RUSSELL BRAND IN NEW YORK CITY

He's sort of like the impetuous bastard son of Edward Scissorhands and George Michael. 

Ah yes, I still remember the moment Russell Brand stole my heart.  It was during an appearance on The Tonight Show last summer, and he was telling some little story about an exchange he had with Rod Stewart (if I remember correctly) at an award ceremony.  Apparently he was at his table eating when Stewart spoke to him from the stage.  It was all fairly mundane except for the fact that he pantomimed himself shoveling food into his mouth with two hands.  What can I say?  It was love at first laugh.

Since that time, Russell Brand has managed to drum up a fair share of controversy, both in the UK and the US.  I've wrestled with big questions like, "Is he hot or is he scary?  Was that dirty or flirty?", and I'll admit that the mature content warnings all over his Comedy Central DVD made me squirm just a little.  The thing is, he never fails to make me laugh, and Russell Brand in New York City is no exception. 

I think what works about Brand's humor is that ultimately all the jokes are on him.  He pokes fun at his lust for fame and his obsessive habit of googling his own name, then recounts his infamous turn as host of the VMA's, even breaking out actual death threats he received and reading them aloud.  He's as self-deprecating as he is pompous, as endearing as he is deviant.  He's sort of like the impetuous bastard son of Edward Scissorhands and George Michael.  Who cares about his frightening hair pile and sex addiction?  Everything's cuter when you're British!  In fact, sometimes all Brand has to do is substitute the word "me" for "my" or "them" for "those" and comedy ensues.  For example, why say, "I told my mom I liked those crackers" when you could say, "I told me mum I liked them crackers"?  The latter is just inherently funny.

Though there are times when Brand misses the mark, I spent nearly all 61 minutes of this special with an idiot smile on my face.  At one point he launches into his sex tips for the evening and the women in the audience start looking at him in much the same way I was looking at the TV - what the hell?  But then it becomes clear that he's kidding, and that the point of all this is to make people laugh, and suddenly he seems like a harmless buffoon all over again.

DVD extras find Brand attempting to quiet a rowdy drunk girl in the front row during the show itself, then hitting the streets of New York City to bask in his own fame and schmooze with fans.  This lovable rapscallion is so free with the autographs, photographs, hugs, and propositions that he seems quite deserving of the success he so craves.  He wants it, he knows he has to work for it, and he knows we're the only ones who can give it to him.