Line #17 Creator/RussellBrand


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/500full-russell-brand_9105.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Totally mental? The world may never know.]]
3
4	->''"My personality doesn't work without fame. Without fame this haircut is simply... mental illness."''
5
6	Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975 in Grays, England) is an English comedian, actor, presenter and activist known for his somewhat abstract and [[CampStraight off-the-wall demeanor]].
7
8	He's best known in the UK as the host of ''The Russell Brand Show'', a radio show broadcast by Creator/TheBBC. Part of his act is [[DontExplainTheJoke explaining the joke]], which usually makes it funnier. He's also known for playing the sexually open and airy rock star Aldous Snow in ''Film/ForgettingSarahMarshall'' and its spin-off ''Film/GetHimToTheGreek''. Other roles of his include Trinculo in ''Film/TheTempest2010'', his two title roles in [[Film/{{Arthur 2011}} the 2011 remake]] of ''Film/{{Arthur 1981}}'', the voice of a slacker Easter Bunny in ''Film/{{Hop}}'', Lonny in the film adaptation of ''Film/{{Rock of Ages}}'' and Dr. Windlesham in Creator/KennethBranagh's 2022 Literature/HerculePoirot adaptation ''Film/{{Death on the Nile\|2022}}''.
9
10	There appears to be a sharp division of opinion in the UK regarding Brand. You either love or loathe him; you either regard him as a comic genius or as an untalented Lothario who got there solely because of his looks, his accent, and his bizarre behavior. It tends to boil down to two things: whether you like his sort of comedy or you don't, and whether or not you read the tabloids. Greatly aiding this polarization is Brand's penchant for sparking controversy; one such firestorm surrounding prank calls he and Creator/JonathanRoss made to actor Creator/AndrewSachs forced him to resign from his show in 2008 -- and warranted [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Russell_Brand_Show_prank_calls its own Wikipedia page]]. (Although he has made sporadic returns to radio, Brand has generally moved on to working almost exclusively in Hollywood.)
11
12	Brand has had sex with just about every woman in the UK (and beyond), including a couple of famous ones, and he loves to brag about it -- which has gotten him into trouble more than once. He was also once married to Music/KatyPerry and is [[HoYay close friends]] with Creator/NoelFielding, with the two forming "The Goth Detectives" on ''Series/BigFatQuizOfTheYear''. He's additionally the only man that Peter Andre has ever kissed.
13
14	In September 2023, following an investigation by ''The Times'', ''The Sunday Times'' and the Creator/Channel4's ''Dispatches'' programme, five women publicly accused Brand of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse for incidents allegedly occurring between 2006 and 2013; a report of an additional allegation of a 2003 sexual assault was made against Brand to the Metropolitan Police. As a result, Brand was dropped by his agent and had his Website/YouTube channel demonetized, and the BBC announced it would perform an internal review of Brand's conduct. Brand has denied the allegations, but all of his shows have been postponed indefinitely.
15	----
16	!! ‘Citing tropes associated with Mr. Brand:
17	* AllGermansAreNazis: Was accused by tabloids of making this observation in 2013 -- in fact he merely pointed out the undeniable fact that Hugo Boss, [[BitingTheHandHumor the sponsor of the event at which he was speaking]], made a tidy profit designing the uniforms for the SS (and that, to be fair, "[[PuttingOnTheReich they looked fantastic]]"). Might have got away with it if it weren't for the subsequent Basil Fawlty impression...
18	* AgentPeacock: Probably the most notorious RealLife example.
19	* BookDumb: Brand's marks in school were atrocious but after reading his book he comes off as highly intelligent. Some of his old school notes note that his teachers seem to think he's [[ObfuscatingStupidity smarter than he lets them believe.]]
20	* BourgeoisBohemian: These days, he's much more famous for his grassroots rabble-rousing than anything else, especially in the United States.
21	-->'''[[http://dlisted.com/2014/12/02/dont-ask-russell-brand-how-much-rent-he-pays-during-a-housing-protest/#more-158073 Michael K.]]''': Just because Russell has money falling out of his b-hole doesn’t mean that he can’t fight for the regulars...Every time a landlord raised my rent too high, I wish Russell Brand would’ve popped up in front of them, waved a finger and said, "[[LameComeback You snide you.]]"
22	* BritishRockstar: He pretty much is one, [[{{Dissimile}} except that he's a comedian]]. It made him a natural choice to play Aldous Snow.
23	* BunnyEarsLawyer: It might come as a surprise to find that behind all the hair and the crazy and the endless scandals, he's often rather funny.
24	* CampStraight: One of the banes of his life is apparently that people take all the flirting he does with men seriously (and the clothes he wears) and assume that he is gay (or at the very least, bisexual). Despite the fact that he is a notorious womanizer (and was married to the very female Katy Perry), he constantly has to remind the world that no, he is not gay.
25	* TheDandy: Ever since his post-drugs days, he has worn flamboyant shirts and tights pants and nice boots.
26	* GeniusDitz: Despite his outlandish, manic, and controversial behaviour, he is a highly intelligent professionally trained actor who received multiple scholarships for the drama schools he attended. Creator/AlfredMolina, Creator/HelenMirren and Julie Taymor have all commented that he is one of the most talented people they have ever worked with.
27	* HiddenDepths: He has a very manic persona, but at the same time, frequently makes incredibly intelligent jokes and insightful comments. When former UK Prime Minister UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher died, a major newspaper carried a remarkably thoughtful, critical and compassionate [[http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/09/russell-brand-margaret-thatcher article]] that Brand wrote about her legacy.
28	** There's also [[http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/10/russell-brand-on-revolution his quite insightful take on contemporary British politics in an editorial]] for the ''New Statesman'', although that might also be as polarizing as his celebrity status is.
29	** He seems to think everyone deserves a chance to have their say, but his new Youtube show 'The Trews' - [[DontExplainTheJoke a combination of 'truth' and 'news']] - has seen him tackle a number of subjects from Gaza to Ferguson in a manner often more insightful than a number of news programs.
30	* IAmNotLeonardNimoy: Whether the man is funny is beside the point, its pretty obvious he just can't or won't play anybody besides himself. When he hosted ''SNL'' in February 2011, he states during his monologue that he deserved an Oscar for playing a "narcissistic, drug-addicted, sex-addicted, British entertainer" (a "role" which he performed in RealLife for well over 20 years, until he got the drug and sex addiction under control) in ''Film/ForgettingSarahMarshall''.
31	* LargeHam: If he appears in a movie, [[SpotlightStealingSquad that movie now stars Russell Brand.]] Even if he's just TheCameo.
32	* LoveAtFirstPunch: He fell in love with Katy Perry when she threw a bottle at his head. No, really.
33	* ModestyBedsheet: [[http://fightthenewdrug.org/russell-brand-talks-sex-softcore-hardcore-porn/ In a video in which he talked about his pornography addiction]], he covered himself with bedsheets while leaving his torso almost exposed.
34	%%* MotorMouth
35	%%* MrFanservice
36	* OddCouple: Him and Music/KatyPerry (though they're now divorced).
37	* PerkyGoth: He was arguably one a few years ago, when he dressed primarily in black.
38	* RefugeInAudacity: Sometimes, he relies on this to ''not'' get in trouble for some of the things he says and does. Sometimes, it works, other times, like the time he dressed up as Osama Bin Laden on the day following 9/11, [[DidntThinkThisThrough it gets him fired.]]
39	** He often refers to the 'drugbrella' (i.e. 'drug-umbrella'). When friends try to shame or embarrass him with incidents from his past (and aren't there a lot), he will dismiss them as being when he was on hard drugs are therefore under the amnesty of the 'drugbrella'. Clearly, being on heroin does lead to diminished responsibility, but when someone points out, for instance, 'you stole money you were meant to be collecting for hospital donations' and you answer with 'I was also taking illegal drugs', it does seem to be an odd way to exonerate yourself.
40	* SadClown: He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder while in rehab. Also, he had bulimia as a teenager, went through a phase of SelfHarm (he cut himself a lot), and numerous addictions (drugs, alcohol and sex). As he put it, "My biggest problem is that I have lived an autobiography rather than a life."
41	* SelfDeprecation: Has often described himself as a "PVC Willy Wonka," an "S&M Willy Wonka," or "a scarecrow who robbed a bondage shop."
42	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: He is famous for using very fancy language in everyday conversation.
43	* SexDrugsAndRockNRoll: His favorite pastimes in his younger years.
44	* SitcomArchNemesis: Appears to have developed one in FOX News host Sean Hannity. While Russell was content to challenge Hannity's vitriolic style of interviewing 'guests' - often attempting to bully them into submission or force them to agree with his points - Hannity's first attempt at retaliation saw him branding Russell a drug addict and 'Katy Perry's ex-husband' while gathering other commentators to retaliate against points Russell had raised. This backfired hilariously when several of Hannity's guests ''agreed'' with Russell's points, causing Hannity to argue with them on air.
45	* SophisticatedAsHell : Russell has a habit of combining his Essex accent with a [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness sophisticated vocabulary]]. He notably used this in his autobiography, resulting in such gems as “I ain’t never had much fun really. I particularly dislike preordained happy occasions.”
46	** Brand would regularly open spinoff show ''Series/BigBrother 's Big Mouth'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffFA1-TMCJA with an elaborate, verbose story, occasionally based on literature or factual historical events, invariably ending with him getting his nob out]].
47	* TakeThat: He did an extended riff on The Daily Mail, calling it "distilled evil" among other things, after they wrote a bit of gossip about him.
48	* TheTeetotaler: He used to be an alcoholic; now he doesn't drink at all.

Context Creator / RussellBrand