Brand X with Russell Brand

It's funny how such a simple show can be so entertaining. Russell just gives a standup performance in what looks like a small college lecture room with Power Point presentations and kind of a bland professor sidekick who seems to do nothing other than be someone Russell can make fun of. You can see the subtle catering to the college crowd as almost everyone there appears to be young and it's much like seeing a college lecture. He really knows how to work the audience, taking audience participation a step further, rather than maybe send an intern into the audience to put a mic up to them, he goes in and sits on their lap, male or female. One of the best shows on FX and barely costs anything to make, it's a good part of the guy show lineup on the network.

I've watched a few episodes, and I was well entertained and had some good laughs, but I feel the show hasn't yet reached its full potential. Russel Brand really wants to bring up important issues, and make deep, meaningful points - but when he gets too close to doing that, it seems he gets scared and flimsy, and pulls a bunch of sex jokes out of the pocket of his skinny jeans.

I don't have a problem with balancing serious with funny, I love that concept, but Russel the producer should tell Russel the performer to chill once in a while, and actually explore a subject deeper, even if it's not instant laughs every two seconds.

Russel Brand has a very warm personality, and he connects with his crowd in the studio so well, he takes us to the brink of awkward, but brings us home safe:) I want to see this show evolve!

Being an old guy (73) I suspect that this is not my demographic, but I love vulgarity and this had a great deal of that.

I also like Legit and Archer, which are part of FX's vulgarity segment.

I have said what I have to say in a cogent and concise manner, yet IMDb' rules require me to pad this.

If what you have to say can be said in twenty works, why be forced to use two hundred.

Let me say again and again, being forced to pad this review is silly and counterproductive. Isn't it enough to know that and old guy (I will avoid using my favorite term for that since it it vulgar (hint: its initials are O.F.)

Mr. Brand gets dinged sometimes for inconsistency, but who among us is 100 24/7/365? Whether one series of his is deemed stronger than another is less important to this reviewer than the generally high observational value presented at any time.

So why is it that humorists with English bloodlines (a nod to Konstantin Kisin here too) are often at the front of the satirist line? Deeper literary genes perhaps. Close geographical vulnerability to aggressive forces in two World Wars maybe too.

Whatever the nature of the decidedly English truth-to-power acumen, it typically rings deeply to the observer paying attention. And Mr. Brand carries that tradition with joyful aplomb.

I'm a fan of Russell's past work. I think ponderland is one of the funniest TV shows of all time, he was unhinged in BBBM and his radio shows were comedy genius.

I was expecting he'd deliver something at the same level with Brand X, however the show fails miserably. It's just not funny, too much of the corporate tag on it. It feels to me like Brand hasn't exerted his own zany style on the show and instead has conformed to what the network wants. I'm very disappointed.

If Russell ever reads this here's a message: you've lost your mojo man, don't tow the line with the corporate moneymakers, come back to the UK and try and recapture that zest you had from 10 years ago.