Russell Brand Interview

28-06-2005 23:00

The last time I interviewed Russell Brand, presenter of Big Brother's Big Mouth, much of the material was considered too risqué and outrageous to commit to print.

An amusing half-hour conversational wander through Brand's uniquely chaotic, extreme and bizarre career yielded no more than a few usable anecdotes.

The anarchist comedian had been arrested for stripping at an anti-capitalist march, recovered from a heroin addiction, performed a show involving pelting the audience with dead animals, and filmed a series which had seen him taking a bath with a homeless man, living with a prostitute, and fighting his father. And those were the usable items.

It comes as something of a surprise, then, to find such an extreme and political comedian presenting a show that is part of the Big Brother stable.

Fresh from presenting the first ever Big Brother's Big Mouth the previous evening on E4, Brand explains this unusual career move.

"I was left in a position where I had very little choice, after some of my anarchic antics.

It was simply a choice between having a career and not having a career, by that stage," he says of his decision to present last year's Big Brother's EFOURUM.

"But I don't see it as a huge leap, because ultimately I don't have to commit to a particular doctrine to do with the show.

Ultimately, I'm just talking about human nature. I've got quite a lot of freedom, and I'm just dealing with people. And Big Mouth is an incredibly egalitarian show. The audience have got equal billing with the celebrity guests, and I think I appear lower down the bill than them.

They're a belligerent, bellicose mob who are quite happy to bellow me into submission at the slightest provocation."

Fair enough. But similarly, wasn't he a bit of an odd choice for the programme makers to opt for? "I think they wanted the show to have a more comical tendency. And they needed someone who could interact with people.

Being a person myself, I get on well with people. And I'd done shows with phone-ins and audience participation before, on MTV. Yes, I've worked for MTV as well. In spite of all the anarchy and rebellion and all of that brouhaha, I've always had enough professionalism in me, and enough desire to wear nice jackets, to take money from large corporations when it's required.

But I hope that I can bring humour to the show and get on well with people."

Nevertheless, there was some nervousness on the part of the production company (Endemol UK) and the broadcaster (Channel 4). "There were numerous meetings with lawyers, and I think there were contractual get-outs for them if I did turn out to be an absolute psychopath.

The risk was something they did seriously consider, but I'm happy to say that during the whole of EFOURUM last year, I didn't swear once, and I don't think I've said anything that incendiary. I pride myself on being quite professional in spite of the mayhem and the madness."

The mayhem and the madness takes place three times a week on E4 (shown later on Channel 4) when Big Mouth, the successor to EFOURUM, analyses all the goings on in the house, with contributions from celebrity guests, viewers, and a rowdy studio audience.

"It's about giving a voice to the numerous obsessive fans of Big Brother, or even people with just a passing interest, so that people can really have their say. It gives as much focus to the audience as the guests, and people just shout their mouths off. It's a mouthpiece for people's views, whether it's ‘Kemal is over the top' ‘Anthony is a bit dull' or ‘Isn't Saskia, or indeed Roberto, gorgeous'."

And the secret of the audience's boisterousness? "They're plied with booze, and primed with information, for an hour before the show. It's a hotbed. I predict a riot, in the words of the Kaiser Chiefs."

Doesn't the riotous nature of the show, and the fact that it's on live TV, create the potential for disaster? "I find it exhilarating. I really like live television. I think you get an authenticity you simply can't recreate in an edit. And I think people are more tolerant if something does seem to be a bit chaotic. I like it being live, I embrace it. We had Kitten just walk off the show last year, it was brilliant.

"Because of some of the stuff I've done in the past, chopping up dead animals, being arrested, or being hospitalised, when things get a bit more exciting and chaotic, I like it. What frightens me isn't live TV, it's going into a shop and ordering a loaf of bread. That's when I think: ‘Oh God, the mundanity of it all. We're all going to die. Death is approaching. There's no poetry in this moment,'" he says, laughing. "But when things are a bit chaotic, I get excited."

If it's chaos Brand likes, perhaps he's a natural addition to the Big Brother stable after all. There was certainly enough mayhem in the house last summer, and Brand himself is a confirmed fan of the show. "I think it's brilliant. It's a great leveller. In spite of the sensationalism and the titillation that the tabloids stir up, ultimately it's about humanity, about different people and our common humanity, our ability to get on.

"It's more intriguing than Jacobean drama. It's real human lives intertwining. If you were to go to some aboriginal village hundreds of miles from what we recognise as civilisation, the people sitting around the campfire wouldn't be discussing ancient myths and war stories, they'd be gossiping about who's having it off with who.

And in this dislocated, disconnected society, where all of us don't even know our next door neighbours, Big Brother means that for ten or more weeks every summer, we all have a common set of neighbours that we can talk about. It gives us all a shared set of peers."

Refreshingly, unlike those presenters who claim to have been obsessed with their programme since they were potty-trained, he admits that he wasn't such a fan before his involvement with the show. "I tuned in and out of Big Brother 3, and I was aware of the first series, when the big tabloid issues happened, like Nick and Craig's confrontation. But I wasn't an avid fan until I started working on it. Once you start, it's very difficult to stop. It's so involving."

During Big Brother's run, he tries to catch at least an hour a day, despite other commitments including stand-up and writing. He says the Big Brother-watching routine is not a problem. "Being a recovering heroin addict, when I get into a habit I'm very good at observing it."

Thankfully, the heroin is one habit he's successfully managed to break. "I'm two-and-a-half years clean. I don't drink. I don't smoke. It's sometimes difficult, but as long as I'm careful with myself, I'm alright. I've got a lot more energy.

That's the only reason I can do a show like this, because I'm not smacking myself out of reality and getting all cracked-up and confused in crack houses in Bethnal Green. I'm good. I much prefer not taking drugs. Sometimes there are occasional moments of sadness, but I prefer life with all its clarity."

So, with this rediscovered clarity, which of the housemates has Brand so far taken a shine to? "I'm very fond of Kemal, I think he's lovely. I like Maxwell's upfront nature. I think some of the women in there are absolutely extraordinarily attractive this year, and I'm having to drink Bromide before each show to sedate me. Oh, and Derek's wonderful – he's fantastic fun."

And what does Brand - about as far as it's possible to get from a Conservative - think of Derek's Tory politics? "I can only assume it's self-loathing. If you are a homosexual black man, and you decide to become a Tory, you're effectively campaigning against yourself and your potential."

Russell Brand knows whereof he speaks, having spent years effectively damaging his own potential. Happily, he's clean, energised and enthusiastic, as even a cursory viewing of Big Brother's Big Mouth will confirm. His gain is definitely ours too.

Big Brother's Big Mouth is live on E4 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30pm, and repeated late night on Channel 4.

By Benjie Goodhart