The Trews via YouTube
Russell Brand has been all over the news lately, espousing his somewhat vague ideas about the need for a revolution, trying to walk that fine line between “things that need to be said that only an entertainer can say” and “shut up you’re an entertainer.” He’s been promoting both his book, Revolution, and his webshow, The Trews (a mash-up of “True” and “News”), in addition to inventing a new sort of side business of humiliating TV bobbleheads. And now, if he’s to be believed, the side business could become his main gig, as it sounds like he’s not much interested in acting anymore.
As he told the Financial Times in a new interview:
He replies that his chauffeur, Mick, is a really great guy and a friend – which is nice but not the point. What about the beaded necklace, which looks suspiciously like amethyst, that is dangling down towards his soup bowl? How much did that cost?
“Who knows?” he replies as if this were an unfathomable mystery. “I’m not interested in making money any more.”
Does that mean that there will be no more acting, no more Hollywood?
Brand pauses. “It probably does mean that, yes,” he says, hesitantly, as if making up policy on the hoof. But he’s not going to quit comedy, he says, because he loves performing. When I ask how lucrative it is, he shrugs.
“It makes me scared if I think about money too much, then it makes me feel guilty. The only thing I tell the people who look after my money is, ‘Make sure my f*cking taxes are 100 per cent legitimately paid,’ and then I do my own sh*t.”
I’m always torn between wanting to defend some of the legitimate things Russell Brand says to people who would reflexively hate him just for his stupid hair and his phony affected accent and the obnoxious way he pronounces “Ottawa“; and wanting to write him off myself for his tendency to sound like a college freshman who just saw Waking Life. Not too many public figures get as much mileage out of people trying to decide whether they’re an asshole.
“I find [the Financial Times] hard to understand. It obfuscates truth and I think an economic ideology is oppositional to the spiritual ideologies that are what we need to adopt if we’re to save our planet and humankind. Capitalism, the economic arm of the individualism and materialism ideologies that keep us framed in a narrow bandwidth of consciousness, prevents us from seeing that we’re all connected.” [FinancialTimes]
(*long sigh*) Alright, can we do the economic reform without the yoga stuff, please? Anyway, if he does quit acting, I’ll miss his surprisingly understated turns in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him To The Greek, less so Arthur and that TV show he had where he did word association jokes with news headlines and sat on peoples’ laps. That said, I can understand “star of Arthur” being a far less attractive career path than “future cult leader.”
[hat tip: ThePlaylist]
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Brand just needs to admit that he’s the reason British youth join ISIS.
Those beheadings are totally fake and gay. It’s obviously Sacha Baron Cohen making the next Ali G series. I will admit the storyline is a little dark though.
He’s the worst thing to come out of that shitty country since mad cow disease.
Does anyone actually like this moron?
Like he said in the article. Awesome in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek.
Brand X was the worst thing to ever happen to him. His early standup is pretty great, but ever since Forgetting Sarah Marshall he just kept playing that same character who took a very odd political turn with that show.
The college freshman analogy is incredibly accurate. He also listens to a lot of Dispatch now.
That’s cool. I’m not interested in Russell Brand making money either.
+2
It’s not that I’ve never agreed with him on anything. It’s that his schtick is reeeeeaaaaally annoying.
He should probably just give all his money away to chartity, then. I hate when people talk this bullshit line while they sit on their millions. You don’t care about material shit? then give up your material shit. Then shut the fuck up.
@ AB
Why should he give up all his money? Your argument is weird. The fact that he’s made millions and still thinks the system is fucked up and unfair is why Brand is one of the most powerful weapons that people who agree that the system is broken have got. Basically, if you agree that the system is fucked up, and you’re willing to toss Brand aside because he’s rich then you’re a fucking idiot. And I don’t mean ‘you’ as in you, specifically, I mean ‘you’ as in anyone who thinks the current system needs to be massively overhauled.
@Patty Boots
Fucking spot on.
@Iron Mike Sharpie
Dear Christ, if Russel Brand is one of the most powerful weapons that you have, your movement is doomed. I feel like he’s a better weapon for the people he’s fighting against than anything else. He is basically a caricature of a human being with enough wealth and notoriety to keep making headlines. He makes just enough sense to be not dismissed out of hand, while spouting enough bullshit to make the sensible things he says less credible.
So you’re arguing that a guy who’s famous, gets to speak into microphones and have his opinion reach millions and has money to back various causes ISN’T a powerful weapon to have on your side? Your position on this particular matter is fucking retarded.
If your spokesman is more effective at making your cause look imbecilic than he is at promoting its valid points, then no, he isn’t a terribly valuable asset.
Part of the problem (as I mention in a post below in this comment section) is that Brand doesn’t have a solution to the problem. Of course, nobody does. There hasn’t been a new ideological alternative to capitalism / democracy formally proposed since The Communist Manifesto. So when Brand is put on the spot, he sounds like he’s reaching because he is. But the guy is an excellent speaker and, if someone were to formulate a solid plan, Brand would be able to do an excellent job of communicating it. If you don’t think that’s true, at least, you don’t understand how communication works.
Also, if I want a British comedian’s opinion, I’ll ask John Oliver.
He’s doing American politics now.
And he’s awesome at it.
I wouldn’t know because of the accent but I’ll take your word for it.
There’s a major difference between what Oliver and Brand are doing (or trying to do, at any rate). I love Oliver’s sarcastic tear-down of the world we live in, but Oliver doesn’t take the leap that someone needs to: tell us what comes after we tear down the current capitalist-driven almost faux-democratic structure that exists. Yeah, we can all (well all of us who share his viewpoints at any rate) agree that what Oliver says is pretty bang-on, but so what? We sit and laugh and the machine keeps on grinding away. It doesn’t really break down. It certainly doesn’t stop. And none of us are actually throwing wrenches into the gears. Whenever anyone does try to (say, Anonymous or whoever) we shit all over them for not being cohesive, or not speaking for everybody, or not be capable of achieving their grandiose dreams or (inserts reason whatever-the-fuck here). And Brand is in the same boat. Not that he’s actively causing mayhem like Anonymous, just that his doing his own bit of agitating by trying to vocally call attention to the things he sees as wrong. Yes, I get that Brand doesn’t have a solution, either. Which is not so much his problem as it is a problem of everyone who’s truly dissatisfied with the current system. But no one seems to want to think too hard about that. No one wants to sit down and discuss how we go about tearing the old system down; how do we go about building something to replace it?
These are serious fucking questions. And most of us are totally prepared to post sarcastic comments online but none of us are ready to actually do anything…mostly because the truth is either that a) the current system isn’t really all that bad and we’re just whinging and moaning because we can or b) the alternative is full-on, heads-on-pikes, blood-in-the-streets revolution, and none of us are ready for it because SEE OPTION A.
Anyhow, yeah, to circle back. I agree with both Oliver AND Brand in their opinions about the current state of the world. But I don’t think they belong in the same group of thinkers. Oliver is making a buck off pointing out the faults of the system, and Brand is trying to convince people to do something about it (though not doing a particularly awesome job of it because of that whole lack-of-a-plan thing).
I don’t know, fucking deep topic that’s probably too deep for this comment board.
+1. I concur wholeheartedly.
@Iron Mike Sharpie – Disagree. Oliver has, where US policy is concerned, prescribed small measures that his viewers can take to at least poke the eye of his targets (see getting viewers to jam the commenting system at the FCC over Net Neutrality, or the current #ShowUsYourPeanuts campaign to have sugar levels in food reported in a more visual fashion). Are these quite literally the least the citizenry can do? Absolutely. But Oliver seems to understand political inertia better than his mentor Jon Stewart, who hosted a Big Fucking Rally that, while entertaining and a lot of fun to attend, gave exactly fuck-all in the way of useful political solutions. i.e. that if people do small things that at least gum up the works, it might be the gateway to actual activism.
I actually just re-watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall again this weekend. Still a great movie. Jonah Hill is the true star though. “Alright I’ll just go fuck myself then. Mahalo!”
Get Him To the Greek is excellent. I regret nothing.
Paul Rudd is arguably the best part of Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
But yes, Get Him to the Greek is great.
When did he start acting, exactly?
That. ^^^
If you have several “people who look after your money” then I don’t want to hear your latest digression on the evils of capitalism and how we need to save mother gaia, thanks.
That’s a silly position to hold, though. Why can’t a guy who’s already rich believe that the system isn’t fair for the rest of us? If anything, shouldn’t people who agree that the current system isn’t fair be looking to incorporate any and all thought about the failings of the system into a larger push to change that system?
Just because a guy is rich, that doesn’t mean his opinion is wrong. Unless you’re willing to begin determining who’s opinions are valid or not by an entire system of groups that they might fall into (i.e. black, male, over 50 = TOTALLY NOT ABLE TO HOLD OPINIONS ON HEALTHCARE or white, female, under 20 = TOTALLY NOT ABLE TO HOLD OPINIONS ON TAXES). Because that’s just fucking dumb.
” Why can’t a guy who’s already rich believe that the system isn’t fair for the rest of us?”
He can believe whatever he wants, but he sounds like a hypocrite. He truly believes that making money is bad then he should probably act like it in ways other than simply refusing to act in a movie for millions of dollars.
Most people who make a difference in poor peoples lives don’t get a lot of press because they aren’t doing it to show that they are “making a difference”. They do it because they want to help people.
Rich people who say “we need a new system” after using that system to become substantially wealthy are hypocrites.
Right, and anyone who uses the internet to complain about the system is also a hypocrite by your logic. Basically what I’m saying is your logic doesn’t track. But I applaud you for sticking to your one bullet-less gun.
Got me there Mike, people who use the internet to complain about the system are truly doing gods work. Like you and Russel!
You two should be bros if you aren’t already.
Imagine if you live in North America or Western Europe and you enjoy electricity that comes on when you flick a switch. You’re already ahead of 50% of the rest of the world, so what are you complaining about, right? I mean, that’s essentially the crux of your argument against the validity of Brand’s opinion. If you can’t see the logical failings of the position you hold, discussing it with me won’t resolve that for you.
I agree with Mike here. I have fantastic health insurance provided entirely by my employer. A huge medical emergency would not come anywhere near ruining me financially, and I’d actually receive 100% of my pay for up to a year while I recovered, AND my job would be waiting when I got back. So by your logic, that would make my position that American health care is fundamentally fucked a hypocritical one.
Just because someone plays the right cards to win in the game, doesn’t mean they are incapable of seeing that it’s rigged. I’d argue that sometimes (or maybe even all of the time) it gives them more insight into the shenanigans than someone who failed to succeed. I mean, you kinda have to see the faults and play to them to win in a rigged game. Or just get really lucky.
He’s too much of an obnoxious liberal and I say this as an obnoxious liberal.
I feel your pain–in the same boat.
yeah, but you’re probably americans, so you don’t really have a cultural touchstone for what he’s talking about.
@japanesetable: And you yet another ignorant foreigner vomiting your own misconceptions about the U.S. Congrats, douche!
He’s decided to spend more time on his favorite hobby: reading thesauruses.
I won’t miss him. I am just not a fan.
Seems like the world is slipping him a Jeffrey.
Get back to me when he retires from breathing. I can’t think of a more obnoxious spokesperson for the left and I’m progressive as hell.
I’m all for a post-scarcity anarchist utopia but it’s gonna cost. If Brand wants to kick-start one then he should really be aiming to make as much money as he can.
He seriously sounds like a college freshman who just took some political theory class and got really high.
with friends in high places.
with enough people listening to him to start a small riot.
and enough cash to start a commune.
so, not much like a college freshman.
Sounds like. You know, when he talks. I’m quite aware that Russell brand is not a literal college freshman.
Brand can be irritating, can be brilliant. His observations about British politics are actually pretty sharp – although he doesn’t come up with any real solutions (and no matter how much of an a**hole he is) he has given a voice to marginalised societal subgroups who are ignored by our politicians. His schtick is irritating, but at least he’s trying to enter into meaningful dialogue about the world – I don’t think he should be judged too harshly for that.
[lovelanguageloveliterature.com]
Not that this libtard had any credibility, but when you appear on the Russian propaganda channel (RT) you are nothing more than an ignorant tool.