Fortune shame
alfway through telling me a story about
the day he was beaten up by police for
stripping naked in 'I‘rafalgar Square during the 2002 May Day protests. Russell Brand‘s attention is drawn to a shelf in his PR uvtttpatty"s London office. ()ld press cuttings and magazine covers are stacked up there. arranged by artist name; but one is conspicuous by its absence. “I've just noticed that I‘ve not got a section.‘ Brand notes with comic displeasure. ‘James Blunt's got a fucking cavalcade. hasn‘t he'.’ Little Britain. fair enough. (‘harlotte (‘hurch though‘." Ilad this interview taken place in the office of any number of our line British tabloids. the archive on show would be far more favourable to him. Perhaps favourable is the wrong word. Brand has taken a right old kicking from the press
recently. and for little more than getting out of
a cab and disappearing into a flat with Kate Moss. The distinct pause and weary sigh says as much as the words he manages to suck out on the subject: ‘I‘m very sensitive about that one. Rather not talk about that.‘ It‘s the only time during our hour—long chat that the wild- haired one is reticent or closed about anything. Ile‘ll happily talk about dressing tip as ()sama bin Laden on ‘)/I 2 to interview Kylie for MTV: he has few worries in discussing how his decade-long drug addiction led him to ‘smashing tip things. causing aggro and setting fire to stuff: a lot of it was a bit self-indulgent and rubbish‘: and there is no difficulty chatting about the worst review he ever had: “Ben Iilton without the jokes.‘
But Kate Moss'.’ Nope. Whatever it is he is being so coy about. it was clearly the moment when someone decided that Russell Brand was to become fodder for the tabloids for the second time in his life. ‘.\'ow. I was the bloke off Big Brother whereas before it was “there‘s that bloke from the dole queue” or "there‘s that drunk touching things outside a newsagents.“ Now it seems he was fit to be entrapped by a Sunday tabloid to became the ‘Randy Dandy Brandy" who unsuspectingly invited a lady hack to come over to his place. The eye- witness account spoke of a Jacuzzi (‘no. not got one of them. btit it was always going to make the story better') not far from a giant plasma screen: ‘I‘ve got an old telly that hasn’t been converted to widescreen so when I watch
myself on it. I'm not even ftrlly there; I'm edged out.‘
They‘ve also written about him chatting tip Tamara Beckwith and upsetting l)annii Minogue while Kimberly Stewart is rumoured to be considering legal proceedings against a paper for their reporting of a Brand liaison. ‘lt's still very alarming. Thing is. if someone asks me a question I try and answer them honestly bttt it‘s difficult dealing with tabloid
journalists because of the filter that things go
through and the simplification and the codes they use to write a story.‘ But entrapment is quite another thing. ‘\\'ell. it hasn‘t stopped there because she’s since phoned me to say: "I will go otit with you again if you want." I replied that I wasn't so keen now after these mangled quotes which made me out to be more Iascivious than I actually am. Which is not easily achieved.‘
Through all this tabloid clutter and media scrambling. it has been forgotten that Russell
‘I ENDED UP SMASHING UP THINGS, CAUSING AGGRO AND SETTING FIRE TO ST UFF'
Brand is actually a very. very funny stand-up comedian. It might not always come across on Big Brother 's Big Month in the same way that people may have falsely judged Jimmy (‘arr from the weak links he utters in all those [0!) Greatest shows or the way that the blindingly innovative stand-up that first got Johnny Vegas noticed is ignored because of sortie TV' ads with a knitted monkey. ()ne critic put it beautifully in print. saying. ‘you probably have no idea how brilliant a stand-up he is‘ while a fellow comedian told me recently that 'Brand is the closest we have now to Bill l'licks.‘ So. what's the score here‘.’
'Rather than have this vast expanse of stage to yourself for an hour. you have to make a thing that exists for 24 minutes or two minutes or a 30 second soundbite. I think you have to accept that it's very different conditions. With Big Brother. everything has to exist within that domain so I‘m not going to go on the show and
What exactly did Russell Brand do with Kate Moss? And who cares anyway? Brian Donaldson asks the man they call Randy Dandy Brandy why he became a tabloid whipping boy.
say "tonight. I'd like to talk about the sense ol ennui engendered by promiscurty." though I could probably lind a way of working that in. May be the restrictions exist only in my mmd, With the MTV show I do; I can inteiview someone like (‘hristina .-\gui|era and still have the alarming ability to talk about mysell. I remember telling 'I‘om ('ruise about the trouble I was having with my neighbour.‘
Still. he won't have to worry about the noise next door now that he's heading this way with his show Shame. just as soon as the BB w mner has signed on Heat's tlolletl line to tell lllclt ftill. invigorating life story. His ('haimcl -l commitments mean that he doesn‘t have to do the entire liringe run iii August any more and anyway. he would probably miss his cat .\lorrissey too much. 'I do liiid a month a bloody long time to be away from home. I'm dependent on structure. so if I‘m taken otit ol my environment for more than an hour. then I forget things. \Vhich sometimes can be a good quality. but other times I feel nomadic and l'ootless.‘
At least now his roots are attached to something tangible and healthytishi like a blossoming career as opposed to the deep hole which a life of heroin was digging him into. Brand is one man who really would warrant the ‘My drug helI‘ headlines. Having a naturally addictive personality. his lirst experience of drugs lasted about ten years and ended when his new manager told him that in six months he would either be dead. in prison or in a mental institute if he was to keep living the same way. The wake-up call worked and he now has a sponsor. attends ;\;\ meetings. and is patron of Iiocus II. the rehab charity which saved him. and. for whose benefit he and Noel (iallagher w ill do a gig in November.
'I‘liese days. the career he is addicted to has him flying around the place doing whatever he can to keep his mind and body occupied. 'I need to be performing and controlling everything: got to get that done. \Vhy live your life at half the speed you can‘.’ Always consume. experience. enjoy. devour. indulge.’
Assembly Rooms, 226 2428, 19-26 Aug, 8.45pm, £12.50-£13.50; EICC, 0870 4000 886, 23 Aug, 10.45pm, 24-26 Aug, 11.30pm, £13.50.
Fancy getting up close and personal with Russell? Enter our competition and you could win two tickets to Brand‘s sold-out Assembly Room gig on 22 August. After the performance.
you'll be taken backstage to meet Russell. Who knows what might happen after that?
To enter the competition. please state in 15 words or less why it should be you who gets
to be face-to-face with Russell Brand. Email your entry to promotions@list.co.uk before 5pm on 21 August. stating your name. address and date of birth.
Terms 8. Conditions
Entrants must be Over 18 years of age The List 5 HO? respOnsible if Russell Brand has to cancel ‘0' unforeseei reasons There IS no prize or case sapstitdte Risse. Brat ': has the right to begin and end the date at h s discrefrr a' '1 is not obligated to participate in any actuntses of ary ‘r ’0‘ unless he really wants to This competmOri .s rot oper. to employees of any tabloid newspaper Usaa. List rules app,
‘ 7—2.: A 2.2", THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 19