The Brand Of Russell Brand

Written by Miranda Vidak

5/7/20099 min read

Did you notice my posts are becoming more personal? I originally intended this site to cover different subjects I consider important or just dear to my heart. I wanted to detach as a person, not write about myself; share my thoughts with you, and not my private life.

But then I figured, it might be unfair not to be a little bit involved. That, and the fact you guys are swamping my inbox all the time, asking me if I could write more about myself (and Hollywood, that’s always a top request).

I don’t want this site to be my internet memoir, but I will share experiences that formed how I feel about certain subjects. Everything we create has to come from our own experiences; a movie, song, book, article, column; whatever you share with people  has to come from the experience of its creator, otherwise is just crap. It’s crap and dishonest, and people feel that.

Especially writing.

All the inner turmoil that happens inside, all the experiences and the struggles is what gives the voice to the writer. Without the voice, the writer is just a typist.

And then there’s relating. It is impossible to relate to any type of art if the artist isn’t speaking from their own experience. It's not easy, sharing your life and experiences, but it’s rewarding. It’s scary, putting things down on paper, let alone sharing it with people. Almost frightening.

Until you do it.

I always had trouble expressing myself verbally. I don’t have time to mold and shape my thoughts like I do when I write, and talking always depends on the environment around you. Mostly I’m not at my hundred percent, talking to people. But something magical happens to me when I write; it just flows. It makes sense. I have that space of confidence where I can dance with words to get the right ones out of me, I can get back to it, polish them, and completely unleash myself.

It always annoyed me that my verbal skills aren’t as good as my writing skills. I feel a tad jealous when I see people equally superior in both areas. When I see that dance I mentioned, on page and in front of a crowd.

Russell Brand is one of those people. I have been following him, reading about him, reading HIM, listening to him, and I haven’t been that impressed with anyone in a while.

I have been sitting on the subject of Russell Brand for a while now. I wanted to do a piece on him but couldn’t find an angle I wanted to cover. Everything about him is so appealing to me, what’s my angle? I can’t just come here and unload without having a spin; why him? And why is he doing it to me?

And then I met him at his book signing. His memoir blew my mind. “MY BOOKY WOOK, a Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-Up”, is one of the best, most entertaining, smartest memoirs I’ve read in a long time. And just like that, I got my angle. He invaded all the senses in me. The way he looks, sounds, moves, acts, and thinks. That infantile play with extreme intelligence. Sharing so much detail with the world; how do you turn sarcasm on the most grueling parts of your life? If you think that’s not hard, try it. It’s extremely hard to talk about your worst moments but not sound complain-y or patronizing.

Instead of trying to hide all the embarrassing moments that happened to him (well, he mostly solicited them all by himself), a decision to share everything, hold nothing, and actually make an unexpectedly successful career out of it?

He did not just make a career, Russell Brand made a brand out of his fucked up life. A messed up childhood, sexual harassment as a child, alcoholism, heroin, and sex addiction; being expelled from every school he attended, and fired from every job he held - only to check himself into a couple of different rehabs, realizing his ambition and determination to succeed is bigger than any addiction. possible.

In his words”

“I have an ambition beyond the designs of the Third Reich”.

The construction of sentences?

Ambition eventually won over addictions. I came to realize, and not just in the case of Russell Brand, that when intelligence is combined with the lack of ego, you can overcome just about anything. Robert Downey Jr. is another example of that particular category.

Russell became one of the most successful, award-winning Stand-Up Comic in England, an actor, and a sought-after TV presenter hosting numerous shows, among the most popular — Big Brother, E forum Show, NME Awards in 2006, and Brit Awards in 2007. His BBC Radio 6 show became a cult phenomenon. His world domination didn’t stop there, he decided to take America next, and launched some serious Del Boy type Brand-building here. We’ll get to his Trotterism later.

So how does this weird-looking dude, with leather leggings, healed boots, snake scarves, and a funny hairdo achieve all that success? How does an ex-heroin addict, an alcoholic, and a sex addict obsessed with strip joints, with a penchant for prostitutes go on to become one of the most famous and successful people in Britain?

Well, because of all of that. He withholds nothing, he regrets nothing, and he has no remorse. Instead of putting some life experiences in his Stand-Up routine, he made his life — his routine. His life became more famous than his performances. His life became his performance.

Or, in his own words:

“My life is a series of embarrassing incidents strung together by telling people about those embarrassing incidents.”

And there are plenty of embarrassing incidents in Russell’s career. But most famously — working as a presenter at MTV Europe and coming to work one day dressed as Osama Bin Laden. It’s not a big deal you say, people dress like Osama for Halloween all the time?

The date was: September 12, 2001. And yes, of course, he was fired.

Russell is not insensitive, he is infantile and blunt. Or is he a genius? I can’t decide. Because, the next day, all of Britain knew who Russell Brand was.

Next incident? Working on BBC Radio and prank calling Britain’s well-known actor Andrew Sachs (the guy’s 70-something year old, by the way), telling him on air — that he had sex with his grand-daughter. You’re guessing, he got fired from BBC, also.

But what amazes me most about this guy, apart from his honesty, since nowadays, that is an extinct quality I cherish most in people — is just how many chances he had in his life. Having been living in Hollywood for some time now, and knowing the world of agents and managers, producers, and Networks; fuck ups are something nobody will bet on. No one wants to deal with walking liabilities. Insurance is way too expensive, and rarely anyone in Hollywood wants to take that financial risk.

Just look at Lindsay Lohan and her constant unemployableness. Yet, this guy has had so many chances given to him, over and over again, despite being addicted to all the sins the world’s got to offer, only confirming my theory of his genius.

Or is he THAT bankable?

All the mess Russell created in his native land was nothing concerning the stir he was making upon coming to America. Just imagine a character like this in the land of fakeness and pseudo-correctness. It is amusing to watch.

Russell came in and stood in stark contrast to the American comics raised on idiotic frat movies. The highlight of Russellism in America? Infamously hosting MTV Movie Awards in 2008 — a Brit to host one of the most watched and most prestigious awards shows in America, an unknown to the American pop culture, and someone that was fired from MTV for dressing as Osama Bin Laden? It was a precedent.

Remember that unexplainable second chance thing I told you? How did he manage that? I don’t care. I was too busy enjoying watching him giving the American public, who complained for months about the unknown hosting the show — a mockery of everything they stand for. It is impossible to repeat all the hilarious stuff he said, but the highlights of the night were definitely:

“These books are bloody popular, these `Twilight’ books.”

…making fun of Twihards while cutting off Rob Pattinson from speaking on stage, standing in front of him, blocking the sight of Rob on purpose, while little girls heckled him.

“A bit of sex occasionally never hurt anybody.”

…making fun of the Jonas Brothers and their abstinence purity rings scenario. He wouldn’t drop it, he repeated it so many times, obviously so baffled as to why someone so young would decide not have sex until marriage when sex is just a:

“ bit of harmless fun”…

But my personal favorite was, without a doubt, his Bush rant:

“As a representative of the global community, a visitor from abroad, could I ask of you, people of America, to please elect Barack Obama, on behalf of the world. Some people, I think they’re called racists, say America is not ready for a black president. But I know America to be a forward thinking country because otherwise why would you have let that retarded cowboy fella be president for eight years. We were very impressed in England. We thought it was nice of you to let him have a go, because, in England, he wouldn’t be trusted with a pair of scissors.”

Most of the republican audience was annoyed, but he kept pestering them. As he told them obliviously at the end:

“I’m famous in the United Kingdom. My persona don’t really work without fame. Without fame, this haircut could be mistaken for mental illness.”

Maybe he wanted to explain his rock-star hairstyle. Or maybe he was giving them a blow-by-blow of what was to come. The reviews were divided, expectedly. Some people loved him, but mostly they couldn’t handle him. Russell Brand is too exotic for American minds. But he’s also what America needs. A much-needed stir of its blah society, someone incorrect that’s willing to kick that box from the inside.

I want to come back to his written word. Just how many talents can this guy have? His memoir. To be able to be gravely serious while being infantile and sarcastic, but socially aware — it’s just poetry to me. It puts other celebrity memoirs to shame. “MY BOOKY WOOK, a Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-Up”. It’s a must-read. You will be entertained and inspired. But mostly you will laugh. Hard.

How can you not laugh at lines like:

“This bit of my childhood might be a bit downer to read; it was a bit downer to live an’ all.”

Or when he brought his dealer called “Gritty” into the MTV studios and called it a:

“Bring Your Dealer to Work Day”

…or when he introduced Gritty to Kylie Minogue, and she asked Gritty upon meeting him –“So, what do you do for a livin’ ?” Or when he had a meeting with his agent, and the owner of an addiction facility to discuss him going to rehab, and where he:

“Broke off from the conversation at that point, to go see his dealer and score some drugs — just to get true the rest of the meeting about how he needs to give up drugs.”

Or when he invented a show where he challenged different social taboos; for example, how would it feel to take a bath with a homeless person? He ended up doing it, with James — a homeless guy. The plan was for James to live with Russell for a week and film their experience together. But after just two days James left; he preferred to be homeless, rather than live with Russell.

Russell was not upset, after all, like he said :

“It’s obviously difficult to have a genuine friendship when one of you is glamorous TV presenter and another one is a tramp!”

An infantile voice, with the brilliance of a comic mind, pulling liners like featuring heroin and Shakespeare in the same sentence. I read a review of his book before I read the actual book, and one line stayed with me, and actually made me get the book:

“He achieves a kind of Dickensian bathos.”

At that time I thought maybe it was a bit over-the-top comparison, but having read the book, he really does have a bit of Dickens quality to it. He shifts from noble to trivial, back to noble, back to all the ridiculousness of life’s dirtiest and morally lowest escape people engage in, but rarely admit.

Russell Brand is living proof of non-conformists being able to achieve great things in life, while not playing by the rules of society if you don’t agree with them. You don’t have to look a certain way, always be politically correct, and say or do the right thing in fear of being sidelined.

Society's rules do not have to deny you the possibility of success if you own your thoughts, your words, and your life. The quote from the book that caught me the most, an introspective of one’s stand of defiance to otherwise defeatist non-conformity:

“I was flying the Iberia Airlines and i refused to remove my feet from the top of the seat in front of me. Scruffy people like me are not welcomed in any other class than economy, and i was flying business. If you find a way of affording an overpriced travel without dressing like an scientist, it irritates conformists. They’ve been assured that by surrendering freedom and dressing all square they will be rewarded, and if someone turns up claiming privileges for which they’ve refrained good haircuts, they get displeased and look for ways to penalize you.”

This guy.