Review: Russell Brand – Scandalous (DVD)
Author: Tigervamp | Date: November 14, 2009
The love-child from an affair between a quintessential English gentleman and a sex-crazed Worzel Gummidge. The result of Sid Vicious colliding at high-speed with an eccentric French mime on pep pills. Captain Jack Sparrow minus the rum and life on the high seas. Russell Brand.
“I’d like to apologise for the terrible attacks, Andrew Sachs, I would like to show contrition to the max, Andrew Sachs. I would like to create world peace, between the yellow, white and blacks, Andrew Sachs, Andrew Sachs. I said something I didn’t have oughta, like I had sex with your granddaughter. But it was consensual and she wasn’t menstrual, it was consensual lovely sex. It was full of respect I sent her a text, I’ve asked her to marry me, Andrew Sachs”. Russell, if you happen to read this, I enjoyed your song.
The above, which is featured on the DVD, was sung by Brand on the now infamous pre-recorded radio show. This was one of a few messages left on the answer machine of Andrew Sachs, famous for playing Manuel in the classic comedy Fawlty Towers, and resulted in Brand’s resignation and the suspension of Jonathan Ross. If any of the words are inaccurate feel free to blame the Daily Mail as the text was lifted directly from a transcript included in one of their online articles. I hope you don’t mind but I’d like to take this opportunity to write a few words about the coverage of this apparently controversial incident.
The Daily Mail are at the forefront of a disgusting element of the press who, worse than being reactionary, actually go out of their way to create controversy in order to spout their poisonous nonsense and sell more copy to weak-minded individuals. Laura Roberts, an employee of the Daily Mail, is to my mind a quite despicable human being who joyfully takes things out of context in order to create sensationalist articles. I echo the sentiments of Brand in this DVD but take it one step further. If you ever meet any reporter working for the Daily Mail, regardless of what story they happen to be covering, you should laugh in their face and tell them to fuck off.
I think it’s pretty obvious from my defence of Brand that I like the guy. Well, that’s not strictly accurate, I don’t like Jim Davidson but I’d still defend him if I believed he was wrongly surrounded in controversy created by the media. I am a big fan of Russell Brand. Not only is he a great comedian he is also down to earth and has an open personality which is so rare in celebrities of a certain status.
Scandalous does not focus solely on the aforementioned controversy and resulting media storm. Brand also talks about his equally controversial experience as host of the MTV Video Music Awards in America. Describing George W Bush as “that retarded cowboy fella” didn’t go down as well as Brand had hoped. Despite the description being accurate. Retarded is such a bad word. Run away. Retarded means “intellectually limited” and I believe that sums up the ex President of the United States pretty well. Brand caused even more controversy when he mocked those ridiculous “promise rings” the Jonas Brothers wear. Jordin Sparks (I bet many of you are thinking “Jordin who?”) makes a statement in retaliation which in effect calls everyone who has ever had sex outside of marriage a slut and the media don’t care. Apparently it’s wrong to speak up about rings which are designed to con young people into thinking they have magical powers and make some corporate men hugely rich in the process. You have got to love Capitalism. I’m hungry, where are those Freedom Fries?
This is a hugely entertaining DVD and includes a fantastic and eye-opening extra in which Brand is interviewed by fellow comedian Frank Skinner. The Scandalous routine is more politically motivated than any of Brand’s previous material and hints at an evolution in his career as a stand-up comedian. I hope he continues on this path, isn’t devoured by the inevitable lure of Hollywood mega-stardom, and helps to fill the void left by the death of two of my comedic heroes – Bill Hicks and George Carlin. More please, Russell!
9/10
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Well gee, what a shock, you happen to like the comedian whose idiotic, uninformed, bullshit lies you happen to agree with.
Promise rings aren’t part of any “corporate scheme” to make anyone rich anymore than any other ring, and last I checked the kids who wear them don’t believe they give them any special powers. But hey, if you think an effort to popularize kids respecting themselves, and making informed decisions is “ridiculous” more power to you. Wait, no. Not more power to you, are you fucking stupid? What the FUCK is wrong with you that you could hate something as trivial and wholesome as that? God damn.
As to Bush, last I checked he graduated from Yale as well as Harvard. The second being the same school Obama went to, don’tchaknow. Bush struggled to open a locked door, but Obama struggled to open a locked window, thinking it a door. Sure, Bush’s grasp of the english language as at times downright tenuous, but it wasn’t him who proclaimed Austrian to be a language.
You’re of course leaving out his latest nugget of solidified idiocy, that being his statement that “In Britain we have free health care, while in America you have people dying in the streets.” Really, dude should just shut is stupid, smelly, drug-addled mouth about anything that would require the slightest research to comment on, then he might be aware that survival rates for most forms of Cancer are much higher in the US, that Britain experiences patient-stacking, and it’s illegal here for an emergency room to turn someone away, thus sticking a massive hole in his ultra-classy “people dying in the streets” joke. Yeah, utterly inaccurate propaganda is real spiffy comedy.
But hey, he wears skinny jeans and pretends to be a rock star, he must be cool. Who cares if he’s gone on record as saying he gets off on cheating on his girlfriends, and using them as pretty props, while then having sex with, and I quote “the ugliest, nastiest women I can find” because making women feel sub-human gets him off.
Well, gee, what a shock, you happen to dislike the comedian whose views you happen to disagree with. Well done.
Thanks for taking the time to read and reply to my review. Have a nice day.
In my opinion Russell Brand is just an idiot, and I don’t find him particularly entertaining at all. But a lot of people do, and as a comedian he will stretch the truth, bend the rules, and downright make things up just to get a laugh. That’s what comedians do.
With this in mind, I don’t think there’s much point getting worked up about what he, and other comedians, say about anything at all really. He’s out to shock people no matter what the cost, and that’s pretty much what most people like the most about him.
It’s certainly not worth attacking someone just for being a fan, or getting hot and bothered when people agree with him on the internet.
Rees, is that common sense? You know fine well there’s no room for that type of thing on the Web! What are you playing at?
Great review.
I may pop to the shops and buy it.
I could do with a laugh, and the ridiculous Sachsgate seems like a good topic of humour.
Thanks Tigervamp
Thank you! I wasn’t expecting such a nice comment after the abusive essay was thrown at me earlier! =o)
Upon reading Mr. Misanthrope’s volley of abuse- good God man lighten up. Taking a comedian’s jokes seriously is futile, it’s no wonder you’re so hot under the collar. Russell Brand obviously touched a nerve there, and got the reaction he was no doubt hoping for, so well done you… Oh and ‘popularise’ is spelt with an ‘s’
I adore British wit.
I personally think Russell Brand is an idiot with a childish view on everything. He also is so full of himself and does think of himself as a rock star but to be honest he aint. But with all that said I do find him entertaining and funny at times. I think the review score was too high and maybe a seven would have been better. I have watched it and did laugh and was amused and I particularly like his word play and way with words in general but he for me isn’t up there with the best of the stand ups simply because his shows though entertaining are short and with few actual topics and laughs and he is probably better suited to his half hour Tv shows which I do find very funny. I put his live shows on a par with Ricky Gervais who although very funny on film and on Tv doesn’t quite do it on stage and the reason for that is both aren’t for me really stand up comedians and their talents lay elsewhere.
I think Russell Brand is amazing. I am a big fan of his
I think the DVD is great and I really enjoyed the interview with Frank Skinner, I love how open Russell is about his past and the things he has been through and I think he deserves more credit for that than he gets.
I loved this review by the way, very well put indeed.
Thanks for this
Thanks for the nice comment! Perhaps I should stick to reviewing everything Russell Brand does since the one nasty comment is outweighed by two nice ones!
The best part is that I was on Twitter last night and sent Russell a tweet with the link to this review. He replied and said thanks!! =oD
Yes, just one big constant Russell review… I’d be up for that.
I would like to reiterate everything that Emz_123_ has said above
Glad to have some nice comments after that first one! =o)