If you have the OnDemand service via Comcast cable, allow me to recommend the 2007 Brit Awards on BBC America. The Brit Awards are the English Grammy's basically. So hardly groundbreaking. But there are two reasons to watch: 1) Several good performances, including Amy Winehouse, The Killers and Oasis (who do three songs). 2) The Host: Russell Brand, who's freaking hilarious. I'd love to hear from folks living in the UK on this, because I have no doubt the guy has massive detractors. I'd never heard of him before but I was instantly hooked. His riff on Robbie Williams and Take That (Williams' former boy band) is worth the price of admission alone. I thought he was so funny I started searching him on YouTube and found some pretty good stand-up. Not genius, but smart and topical and good chunks of funny. I also found some other clips of his other shows and the guy is simply an elocutionary trapeze artist. I mean, there's the gift of gab -- and then there's the ability to spew forth several ideas at once at a rapid fire, in various accents, complete with ridiculous gestures and octave shifts without stumbling. It's not easy, I'm sure. Here's a teaser. It's a videotaped speech of Brand accepting an award from some journalists' group--during which he skewers some journalists by name (who I'm sure have had their knives out for him for some time). Funny. The only thing missing is his full-on goth/rock/rooster-haired regalia. [youtube]q06daZ1jg1o[/youtube]
I didn't watch him much, but what i caught I was... interested. He's quick, that's for sure, someone grabbed his penis and he had a good reaction! Oh, and I also wondered "who the hell?"
For the past few years he could be found daily on the tabloids celebrity pages where he was always slated, mainly for the fact he managed to sleep with a different celebrity each week. He has since done a few mainstream shows and has shown he is worth his salt and as such they are mostly behind him now. One of the funniest things he is known for is that he previously clamed to have slept with Rod Stewarts daughter, at a later date Brand was hosting an awards cremony and Rod Stewart won an award, his aceptance speech was actually just him demanding an apology from the host. If you are looking for an under rated comedian then look no further than Al Murray. He always plays the part of an uneducated yet patriotic pub landlord airing his (often missinformed) views on the world. Much of his stuff is spur of the moment and his act is based around interaction with the audience Al Murray V's Americans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul7EDYXmDNE