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Comedy Central Chuckle Festival 2015 dubbed the 'Russell Brand Live in India' show as 'World-Class Laughter. Now in India.' (The unnecessary splitting of the sentence should have been warning enough). They promised June 27 'to be the funniest day of your life'. People believed. And shelled out between Rs.4000 to Rs.2000 to LOL with Brand - the English comedian, actor, radio host, author, and activist, but most popularly known as singer Katy Perry's 'ex'. And so, 2000 people packed into the White Orchid Convention Centre chuckling in anticipation.
The chuckles turned into guffaws as Vir Das warmed up the stage for Brand. He really 'rofl-ed' them with his jokes. He did such a good job of it that even half-an-act from Brand could've had the audience laughing their asses off. But somehow Brand didn't cut it that evening.
Dressed in a sleeveless tee with an imprint of Lord Krishna on it, Brand began well — he walked off the stage, interacted with the audience, sitting amongst them and joking. And the audience — patrons of solpa-adjust-maadi philosophy — thought Brand was laying the foundation for an evening of 'avant-garde' experimental performance'.
Now if only the audience had read what Sean Howlett, commentator and columnist had to say about Brand, they wouldn't have been so hopeful after all. "In my humble opinion Russell Brand is not a funny man. His jokes are childish and boring. Brand tries to sound like an intellectual yet he's merely a stupid person's idea of a clever person."(Sean Howlett in Huffingtonpost). As the evening progressed, with decreasing laughs, Howlett seemed to have hit the bull's eye.
"The media always interprets me wrongly. In an interview when they asked me what advice I would give to young pop stars. I thought it was a joke question and so I looked in my head for a joke answer and I must add that my head is not always my ally. I said 'Pop stars should take heroin. Most of the musicians I like did and it will also kill off the weak ones.'" No wonder, UK Prime Minister David Cameron called Brand a "comic with a beard who thinks terrorism is funny" and he is not even funny.
What did Brand take that evening that it killed his thinking brain? Here's a Brand joke: "As a representative of the global community, a visitor from abroad, I don't want to come across a little bit biased, but could I please ask of you, people of America, please elect Barack Obama, please, on behalf of the world. Some people, I think they're called racists, say America is not ready for a black President. But I know America to be a forward-thinking country because otherwise why would you have let that retard and cowboy fella be President for eight years?" Yo Brand, even Obama's term is coming to an end (he legalised gay marriages in conservative Amrika, remember?)
Brand admitted, on stage, that he was performing jokes he had written for the MTV VMAs which he hosted in 2008. So, now we are a dumping ground for not just used electronic goods of the west, but also bad outdated jokes? The chuckles were now a trickle. And by the time he began reading twitter reactions to his 'old jokes' from a piece of crumpled paper, Brand had lost the crowd.
Maybe Howlette's observation will help the audience to understand why Brand wasn't particularly funny that night. Howlette wrote: Brand's recent foray into political activism has shown this wannabe modern-day Lord Byron for what he truly is; shallow, stupid and lacking in self-awareness to such a degree it's cringeworthy. In many ways, he seems to be narcissistic and immature — like a child who hasn't yet come to terms with his/her limitations (Huffingtonpost).
Shreanca Bhattacharjee, an artist and event organiser who had come to watch the show with her friends says: "He started off well but then it lacked continuity, it looked like he was a little zoned out while narrating a story about when he met the Queen with James Blunt. That confused the audience; I mean I wasn't sure what was happening."
There are limits to even what an accommodating, but confused, audience can do with a bearded man (with an alleged Messiah-complex) on stage trying to crack jokes that just wouldn't crack. Sensing it, Brand stared silently at the audience before trying a different approach. He pointed to a row of people wearing t-shirts with an artwork of him on it. "I'm a narcissist," he admitted, "but this is too much for even me." Should we or shouldn't we...laugh that is...the audience was in a conundrum. But one should give it to Brand — the man didn't give up easily. Every time he failed to garner a laugh, he'd come back to the t-shirts for a chuckle. "On my t-shirt I have Lord Krishna and yours you have me. I don't know what to make of it," he remarked.
At some point the men in the front row might've wanted to discard the t-shirts and go back home half-naked. His interest in spirituality, his tattoos and ranting about the evils of capitalism left the audience clueless and finally completely laugh-less.
Finally, Brand ended the hour long performance with a Q&A with the audience. Hearing the questions (Who are you getting married to? Will you come to the temple with me? Will you marry me?), it seemed like a little bit of Brand must've rubbed off on the audience leaving them bland. Brand, funnily (ah, surprise!) laughed them off by saying "it would be nice to have a polygamous Indian family." In the end, good sense prevailed upon Brand and he said: "If there aren't any more questions we'll end the show now". Thank God he didn't hear some in the audience remark...: "Now we know why Katy Perry left him." Or "This is the best satsang I have ever attended." But this one got the best laugh even from strangers: "I got to watch the show for free, but I still want my money back."
The lone voice
"It was exactly what I was expecting it to be. There are a few people on the planet who make sense when they speak about stuff that matters. Brand happens to be an unlikely choice but he makes a ton of sense. And he has the guts to come on a show sponsored by Fosters and praise Vijay Mallya (when going through a checklist of things that would work with a Bengalurean audience he said "I've been told we should thank Vijay Mallya") . I actually think the audiences here aren't mature enough to understand his style of humour."
Aniket Dasgupta — Filmmaker
Vox Pop
"When he was on stage talking about Hinduism and chanting sholkas and khalsas I wasn't quite sure if was being serious or poking fun of it. He lost me there entirely. I don't know if Indian audiences are prepared for British humour which isn't easy to chew."
— Shunky Chugani
"For us comics who are exposed to comedy, foreign acts Louis CK and Bill Burr are more appealing and Brand pails in comparison. For an average audience, they don't have the exposure to comprehend him. But it is up to Indian comics to expose and warm Indian audiences to different forms of comedy. Maybe a few years down the line his act wouldn't have seemed that bad to the audience."
— Rupen Paul
"The Indian audience will connect to Indian acts better. Sanjay got more laughs in ten minutes of stage time than Brand did in an hour and that says something."
— Kritarth Srinivasan
"Watching Russell Brand on stage was one of the most painful experience of my life. A friend of mine had bought the tickets and I went because Vir Das was performing and he was great. But Brand was terrible. I wouldn't watch him on stage again if they paid me to. He had put in no preparation into the show at all. I was so dismayed that I even tweeted my views to him."
— Nikhil Sahani
"I travelled all the way from Chennai to watch the show. He was preachy as I was expecting him to be, which is amusing but he could have been a lot funnier."
— Zaid Khan
"He was certainly not at his best. He has a unique and niche style but he didn't bring his A-game that night."
—Sundeep Rao
Who gets your laugh
"There is no pressure on me to do well because in the end a white guy will finish the show." "Men have nipples just to remind us that we don't have breasts"
—Vir Das
"I don't watch porn. Not because I don't want to but because I have a BSNL internet connection."
— Sanjay Manaktala
"As a white man I'm trying to sell Hinduism to a country that has already had it for thousands of years and know more about it"
— Russell Brand
The chuckles turned into guffaws as Vir Das warmed up the stage for Brand. He really 'rofl-ed' them with his jokes. He did such a good job of it that even half-an-act from Brand could've had the audience laughing their asses off. But somehow Brand didn't cut it that evening.
Dressed in a sleeveless tee with an imprint of Lord Krishna on it, Brand began well — he walked off the stage, interacted with the audience, sitting amongst them and joking. And the audience — patrons of solpa-adjust-maadi philosophy — thought Brand was laying the foundation for an evening of 'avant-garde' experimental performance'.
Now if only the audience had read what Sean Howlett, commentator and columnist had to say about Brand, they wouldn't have been so hopeful after all. "In my humble opinion Russell Brand is not a funny man. His jokes are childish and boring. Brand tries to sound like an intellectual yet he's merely a stupid person's idea of a clever person."(Sean Howlett in Huffingtonpost). As the evening progressed, with decreasing laughs, Howlett seemed to have hit the bull's eye.
"The media always interprets me wrongly. In an interview when they asked me what advice I would give to young pop stars. I thought it was a joke question and so I looked in my head for a joke answer and I must add that my head is not always my ally. I said 'Pop stars should take heroin. Most of the musicians I like did and it will also kill off the weak ones.'" No wonder, UK Prime Minister David Cameron called Brand a "comic with a beard who thinks terrorism is funny" and he is not even funny.
What did Brand take that evening that it killed his thinking brain? Here's a Brand joke: "As a representative of the global community, a visitor from abroad, I don't want to come across a little bit biased, but could I please ask of you, people of America, please elect Barack Obama, please, on behalf of the world. Some people, I think they're called racists, say America is not ready for a black President. But I know America to be a forward-thinking country because otherwise why would you have let that retard and cowboy fella be President for eight years?" Yo Brand, even Obama's term is coming to an end (he legalised gay marriages in conservative Amrika, remember?)
Brand admitted, on stage, that he was performing jokes he had written for the MTV VMAs which he hosted in 2008. So, now we are a dumping ground for not just used electronic goods of the west, but also bad outdated jokes? The chuckles were now a trickle. And by the time he began reading twitter reactions to his 'old jokes' from a piece of crumpled paper, Brand had lost the crowd.
Maybe Howlette's observation will help the audience to understand why Brand wasn't particularly funny that night. Howlette wrote: Brand's recent foray into political activism has shown this wannabe modern-day Lord Byron for what he truly is; shallow, stupid and lacking in self-awareness to such a degree it's cringeworthy. In many ways, he seems to be narcissistic and immature — like a child who hasn't yet come to terms with his/her limitations (Huffingtonpost).
Shreanca Bhattacharjee, an artist and event organiser who had come to watch the show with her friends says: "He started off well but then it lacked continuity, it looked like he was a little zoned out while narrating a story about when he met the Queen with James Blunt. That confused the audience; I mean I wasn't sure what was happening."
There are limits to even what an accommodating, but confused, audience can do with a bearded man (with an alleged Messiah-complex) on stage trying to crack jokes that just wouldn't crack. Sensing it, Brand stared silently at the audience before trying a different approach. He pointed to a row of people wearing t-shirts with an artwork of him on it. "I'm a narcissist," he admitted, "but this is too much for even me." Should we or shouldn't we...laugh that is...the audience was in a conundrum. But one should give it to Brand — the man didn't give up easily. Every time he failed to garner a laugh, he'd come back to the t-shirts for a chuckle. "On my t-shirt I have Lord Krishna and yours you have me. I don't know what to make of it," he remarked.
At some point the men in the front row might've wanted to discard the t-shirts and go back home half-naked. His interest in spirituality, his tattoos and ranting about the evils of capitalism left the audience clueless and finally completely laugh-less.
Finally, Brand ended the hour long performance with a Q&A with the audience. Hearing the questions (Who are you getting married to? Will you come to the temple with me? Will you marry me?), it seemed like a little bit of Brand must've rubbed off on the audience leaving them bland. Brand, funnily (ah, surprise!) laughed them off by saying "it would be nice to have a polygamous Indian family." In the end, good sense prevailed upon Brand and he said: "If there aren't any more questions we'll end the show now". Thank God he didn't hear some in the audience remark...: "Now we know why Katy Perry left him." Or "This is the best satsang I have ever attended." But this one got the best laugh even from strangers: "I got to watch the show for free, but I still want my money back."
The lone voice
"It was exactly what I was expecting it to be. There are a few people on the planet who make sense when they speak about stuff that matters. Brand happens to be an unlikely choice but he makes a ton of sense. And he has the guts to come on a show sponsored by Fosters and praise Vijay Mallya (when going through a checklist of things that would work with a Bengalurean audience he said "I've been told we should thank Vijay Mallya") . I actually think the audiences here aren't mature enough to understand his style of humour."
Aniket Dasgupta — Filmmaker
Vox Pop
"When he was on stage talking about Hinduism and chanting sholkas and khalsas I wasn't quite sure if was being serious or poking fun of it. He lost me there entirely. I don't know if Indian audiences are prepared for British humour which isn't easy to chew."
— Shunky Chugani
"For us comics who are exposed to comedy, foreign acts Louis CK and Bill Burr are more appealing and Brand pails in comparison. For an average audience, they don't have the exposure to comprehend him. But it is up to Indian comics to expose and warm Indian audiences to different forms of comedy. Maybe a few years down the line his act wouldn't have seemed that bad to the audience."
— Rupen Paul
"The Indian audience will connect to Indian acts better. Sanjay got more laughs in ten minutes of stage time than Brand did in an hour and that says something."
— Kritarth Srinivasan
"Watching Russell Brand on stage was one of the most painful experience of my life. A friend of mine had bought the tickets and I went because Vir Das was performing and he was great. But Brand was terrible. I wouldn't watch him on stage again if they paid me to. He had put in no preparation into the show at all. I was so dismayed that I even tweeted my views to him."
— Nikhil Sahani
"I travelled all the way from Chennai to watch the show. He was preachy as I was expecting him to be, which is amusing but he could have been a lot funnier."
— Zaid Khan
"He was certainly not at his best. He has a unique and niche style but he didn't bring his A-game that night."
—Sundeep Rao
Who gets your laugh
"There is no pressure on me to do well because in the end a white guy will finish the show." "Men have nipples just to remind us that we don't have breasts"
—Vir Das
"I don't watch porn. Not because I don't want to but because I have a BSNL internet connection."
— Sanjay Manaktala
"As a white man I'm trying to sell Hinduism to a country that has already had it for thousands of years and know more about it"
— Russell Brand
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