Story – Robert McKee's Creative Storytelling Magazine Issue 005 – Drew Carey | Page 19

MCKEE
INTERVIEWS
RUSSELL BRAND
them as a starting point. I researched those four areas. Anything that I thought was funny, I
made a note of. Then I did shows
in front of small audiences where
I talked about the things that I
thought were humorous. Anything that sort of got laughed at,
I would put to one side. Anything
that didn’t, unless I was really certain there was something in it, I
would let go.
RM: So you had an outline. Was
the outline just in your head,
or did you sit…

Malcolm X are both religious,
so there’s sort of a connection
there, but I won’t impose. I don’t
say, “No, that’s the only way.” I’m
open to the idea of changing.
The theme is something I won’t
fuck with, if I know what the theme
is. We all have the capacity to be
great. We all have the capacity
for heroism, and we have more
of a chance of achieving that if
we focus on heroism. That won’t
change, and that’s sort of a guiding principle.

RB: I work mostly with bullet
points, but there’s not a structure at this point. I don’t have
a climax or anything like that. I
just know, “Here is a list of things
I think are funny, and here are
ways that they may relate to one
another.” But I don’t presume to
know. I let the thing be what it’s
going to be.

RM: Right. I’m still trying to
get it down to what is in your
pocket when you walk out on
stage. You’ve got these four
characters, these four personages. You’ve done research,
meaning you’ve read up on
them or looked at Gandhi in
the magnitudes and him giving speeches or whatever you
did. Do you take notes, physical notes, out of that research?

RM: Okay, we’re getting mystical now, let the thing be what
it wants to be.

RB: Yes.

RB: Well, if I sort of say, “I’m going
to go talk about Gandhi because
Gandhi was historical or first Jesus, and then Gandhi.” I don’t say
it is going to work chronologically. I can see there’s a similarity
between Hitler, who was in the
show also, and Che Guevara because they ’re both militant figures. I can see that Gandhi and

RM: Does it ever get formalized on paper, or does it just
go into your head and stay
there?
RB: I record the show ́