SotA Anthology 2015-16
Russell Brand is a well-known British
comedian famous for his stand-up comedy.
Brand was born in Essex, greater London
in 1975, where he acquired the regional
accent, Estuary English. His accent is a very
prominent feature in his sketches, and adds
character to the performance. His accent
holds many similar features of ‘Cockney’
speech, which is now used in many parts
of London and greater London. Brand is
renowned for putting on a very entertaining
performance, which sometimes can be
perceived as eccentric and somewhat
outlandish. His use of language and his
overemphasised gestures helps him to
achieve this type of performance.
Brand launched his first UK stand-up tour
in 2006, which led to him becoming a
popular comedian all around Britain. Brand
is renowned for the drug and sex addition
that he suffered during his teens and early
twenties, which featured in many of his
earlier sketches, creating comical material.
His popular stand- up act has led him to
expand into other areas of the industry:
television presenting, radio and film. Brand
rose to fame in the TV industry with his
BAFTA nominated series ‘Russell Brands’
Ponderland’. The series was released in
Britain in 2007 on Channel 4 and consisted
mainly of his typical stand-up sketches
and humorous videos, which earned him
national success.
Brand has not only been successful in
the UK, but has now made his name in
many other parts of the world; he has
become a well-known actor in Hollywood,
from his roles in ‘Get Him to the Greek’
and ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’. Being
recognised outside of the UK has led Brand
to take his tours worldwide. In more recent
years, he has created a YouTube channel
called ‘Trews News’ whereby he discusses
everyday news articles and gives his outlook
on the events and political stories. My case
study analyses a sketch from Brand’s 2009
live tour in New York (see previous page
for transcript). This specific clip of Russell
Brand in New York shows his earlier standup material, which is what helped his career
take off. The location of New York also
enabled him to break America and gain
even more success as a British comedian.
Footing
In this sketch we see him producing a
monologue style speech presented to an
audience. Erving Goffman describes this
situation as a ‘podium event’ whereby there
is only one speaker presenting a ‘platform
monologue’ to, usually, a large audience.
(Goffman, 1981, p.137). Goffman’s
participation framework for podium events
consists of a physical audience who
form ratified participants and bystanders.
However, this tour was afterwards available
on DVD, which means that the audience
was then expanded to include people in
their own homes. The release of this DVD
has therefore meant that there is also a
remote audience, who could be classed
as bystanders as they weren’t addressed
on that day, yet are still able to hear it at a
later date. The production format involves
an author, a principal and an animator.
Brand seems to take on all three of these
roles due to the fact that he has written the
script; he is a principal as a result of being
responsible for the meaning and viewpoints
of what is spoken; and is the animator by