You know RUSSELL BRAND. He was in FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL and hosted the 2008 MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS because he’s a big deal in Great Britain. Or maybe we should say was.
It seems like the entire UK is outraged with Brand for some on-air prank calls he and JONATHAN ROSS placed to 78-year-old comedy legend ANDREW SACHS on THE RUSSELL BRAND SHOW; in them they claimed to have had sex with his 23-year-old granddaughter, GEORGINA BAILLIE.
You can read the transcript of the calls here, but our favorite part is the thought of Brand chanting: “I said some things I didn’t of oughta, like I had sex with your granddaughter…”
At the time of the radio broadcast on BBC 2 only two complaints had been received, but by the time Brand resigned yesterday afternoon that number had jumped to 27,000.
In today’s Telegraph, comeidan STEVE COOGAN (aka Sexy Jesus) said the calls were “inappropriate, wrong and in bad taste.” VICTORIA WOOD, a popular British stand-up, blamed the BBC programmers for allowing the calls on the air in the first place: “The person who decided that was acceptable to broadcast is the person who is responsible. I’m not shocked at what they did. I’m shocked it went into the system and someone decided to broadcast it.”
So has Brand become as unpopular with UK comedians as MICHAEL RICHARDS is with American stand-ups? Or is he, as WFMU radio host TOM SCHARPLING has called him, the British PAULY SHORE?
Which is worse?
– Mo Diggs