BY TOM CHACKO IN INDIA
British Comedian Russell Brand, was in India last weekend to perform at the Chuckles Festival, and was his usual jovial and audacious character. A cross between being funny and being silly, brand drew both laughter from the crowd as well as staunch criticism. Guests had been promised the funniest time of their lives, until Brand somewhat imprudently told them he had prepared jokes he had used from his 2008 MTV show, some of which were edited and excluded from MTV final viewings at the time.
His admission did little to compensate for the feeling that he had brought old jokes to entertain a crowd looking forward to a refreshing evening of comical genius, though his claim to be interested in the Indian scriptures may have gone a fair way in endearing him to the crowd. Brand has visited India before, but it has been a while. He commented on the in suppressible need to squeeze the Queen’s boobs. Brand has several times been criticized by the mainstream media in England for some of his poor taste in jokes, and Sean Howlett of the Huttingdon post , had some extra criticism for him.
He stated ” in my humble opinion, Russell Brand is not a funny man, he is childish and boring. He is a stupid man’s idea of a clever man”. Howlett’s words are a brutally blunt critic of a man once a presenter of Channel’s 4 popular Big brother summer series, Brand’s widely varied experience with television does not seem to have done much to elevate his status among well placed analytical elites in the UK media or in respected circles, and not many in India were very complimentary of the opinionated former radio presenter and career comedian. Brand himself had this to say:
“The media always interprets me wrongly. In an interview when they asked me what advice I would give to young pop stars. I thought it was a joke question and so I looked in my head for a joke answer and I must add that my head is not always my ally. I said ‘Pop stars should take heroin. That was a very stupid comment from a man who would purport to be intelligent. His comments betray intelligence in every sense of the word. Howlett continued”. Brand’s recent foray into political activism has shown this wannabe modern-day Lord Byron for what he truly is; shallow, stupid and lacking in self-awareness to such a degree it’s cringe worthy. In many ways, he seems to be narcissistic and immature — like a child who hasn’t yet come to terms with his/her limitations”. Not complimentary words, but words the comedian perhaps needs to take into account and give very careful consideration to his choice of jokes. He is increasingly becoming more annoying to a large degree, even though he has some funny elements to his jokes. Brand did light up the audience when he joked about weddings and hate mails. I will not repeat some of his jokes about the British Monarchy, given the notification that brand has not been very economical with his jokes on the monarchy in his time as a comedian.
Of sufficient commentary is the fact that Brand was very vocal about his anathema of capitalism, censorship, and was also scathing of the history of colonialism, reflecting a somewhat commendable inclination for speaking out against what he believes to be wrong. The irony of his purportedly strong condemnation of unethical behaviour is his own flawed tendencies to recklessly utter words that betray the underlying principles of ‘quality’ and ‘principle’ he wishes to portray. After the well attended event, pockets of individuals gathered to further reflect on the evening, and there were a few voices who proclaimed they could see exactly why Katie Perry left the comedian; though I dutifully pointed out that I did not have full proof that it was not the other way round. The moral of that comment was that some felt they could why Brand would be a handful for any respectable woman, whilst others were simply content to have heard jokes that were beyond the ordinary, no matter the reaction or distastefulness of some of the jokes. Brand’s joke that he would go to Indian’s celebrity, Dupike Padukuna, if he wanted a Bride, did draw laughter, and many saw his comments as a true sign that the Brit would not mind a crack at the Indian beauty if afforded the opportunity.
I am honoured to have been granted the opportunity to write this piece for eye of media, and it was merely by chance that I read the articles written for this blog by my old University friend in England, James Simons, when I went unto my many months abandoned Facebook account. I am glad to have been afforded this opportunity to write for a blog as promising as this one. A friend happened to tell me about Russell Brand’s visit to India, and James thankfully arranged for me to attend this festival free of charge. My personal observation of Brand is that he has some charisma about him, but there is a maturity deficit that needs to be filled. Maturity does not only come with age, it comes with wisdom and life experience.
