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September 8, 2008

The VMAs: Is Russell Brand Deported Yet?

If you missed the annual bikewreck that is the VMAs, I'm jealous. Nothing happened, and the only reason to watch the show was to complain about it loudly with other people who were also watching and complaining loudly. The two biggest questions going in were:

1. Will Britney do anything notable or interesting?
2. Will Russell Brand be surprisingly good or expectedly terrible?

The answers were:

1. "Not unless you count still smacking bubble gum and sticking her tongue out after all these years 'interesting'" and

2. Absolutely terrible -- even if you had very low expectations! Look, I understand that Russell Brand is considered very funny in England, and I understand that he has funny admirers like Judd Apatow, and I even understand that some of his old comedy -- the stuff he's known for in the UK -- is funny. But whatever his talent is, he left it behind when he came to America. His Jonas brothers promise ring thing would have been medium-funny if he'd left it to one joke (it certainly wasn't shocking), and he just doesn't have the kind of charm to pull off the kind of insult-MC comedy he was trying to do. He's just not likable -- and no man who spends that amount of time on his hair and makeup can be called self-deprecating. Next year, MTV should bring back the best non-accidental entertainment of last year's VMA's: Sarah Silverman. Not that I'll be watching. I'm really done with this show. For real this time.

Posted by Lindsay at 10:20 AM in , ,
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14 Comments

I thought Russell was more entertaining than most of the hosts MTV has scuttled up there in the past 25 years.

Posted by: sza at 09/08/08 10:57 AM | Reply
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The one moment that I found Brand to be truly funny is when he would lurk behind the presenter and interrupt him/her/them (particularly taking the wind out of the cast of Twilight's collective sails). Other than that, he was pretty much a let-down, sad to say.

Posted by: Chadams at 09/08/08 11:59 AM | Reply
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Becca

i was really disappointed with the hosting - this coming from a fan of russell brand.

i think the whole kit and caboodle was pretty flat.

Posted by: Becca profile link at 09/08/08 1:26 PM | Reply
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Captain Needa

I thought it was horrible and I didn't even watch it

Posted by: Captain Needa profile link at 09/08/08 1:49 PM | Reply
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I think it's funny that Videogum makes so much effort in putting down Russel Brand. And how whenever Britain is mentioned (Russel is popular in Britain, not just England) the writers here do it with a not so subtle amount of patronizing and a hardly veiled amount of derision.

It seems odd that this is the sister-site to Sterogum, a website that couldn't be accused of being America centric at all, in fact its a site that should be commended for eclecticism in it's chosen field (music).

If so much of what is obviously very foreign to you is lost in translation, then maybe you need to bring someone in on the team who isn't so blinkered by stars and stripes.

You're on the World Wide Web and not the States Wide Web after all.

Posted by: Stephen at 09/08/08 1:52 PM | Reply
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what

L.O.L.

You should host the VMAs next year.

Posted by: what profile link in reply to Stephen's comment at 09/08/08 4:15 PM | Reply
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Yeah Stephen, this site would never spend too much time trying to take down an AMERICAN unfunnyman, like, for argument's sake, Dane Cook.

Posted by: trevormail profile link at 09/08/08 1:57 PM | Reply
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he's canadian you fuck

Posted by: trevormail profile link in reply to trevormail's comment at 09/08/08 3:30 PM | Reply
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icanread

I don't have cable, so I didn't watch the VMAs (yeah, that's why), but you know how I feel about Russell Brand. I don't think claiming he's my boyfriend is a bad thing at all.

Posted by: icanread profile link at 09/08/08 2:10 PM | Reply
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Stephen's comment is hilarious. If this is what he has to say about the VMAs, imagine what he has up his sleeve for our presidential election or spaghetti cat.

Posted by: bingo gas station profile link at 09/08/08 3:26 PM | Reply
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During Exiled, the vma bugs in the corner of the screen were reaching up high enough to cover the faces of whoever was on screen. It would have been funny except that Exiled is actually a pretty decent show.

Posted by: snowak at 09/08/08 3:49 PM | Reply
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Captain Needa

I think Stephen is actually Russel Brand's hair

Posted by: Captain Needa profile link at 09/08/08 4:23 PM | Reply
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i dunno.... i watched russel brand on the late late show with craig ferguson and thought he was hilarious... seriously i dont think ive ever laughed that hard at late night tv

Posted by: machu at 09/10/08 1:56 AM | Reply
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what a nice pic!))) what a nice pig))))

Posted by: Dylan - Window at 11/19/08 4:25 AM | Reply
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