Jackson Booth-Millard
Since first seeing him on Big Brother's Big Mouth, and after seeing his hilarious antics with Noel Fielding on Big Fat Quiz of the Year, I was looking forward to seeing another stand-up show. Russell Brand here plays at the Hackney Empire, with a silver microphone cord and some very nice boots that he said he must have. He first starts walking into the audience and admiring everyone, before choosing an aisle to go down and a lap to sit on. Then of course back on stage he reads a local newspaper for some jokes, talks about the relationship with his father, a story about things that happened to him on the set during the making of a film, and a few other bits and pieces. He is still rude, crude and funny, but I feel that the stand-up show I saw before this, filmed at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, was funnier. Russell Brand was number 69 on 100 Greatest Stand-Ups. Good!
davideo-2
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning As if everything else wasn't going well enough for him lately, the bouffant haired comedian of the title in question sort of shot himself in the foot/gained even more publicity with his now well publicised, out of order obscene phone calls to Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs late last year. Before that, though, he was making his name in recorded live shows like this one, filmed at The Hackney Empire in London. Restraint doesn't seem to be Brand's forte, as he wildly prances and jumps around the stage with more energy and gusto than your average stand up comic, even running into the audience and throwing himself on their laps and in their faces. All the drugs he's done seem to have warped his mind, and mostly he simply comes across as an articulate Ozzy Osbourne. All this aside, though, there are sporadic moments of on the ball humour that do strike a chord, but if you're not in the mood, it will feel like a prison sentence. ***
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