Russell Brand in New York City (2009 TV Special)
1/10
Style Over Substance
29 May 2010
Brand has extravagant looks and is a tabloid item, and he can string together lots of big words and literary references at a fast pace, but it becomes quickly apparent that all of this is just a big attempt to distract you from the fact that he does not have any jokes. Almost none at all.

The audience tries its hardest to find something funny to laugh at, but it only becomes apparent he's not saying much. One of the jokes that gets the biggest laughs is his complaint about snowboarding being cold:

"Yeah...snowboarding. that's the image. snowboarding *whoosh* not snowboarding *brrr* (laughter)"

That's a... joke? What?

Here's another one that got laughs:

"It's hard you have to achieve mastery over (a horse). The instructor, very uppity: "Hey, c'mon, get on the horse! Show it you're the boss!" Am I the boss? He goes riding every day, I've only been once. (laughter)"

Again, what? That's a joke?

The most grating feature might be his insistence on adding random "difficult" words quickly to his act. It gives off the impression that he's like the student with a poorly-written essay desperate to sound smart awkwardly using the thesaurus. He also references poems and the like, which would be fine, if there was a purpose to it.

As it is, which is completely random, it seems that it's only meant to impress us with how "cultured" he is. This strategy is disingenuous at best and downright insulting to the viewer's intelligence at worst.

Brand is a celebrity attempting comedy, and it's every bit as legitimate and funny as John Mayer attempting it... which is to say, it's neither. It's a tabloid person getting a pass for lack of talent due to recognition.

That's all I can say. As a straight male I can't really vouch for whether he's cute or not, but if you do think so maybe you wanna watch this with the TV on mute. As eye-candy maybe it works, but as comedy... nooooo way.
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