Brands Land

In a sea of chaos and disjointed Hollywood reality, oddly Russell Brand manages to stay grounded. Guy Davis finds out what it's like to be an outsider on the inside.

Personally and professionally speaking, stand-up comedian, actor, author and all-purpose Renaissance man Russell Brand has undergone a fair few changes in the past few years. Hollywood embraced him a bit – he landed lead roles and eye-catching supporting parts in movies, some of which worked better than others. His marriage to pop star Katy Perry raised his public profile somewhat; their subsequent split could be said to have raised it even more. But Brand's quicksilver wit and yearning for a deeper, more meaningful understanding of life remain the same, and his recent explorations into the extremes of fame, fortune and celebrity have given him the opportunity to indulge them even further. Which is nice for us as well, right?

Brand is returning to Australia towards the end of the year for a nationwide comedy tour titled I Am A Walrus, and speaking to him from Los Angeles he admits that many recent events in his life have provided him with fascinating material. “Living in the world of celebrity, I've got an interesting insight – it's such an aspirational aspect of contemporary life, innit, that world,” he says. “And when you're part of it, you think 'Well, this is mostly silly.' It's ninety-nine per cent silliness, and that provides me with really interesting stuff.”

The title of his new show was inspired by his performance of The Beatles' I Am The Walrus at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics. “There's tens of thousands of people in the stadium, a billion people watching worldwide, and none of them know my trousers are being held together by Sellotape and the corners of that tape is stabbing me in the testicles,” laughs Brand.

“And my mate Mick, who drives me around when I'm in England, thought I was singing a song called 'I Am a Walrus'. It's only a small difference but 'I Am The Walrus' implies some psychedelic messiah from the mind of John Lennon, while 'I Am a Walrus' is just, you know, a walrus. So you could be on top of a bus at the Olympics, singing a Beatles song, but what is your life really defined by? If you don't have a relationship with truth, what is it? So broadly the show is about what it's like to be famous, what it's like to experience those things, but how really it's just part of being a human being. Different things happen but embarrassing things happen and funny things happen and sexy things happen and stupid things happen. I want to create an atmosphere where it's the opposite of what people feel when they read magazines that tell them they're not thin enough or sexy enough or their hair's not good enough. I want people to feel that everything is good, everything is perfect, everything is how it ought to be. And the stuff that isn't? We can change that. I want an atmosphere of controlled mayhem, sexiness and chaos, hope and humour.”

Brand admits, though, that he's not out to impart the meaning of life to his audience (“Oh, yeah, there's gonna be dick jokes,” he adds). He's on a journey, the same as everyone else, and he's still working it out as he goes.

“How can I be truthful to myself? How can I make sure my stand-up comedy is true to my principles? I can be on a radio show with a very laddish atmosphere and I'll join in and make jokes about women and ejaculation and I recognise that's what I need to do but the challenge is being authentic as a comedian or an artist or a human being while accepting the confinements and requirements of your job. I mean, I've got to be funny if I'm there – I'm a comedian, for fuck's sake – but I want to be truthful, and the things I'm encountering on my spiritual journey... well, you have to learn a lot about it before you can convey it. And I'm still very much on the foothills, gazing at the summit of enlightenment.”