Apr 08 2009
Listen to this: Russell Brand on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross
I’ve been a fan of Russell Brand ever since seeing him in last summer’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Since then, I’ve listened to his (now defunct) BBC radio show and caught his Comedy Central special and have continued to find the man hilariously insane. I’ve also been very disappointed to the inexplicable negative backlash he’s gotten from a large swath of the American audience. It’s true, Brand is vivaciously eccentric and has been known to due some terribly offensive things in his career (many of them when he was under the influence of drugs, a habit he’s since kicked), but I can’t help but get the impression that many of the people that have decided they hate this men have never bothered to listen to him for more than 5 or 10 minutes.
And so, I strongly recommend you check out the interview he did with Fresh Air’s Terry Gross on NPR two days ago. I’ll grant you, it’s not terribly funny, but that’s part of why I’m suggesting it. I think you’ll find a different side of Brand than the one you expect when you see that fantastic hair of his. He may be saucy and a bit perverse, but you’ll find that he’s also extremely intelligent, insightful, reflective and humble. I thoroughly enjoyed it and came away liking him even more for it.
NOTE: Gross plays a couple of clips from her interview with Sarah Marshall star/writer Jason Segel, which is also well worth a listen.
