RUSSELL BRAND: MESSIAH COMPLEX | LIVE REVIEW
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, Mon 3 Mar
After a successful run of live shows in America last year, Russell Brand brought his new show Messiah Complex to a Cardiff audience that, by the end, didn’t know whether to carry on laughing or whether to cry at the realisation that an encore was not forthcoming.
Brand walked among the crowd accompanied by his dog, had a ride in a wheelchair, and befriended a local man called Neil. This was before the start of his act.
The show itself is based around four of Brand’s historical heroes: Malcolm X, Gandhi, Che Guevara and Jesus Christ, with the comedian aiming to convince himself and his adoring public that he himself is a bit like each of them. Littered with irony and self-depreciation, Brand finds the perfect combination between knowing how popular he is (‘look how sexy I look’) and making fun of himself , and as is if to make sure that this isn’t simply an exercise in sycophancy, even Ghandi isn’t absolved from criticism.
More rock star than stand-up, Brand’s stage presence ensures an electricity exists in the room at all times, and his eloquent wit and ability to talk about literally anything (his act perhaps isn’t an ideal first date for an awkward and nervous couple!) drew rapturous applause from the sold-out crowd.
What Brand appears to have achieved is this: he is entertaining and interesting enough to listen to, even if he wasn’t funny. Luckily for us, he is.
words ROB HARRIES photo RAY BURMINGSTON