Reviewed by Neil Davey
Stars Russell Brand | Written by Russell Brand & Matt Morgan
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 180 minutes (approx)
Assuming people still care about the Russell Brand / Jonathan Ross debacle, I'm going to add my two penn'orth. Regardless of taste (and I'm certainly not a person to impose standards on that subject) it shouldn't have been broadcast because it just wasn't funny. Mind you, as the six episodes of Brand's Channel 4 series Ponderland prove, the same logic should apply to everything Brand does.
Seriously, is it just me? Am I now so officially middle-aged and out of touch that I have no idea what constitutes funny any more? Call me a fogey if you must, but someone making mostly obvious statements in a voice that lurches between fop and street urchin, via "comedy fishwife", "comedy northerner" and assorted other "comedy" regional accents, just isn't funny. Nor, for the record, is labouring every "gag" by repeating the punchline several times over. It's not comedy. It's a form of Tourette's.
Here's an example of Brand's act. You'll have to add the "comedy" accents yourself, of course, although I'd recommend starting in effete Kenneth Williams mode and alternating every other sentence with an approximation of the voice Terry Jones used to play women in Monty Python sketches. "Now watch this clip right, it's really fucking funny because he falls over." Plays clip. Person falls over. "Did you see? He fell over! Oh, it's right fucking hilarious that is, isn't it? He fell over! Let's see it again!" Plays clip. Again. Person falls over. Again. "See? He fell right over didn't he? Oh, prithee, he wenteth properly arse over tit, didn't he?" Plays clip again, this time pointing out the point at which the person falls over. Mimes person falling over. "Ooh, what a fucking knob. Falling over. It's like one second, he was fucking upright, the next he's fallen over." Ad lib (about falling over) to fade.
Ponderland is Brand applying his mind to subjects such as sport, childhood and science and chatting over relevant film clips. If you remember In Bed With Me Dinner, Bob Mill's amiable late night show, you'll recognise the concept. The key difference is that Mills occasionally raised a laugh.
The saddest thing? Brand can be funny. Some of Brand's lines and observations demonstrate a sharp mind and wit. When confronted with someone who can spar verbally, Brand comes alive: mind you, the last time I witnessed that, it was in an interview with, er, Jonathan Ross ... so that's probably not going to happen again for a while. The problem is Brand's nails-on-blackboard delivery, that endless repetition and the quality control. For every good line, there's a dozen that the average 12-year old would have scrawled out for being obvious. If you like Brand, you'll no doubt love this. If you can't stand the unfunny, backcombed twat, then this isn't the DVD that's going to change your mind.
EXTRAS ** Deleted scenes, extra gig footage ... and lots of it. If you like Brand, you'll be in heaven. If you don't, it's abject torture. Oh the things we put ourselves through for you lot...