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Have you ever seen Russell Brand live?

147 replies

Sausagenbacon · 20/09/2023 08:02

What strikes me in all of this is just how popular RB was, until 3 days ago.
Has anyone been to see him, and did you find him funny? Watching clips of his shows, it seems clear how awful he is, but the audience love it.
There must be a fair number of people on mn who did.

OP posts:
medianewbie · 20/09/2023 10:54

OnAFrolicOfMyOwn · 20/09/2023 09:42

No - I didn't know who he was until 'Sachsgate' and after that he was on my radar as a tosser, so I avoided anything he was in.

Me too !

WinterDeWinter · 20/09/2023 11:07

Accipritidae · 20/09/2023 10:47

Yeah, I've seen him at various charity events and thought he was extremely witty and charming, and I found him hugely sexually attractive. His work promoting recovery from addictions and his love of yoga also inspired me to help him raise money for his causes. I liked how unconventional and shocking he was. It's only fair to point out that I'm a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and have been re-victimised multiple times throughout my life. You'd think this would sharpen one's radar, but each event seems only to make people more vulnerable to the next until you withdraw almost totally from social situations. (Edited because formatting keeps coming out weird and words missing)

Edited

I'm so sorry to hear that @Accipritidae and the impact it's had on your ability to find good relationships. I really hope you do find one in the future.

fiddlesticksandotherwords · 20/09/2023 11:09

I've always found him repellent right from the start, and if they had paid me, I still wouldn't have gone to one of his shows.

Ewww.

NonMiDispiace · 20/09/2023 11:16

fiddlesticksandotherwords · 20/09/2023 11:09

I've always found him repellent right from the start, and if they had paid me, I still wouldn't have gone to one of his shows.

Ewww.

Me too. He always looked almost satanic and greasy. He made my skin crawl as do several other so-called comedians.

roarrfeckingroar · 20/09/2023 11:23

I saw him live in 2009. He was brilliant, absolutely hilarious.

Jen91983 · 20/09/2023 11:25

I’ve seen him twice live. 1st time in 2006 and the 2nd time 2014. I also queued for hours at his book signing in 2010 and got a hug and a kiss. 😳 I used to be a BIG fan. Probably went off him after seeing his 2nd tour.

Cornettoninja · 20/09/2023 11:33

I agree with Ricky Gervais when he says there is no subject which can't be joked about - context is everything

@xxSxxxxxxx I agree too, but the unspoken agreement is that a subject is being highlighted for its ridiculousness or hypocrisy not because it’s something to be venerated or emulated. That illusion is easily shattered if it’s not sincere.

On topic, I’ve never been a massive fan but I wouldn’t avoid him or turn over if he popped up somewhere.

AverageJoan · 20/09/2023 11:38

I've seen him twice in the last 10 years or so. I did find it genuinely funny, but very odd the amount of people who queued in the interval/at the end of the show to speak to and/or take photos with him and the way he loved that attention

MissBattleaxe · 20/09/2023 11:40

I saw him live in 2006. He was brilliant and had incredible stage presence. I can confirm that he did indeed proposition the whole audience. "Don't think you can't sleep with me because I'm on the telly, because you can. I'll be at the Stage Door after this." He is highly intelligent, hugely charismatic and I even enjoyed his films.

I went off him with his right wing conspiracy stuff and completely went off him after Dispatches. I believe the women who spoke out and he is persona non grata to me now. He is a born cult leader and he's halfway there already to my dismay.

Justcashnosweets · 20/09/2023 11:44

I saw him live about 20 years ago at the Edinburgh Festival. A group of us went as we were all big fans. He was really funny, and I don't remember him being creepy or misogynistic at all. He was very open about sex, but mostly his routine was about him making a tit of himself in various situations. I've always liked RB, and I have been shocked and massively disappointed at the things he has done.

MysweetAudrina · 20/09/2023 11:51

Just a wondering, Did he chose one or two of the women in the queues to sleep with or did he just shout next, when he was done with the previous one or did he just get contact details for future hook ups?

aSofaNearYou · 20/09/2023 11:54

I saw him in the Messiah Complex tour, I think. I remember it being very funny, but then right near the end he got annoyed with a woman who had been heckling him throughout and basically sat down and refused to finish the show. It was quite awkward.

I don't remember the show being overly inappropriate, but I genuinely feel that most were far less in tune to those things during his heyday. Culture has changed massively since.

Shortpoet · 20/09/2023 12:02

@aSofaNearYou I think we were at the same show! Could you hear what was being shouted? I couldn’t make it out.

I wonder what it was especially in light of the new allegations.

xxSxxxxxxx · 20/09/2023 12:13

AverageJoan · 20/09/2023 11:38

I've seen him twice in the last 10 years or so. I did find it genuinely funny, but very odd the amount of people who queued in the interval/at the end of the show to speak to and/or take photos with him and the way he loved that attention

I don't think it's shocking that he loved the attention, his whole persona/act is about the fact he is an attention seeking narcissist

xxSxxxxxxx · 20/09/2023 12:16

Cornettoninja · 20/09/2023 11:33

I agree with Ricky Gervais when he says there is no subject which can't be joked about - context is everything

@xxSxxxxxxx I agree too, but the unspoken agreement is that a subject is being highlighted for its ridiculousness or hypocrisy not because it’s something to be venerated or emulated. That illusion is easily shattered if it’s not sincere.

On topic, I’ve never been a massive fan but I wouldn’t avoid him or turn over if he popped up somewhere.

I never thought it came across as something to be emulated - the whole joke was that he was a bit of a t**t and got himself into stupid situations. The radio shows where Matt made him the butt of the jokes were probably my favourite as he wasn't afraid to puncture his ego.

aSofaNearYou · 20/09/2023 12:21

Shortpoet · 20/09/2023 12:02

@aSofaNearYou I think we were at the same show! Could you hear what was being shouted? I couldn’t make it out.

I wonder what it was especially in light of the new allegations.

I wondered if anyone would have been to the same show! I could hear her at the time, though I've forgotten what was said. I remember thinking she wasn't really saying anything offensive, she was just interrupting the punch line basically, and it seemed to really get under his skin.

shadypines · 20/09/2023 12:39

No, wouldn't waste my money. Strikes me as the sort of character that can dish it out but can't take it.

As for cherry picking from the audience, how repulsive. These women/ girls must have had the self esteem of a used dishcloth.

Beezknees · 20/09/2023 12:44

Have I heck. I dislike most male "comedians" historically they always use women as the butt of their jokes.

lemmein · 20/09/2023 12:55

I had tickets to go and see him a few years back but his mum died and it was cancelled!

I've always liked him tbh from his BBBM years and enjoy his YTvideos - though I only really listen if they're shared on twitter.

Interestingly a lot of the footage used now to highlight how disgusting he is/was is from Ponderland, a channel 4 show 🙄

NutellaEllaElla · 20/09/2023 12:59

Yes I saw him live years ago, I only recently learned that he's not a proper comedian, he has a writer, he's never done the local comedy venue circuit like other comedians, he's just an entertainer really.

spitefulandbadgrammar · 20/09/2023 13:01

fiddlesticksandotherwords · 20/09/2023 11:09

I've always found him repellent right from the start, and if they had paid me, I still wouldn't have gone to one of his shows.

Ewww.

Yep. Wildly unfunny and offputting.

Okaydonkey · 20/09/2023 13:10

Yes, twice. Once about 11 years ago and last year.
He was funny the first time, and I don’t remember him being particularly offensive. The second time he was definitely like a Cult Leader, people queued to hug him during the interval and afterwards. It was a very weird vibe and he wasn’t particularly funny.

Jimmy Carr is the only comedian I won’t see anymore. His humour doesn’t pass the ‘Jim Davidson’ test. It’s not ironic is misogynistic and racist dressed up as ironic.

ReadtheReviews · 20/09/2023 13:17

Yes, a few times. Had a chat with him in a doorway after one very small gig. He was surprisingly tall. I found him very attractive. The spiritual stuff really seemed to be a different person having some sort of crisis. Particularly liked the show with Matt Morgan and wondered why they lost touch. Maybe this explains it.

Kinsters · 20/09/2023 13:20

Never seen him live but I used to watch everything he was on on TV and thought he was really quick witted and perceptive. Some stuff where he just talked I didn't find so funny but if he was commenting on something or riffing off someone else or presenting something then I thought he was great. I enjoyed his book too.

MarathonBarbie · 20/09/2023 13:32

I saw him on the Messiah Complex tour in, I think, 2013. I saw a lot of comedy at the time and it doesn’t stand out in my memory in any strong way in terms of being good/bad/inappropriate. I do remember someone on the balcony shouted ‘I love you’ or something along those lines and he ended up scaling the lighting rigging to get up to the balcony to hug her and every other (mostly women) person who queued up, took bloody ages to get on with the show.