As a stand up comedian he leaves me seriously underwhelmed. In this interview he was riveting. Funny, erudite, intelligent and charming. He came across as deeply likeable human being.

...Russell came across really well.

The full interview, without the rest of the programme, is here.

part of the promotional tour for his new celebrity autobiography?

Thanks for the nod.

I've just watched it again with the FPO and enjoyed it the second time too. He reminds me of Mr Lydon at times.

..from his brilliant radio show.

Not the Russell that the tabloid press like to portray.

I can forgive him everything for his gift with words. I think the spiritual/revolutionary stuff is a load of rubbish though as Matt Morgan so frequently pointed out.

Russell's ego will always get the better of his good intentions. He wouldn't be making a remake of Arthur if art was his sole motivation.

He can be very seductive when he wants to be, he seduced Paxo pretty well, which makes you wonder why he has to be such a twat at other times. Still find his mannerisms irritating but he rises in my estimation after seeing that. He makes some excellent points well.

... can anyone say that Paxo was actually very good as well. They both seemed to start a bit wary of each other but as it went on and Brand impressed him, you could sense Paxman changing his tone and line of questioning out of respect.

Funny, clever, charming...etc

feel the need to throw big words around so often, as if he were desperate to demonstrate the breadth of his vocabulary. It's the same affliction Will Self seems to suffer from, and it just makes them both appear less intelligent than they presumably are.

Eschew obfuscation - brevity is beautiful.

I was charmed.

he's funny, clever, insightful and has lived a life that gives him a great source for his humour. If he has grown up a little bit, not too much, we could all be in for some real comedic treats.

and he was doing that thing of looking like he's reading long words off of a card, words he's not entirely sure he understands it's not very appealing or indeed easy to watch.
Erudition is a good thing, randomly choosing supposedly complicated words because you think they might be impressive is another. The whole laboured performance was cringe making. Couldn't face newsnight after that.

Too many allowances being made for him here just because he's loquacious and spouts some unoriginal thoughts on the nature of fame. (How articulate and intelligent are you when you don't know "phenomena" is plural?)

And in his head he thought he was on the phone to a Spanish waiter? On a "lo-fi radio show"? Lo-fi, BBC Radio 2? Give me a break.

I like RB and I think he has some good ideas. They may not be terribly original, but in fairness it isn't every day that you find a sleb openly stating that the whole sleb thing is farcical but at least it has the virtue of helping you briefly forget that one day you're going to die. (Admittedly Paul Morley once asked much the same thing of a bemused Michaela Strachan: sometime back in the 80s, I think).

He may suprise us all yet.

When he used to do the horoscopes on GMTV I was sure he was a gayer.

...It's not so much a coat - more of a cape, really

Russell is our version of Lenny Bruce (apologies if someone has stated this already, but l am a little tipsy, just got in and can't be bothered checking out the old posts as it's nearly bedtime). He is outrageously articulate , intelligent, and does have higher ideals. Funny, (depending on your viewpoint), and let's face it, much better than all the comedians who sprout off all the usual crap about "have you ever noticed.. shit).
I don't always find him funny myself, but at least the humour comes from the heart, the known, the experience and the truth (or maybe l am just a sad drunken idiot)

6Music and R2 shows.
Saw him live pre-Sachscontroversy. Blindingly funny.
Love his facility with language. He is an original.
I'm prepared to give him a chance.

The Sachs thing should never have gone out, which was a BBC production screw-up, I reckon.

these last 5 years or so. just hysterically brilliantly funny. good to see so many WORD forum types in his corner when a lot of folk seem to mistake the tabloid version for the real chap.

only found out recently too that the infamous '2 original complaints' were nothng to do with the Sachs messages but referred instead to Brand taking the piss out of Ross's voice. tru fact!

Good.

I cannot think of a single show over here that would have come up with, let alone shown, that.

Really made me reappraise Brand, about whom I know little and that little largely informed by the press.

One observation, and one question:
wow. Does he love words, or what?!
is it just me or is there something slightly unsettling about his presentation and energy. He seems very something I can't quite put my finger on

I've been lucky enough to be on the receiving end of this type of self-obsessed shite before, usually when people return from a lengthy spell in the karzy with a particularly runny nose.