Russell Brand’s Deep Dive Into Comedy Sparks Wild Reactions

And one of Russell Brand’s classic tweets just came out-by which one could describe such-it would be written upside-down inside some philosophy book at 3 o’clock in the morning by a tiny mushroom trip. Further, the comedian started ranting about how comedy is a way to those lands in which we laugh about the absurdities of life, but remember we all are just ‘mortal beings on a rollercoaster.’ Is it not a classic Brand? But the replies? Man, replies were a whole telenovela full chaos with love, hate, and a little unhinged vibe.

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First, the support arrived. Someone stood up and said, ‘Agents often make the best philosophers,’ which, yeah, sure, if we meant philosophers in the sense of people who through laughs make one question the reality,’ and so forth. Commenter number three just had to say, ‘Russell, you’re my favorite spiritual teacher,’ which is quite a choice considering this is the same dude who hosted a game show whereby people got pastry shells in the face. But hey, some enlightenment comes weirdly packaged.

And then, of course, the haters came out. Midway through the thread, the next one calls him ‘a rapist’, which yikes. This is not about trolling; it’s the hardest kind of insult you can throw. Someone else said: ‘Do you talk in your sleep? Is this what crack does to somebody?’ It’s brutal and kind of funny. And who could forget the classic ‘Shove your silly hat up your arse’; really, nothing says ‘I disagree with your whole worldview’ like going after a man’s hat.

Standing there in baffled observance were all the people. One said: ‘Today, what planet are we on?’ and honesty? That’s actually a valid question. Another said: “Make it all make sense, Russell,” which, if anything, just might be the most real reply. Because really, that’s how Brand’s tweets usually feel: like someone shreds a self-help book, then attempts to patch it back together blindfolded.

Then the conspiracy theorists came. One claimed he is “mutating into an asskisser of the power-brokers,” which frankly… too much unpacking. Another one with a heavy dose of sarcasm asks whether he will ever again be “allowed to be a comic,” given the not-so-very-current controversies surrounding him. Branded as either sage truth-teller or washed-up provocateur, it is clear Brand has been made to divide the masses in their eyes.

And indeed, whatever the view, good or bad, Brand did exactly what he said comedy should do: make people talk about it, argue about it, and more importantly react to it. Some laughed, some fumed, and a few just found themselves glued to their screens, stunned into confusion as to what the whole thing was even supposed to mean. That’s almost its own point in a sort of twisted way. Comedy goes beyond punchlines. It is about testing the borders of what we think we know about something, even if that something makes us uncomfortable.

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Did Brand, then, win in his own definition? But to another set of eyes, ask 50 and you may get 50 different answers. But in contemporary Internet culture, now stepping pretty firmly between an apathy and a drag of vapid hot-takes, it is quite refreshing to rock the boat. Almost.