Love him or hate him, you've got to respect his skills as a media manipulator.
It will come as no great surprise to media consumers with a modicum of intelligence and the ability to use their own minds outside of what mainstream outlets ram down your throat, that a recent interview with Russell Brand on a mainstream morning television show was pretty cringe worthy. The hosts asked vacuous questions that provided little to no substance whatsoever.
It will come as no surprise to fans – or even just active observers – of Brand's media exploits that he became frustrated and quickly made that known to the hosts of the program, hijacking the program and making comments about so-called 'current affairs' reporting that so many of us wish we could do with such eloquence and on such a platform.
On the NBC Morning Joe program to promote his forthcoming US stand-up tour on Monday morning, Brand played along with the hosts' early patter about his attire but quickly became frustrated with the way in what they were talking about him.
Brand responded to a question about the different disciplines of work he is involved in with a considered response about stand-up comedy allowing less opportunity for him to be taken out of context.
Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter
“You know how it is in media; people like to change the information so that it suits a particular agenda,” he said.
After which one of the NBC anchors, Brian Shactman, tells the other anchors of the program that he sometimes has troubles understanding Brand's accent on the radio.
“You're talking about me as if I'm not here and as if I'm an extra-terrestrial," Brand said. "Thank you for your casual objectification.”
The hosts become notably nervous from here as Brand hijacks the discussion, bringing up the Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning cases, but the NBC hosts go back to discussing Brand's accent and his dress sense.
“That's the problem about current affairs,” he said. “You forget about what's important. You allow the agenda to be decided by superficial information. What am I saying? What am I talking about? Don't think about what I'm wearing. These things are redundant, superficial – don't be distracted.”
Watch the full interview here, it's worth it:
And see what happens when Brand goes toe-to-toe with one of our own:
It seems pretty good timing to make such comments on Brand's part, given what most of this morning's headlines about him have been saying…