of the same name. He has been quoted on his former 6Music radio show as saying that he would like the song Asleep played at his funeral.

Notable Career

BBC 6Music and Karl Pilkington

Main article: 6Music Shows

In December 2005, Brand co-presented three one-off radio shows for BBC 6Music with Karl Pilkington. Later in April 2006, Russell Brand was given a regular Sunday afternoon slot on the station. Karl Pilkington was advertised as being his co-host and even appeared with him on the first few show. However, Karl mysteriously disappeared from the show leaving some to speculate about a falling out between Pilkington and Brand. The actual reason for Karl's departure, as confirmed by Brand's co-presenter Trevor Lock, is that 6Music's desire to release a downloadable podcast of the show conflicted with Karl's commitment to The Ricky Gervais Show podcast. Karl has since appeared (via the phone) on the Russell Brand Show, talking about his holiday visit to a historic resort in Lyme Regis, Dorset and his recent viewing of Brokeback Mountain. Brand's 6Music radio show has placed as high as number two in the iTunes most-subscribed podcast chart. In November 2006, Brand's show was moved to BBC Radio 2, where it still airs today.

MTV

Brand's first presenting job was as a VJ on music channel MTV presenting Dance Floor Chart and MTV Select. However he was sacked after coming to work dressed as Osama bin Laden on 12 September 2001.

Re:Brand

In 2002, Brand made a TV show called Re:Brand for digital channel BBC Choice (now known as BBC 3). The show was a documentary where every episode saw Brand extreme behaviour to test probe both social and personal boundaries. In his search for truth and self-discovery Brand arranged a boxing match with his own father, let a tramp sleep in his bed and tested his sexuality by giving an hand-job to a stranger in a public toilet. The show isn't available on DVD, has yet to be repeated, UKNova currently has a 7 out of the 10 episodes availible for download.

Big Brother's Big Mouth

Brand's popularity took off when, in 2004, he hosted E4's Big Brother's E-forum, later to be called Big Brother's Big Mouth. The show consisted of a studio audience of fans and two celebrity guests discussing the latest happenings in the Big Brother House, while viewers were able to contribute via phone, e-mail, text polls.

1 Leicester Square

Main article: 1 Leicester Square

1 Leicester Square was a chatshow on MTV UK that was hosted by Russell Brand. The show featured celebrity guests, musical entertainment and various asides with the presenter. The show was widely viewed as a vehicle for the comeback of Russell Brand after his sacking from MTV in 2001.

In September 2006, Stephen Merchant made a guest appearance to promote series two of Extras

Russell Brand's Got Issues

In 2006, Brand presented a debate show called Russell Brand's Got Issues on E4. The format was similar to Big Brother's Big Mouth, but covered a much wider range of topics than did the fella do a wank under the duvet!? or why is that former child abuse victim such a bitch!? The show was canceled after six episodes due to lackluster ratings.

Persona

Style

Brand is a flamboyant performer, he describes himself as a "S&M Willy Wonka"[1]. Brand is also well known for his catchphrases such as " 'citing!"(exciting) and "the swine(s)!" as well as anecdotes involving him ending up in a sexual situation, or exposing his "dinkle" and calling for the lads to come and see it. Brand loves to perform and his best work is as a stand-up where his libertine lifestyle of sex and drugs has given him extraordinary true stories which he tells with self-awareness, pathos and insight. This is evident through Brand's critical success. In 2006 he was named best Stand Up by Time Out Magazine in the Time Out Live awards, [2], and the eight-night run of his stand-up show Shame at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival was the first show to sell out for that year. [3]

Ladies' Man

A self-confessed "woman adorer", he is rumoured to have had affairs with supermodel Kate Moss, and Big Brother UK contestants Kate Lawler, Big Brother Becki Seddiki and Makosi Musambasi. [4] He describes himself as having a "kind of roaring heterosexuality" [5] and has also admitted to frequenting Soho brothels to have sex with prostitutes (while still battling with his drug addictions). [6] Recently, the Daily Star published an article claiming that Bob Geldof has disallowed his daughter Peaches Geldof from going to Ibiza, in case Russell were to follow her.

Drug Addiction

Brand is a former heroin addict and has had numerous run-ins with the law, having been arrested eleven times [7], and was expelled from Italia Conti theatre school when he was younger. During the time of his addiction he was known for his debauchery, notable examples being his ejection from The Gilded Balloon in Edinburgh for abusive behaviour [8] and his sacking from MTV UK on the 12th of September 2001 for arriving at work dressed as Osama bin Laden [9].

However, he has been free from heroin addiction since 2003, and is now a patron of the addiction charity Focus 12 [10]. He hosted a forum show about drugs for Channel 4 in 2006, which had a similar format to that of Big Brother's Big Mouth, and his stage show Better Now drew extensively on his experiences with addiction [11]. He has also returned to MTV UK with his own chatshow, (1 Leicester Square)

NME Awards 2006

Bob Geldof reacts to Brand's retort at the NME Awards

On the 23 February 2006, Brand hosted the 2006 NME Awards show. Upon reaching the stage to receive his award, Bob Geldof began his speech with "Russell Brand... what a cunt" which later prompted Brand to strike back with, "I actually think Geldof's the best person to speak about famine, seeing as he's been dining out on I Don't Like Mondays for thirty years...". Talking about this event in his stand-up show, Brand refers to his ambivalence about snapping back. He claimed he always liked Geldof, stating that "it was a bit like Father Christmas calling me a cunt". In a later interview he claimed: "I think it was an abominable thing to say ... I was mentally ill. I was a drug addict. I nearly died. I don't see how that's befitting of that word." This was despite having been free of drugs for three years before the incident.

External links

• Russell Brand's website
• The Russell Brand Fansite
• Russell Brand's BBC 6 Music show homepage
• Russell Brand's BBC Radio 2 show homepage