“To me a heaven would be a big bull ring with me holding two barrera seats and a trout stream outside that no one else was allowed to fish in and two lovely houses in the town; one where I would have my wife and children and be monogamous and love them truly and well and the other where I would have my nine beautiful mistresses on 9 different floors” – Ernest Hemingway
Please…. please… tell me the man above, does not represent Conservative America as a whole?
Brand said of those who keep saying “he’s our President, not yours!!! Sort your own politics out before insulting ours!”…… If that’s the case, stay out of the affairs of the rest of the World. And they speak as if we don’t think our own politicians are just as shit as America’s politicians.
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Americans are not exactly renowned throughout the rest of the World for their edgy sense of humour, which acts as no surprise when I remember seeing the headline in our papers over here in the UK that Russell Brand’s performance as the host of the 2008 MTV VMA awards didn’t go down too well with our American cousins. England however, loved it.
The VMAs aren’t popular over here. There is nothing more cringeworthy than seeing a bunch of over paid minimally talented musicians thank Jesus for a largely pointless award (Although given that Jesus is spending his time helping Chris Brown win best video at a ridiculous award show, it helps to explain his lack of interest in global poverty around the World). However, Russell Brand (with the exception of those who read The Daily Mail) is incredibly popular over here. Sell out tour after sell out tour, fast selling DVDs and known for his incredibly friendly yet child like nature. We know he has a salacious mind, we know he’s sexually liberated, and we know when you put him in a room with horrible little Christian pop star idiots who have a problem with anyone who likes sex, he’s going to have a field day.
This weekend, my beautiful girlfriend and I went to see Russell Brand perform live in Nottingham. This tour is off the back of the scandals he’s recently been involved in. These involve Sachsgate, which in my childish mind, and those like me, was very funny. And of course, the fantastic digs during the VMAs last year. Namely, calling George Bush, “that retarded cowboy fella, who wouldn’t be trusted with a pair of scissors in our country” and the Jonas Brothers for their ridiculous yet very public vow of celebacy and those horrible rings they wear. When the Bush joke didn’t go too well in America, Brand said he went back stage and he along with his writing partner had to scrap the jokes they’d written, knowing that the Americans just don’t understand our humour.
However, in Nottingham, Brand told us those jokes. They had the audience laughing for a very long time. He certainly made the right choice not to use them at the VMAs, if the American Right can’t handle Bush jokes and the Jonas’s “Professional Virginity jokes” they would have exploded in a fountain of humourless droplets when hearing the other jokes he had planned. Whilst we were in tears of laughter, Brand said “Yeah thanks, could of done with you there on the night though!” Which I thought was a nice little touch.
I will keep them to myself, just in case 14 year old American Girls who seem to think the Jonas’s are heroes, decides it’s wrong to be taking the piss out of the Kanye West, and Michael Jackson. Or in case Jordin Sparks decides to say, with much cringe worthiness again … “I just wanna say, it’s not bad to wear a promise ring because not every guy and girl wants to be a slut, OK?“….. I guess in her mind, i’d be classed as a slut…… which, i’m now even more proud of. As Brand said “A bit of sex never hurt anyone“. I’ve never labelled anybody a slut for enjoying sex. If you want to have sex with as many people as possible because you enjoy sex, like Hemingway enjoyed sex, like Brand enjoys sex…. then go for it! Sexual liberation is a beautiful thing!
Yahoo Questions revolving around whether all Americans now hate Brand, have comments (which really do fall into the realm of disbelief) like….” I’m from America and personally this guy was the worst piece of crap to host the VMAs. I could’ve stood up there and made better jokes than that unknown goofy looking idiot. ” ……… These kinds of incredibly ridiculous comments, add to the reason why those of us who understand his humour, his quick witted comments, his incredible mind, are slowly coming to consider Russell Brand, like Ricky Gervais, to be a comedy genius.
Brand, on Friday night read us all a list of his favourite death threats from Americans after the VMAs.
One guy, sent a rather amusing death threat, to which Brand amusingly replied to with…
The show focused a lot on how he was perceived in America and the crazy death threats he received. If Right Winged America doesn’t like anybody insulting their ex-President; and if Right Winged America doesn’t like the idea of sexual freedom, I think it’s best that pretty much all of our comedians and our Comedy shows don’t try to cross the Atlantic any time soon.
For us, Russell Brand is possibly the most intelligent yet naive, brilliant yet child like in his mannerisms, sex crazed yet civil and polite, able to poke fun at himself but with such egotism and self awareness it’s beautifully crafted. It seemed from his live show that the past year of controversy he has caused, was part of a design. The nice things Brand has done, have not been widely publicised (like here and here) instead largely going unnoticed.
He speaks for a generation of Brits who do not view the World through the hate filled specs of the Right Wing. He speaks as a Libertine, who accept that sex shouldn’t be a taboo and shouldn’t be strictly confined to ‘loving couples’ that it should be embraced and enjoyed and the scare tactics attached to it by institutions like the Church should not be taken seriously.. He speaks as someone from a Working class background whose vocabulary and vast literary knowledge outweighs that of most English Masters students. And his ability to destroy the arguments of those Far Right Winged Patriots and Nationalists is beyond that of any Politician throughout the Country. America doesn’t understand, because America has never understood our humour, much like we don’t understand their often misplaced and slightly ignorant Patriotism.
I wont tar every American as being devoid of all humour. Because that would be untrue and harsh. A lot of Americans “get it”. A lot just don’t find him funny, not because they hate him, but purely because Brand is not to their taste, which is fair enough. But those Americans who find him offensive and actually took the time out to complain that he insulted Bush, should be ashamed that they find comedy insulting, yet a President who lies and cheats his way through eight years they have no problem with.
British humour has always stood way above American humour for my taste. I find light hearted Sein Feld-like comedy boring, predictable, and replayed over and over again in shows like Frasier and Friends. I love controversy. I love intelligent comedy that isn’t just catering to a Conservative audience. I love “different”, and for that reason, Russell Brand remains one of my favourite comedians.
Still, I had a fun weekend. Here’s me with a few friends. If you happen to be a Christian pop star, it’s probably best you avert your eyes, because you’re about to see me, being kissed by a female friend, who then in the next picture, grabs the breast of my lovely girlfriend. THE FIENDS!
Posted by futiledemocracy 
