Russell Brand hasn't exactly disappeared, but it's been awhile since the lanky, whip-smart
British comedian has been given the movie star treatment.
His hilarious turn in Forgetting Sarah Marshall made him seem well-positioned to own the silver
screen.
Starring roles in more movies, a shot at headlining the Arthur franchise reboot, and his own late-night
talk show followed, making it seem like Brand's big personality and great comic talents were
in high demand — and would stay that way.
But lately, he seems to have disappeared from the multiplex altogether.
Let's take a look at some of the reasons we don't hear from Russell Brand so much anymore.
Get him to the theaters
Brand earned raves as the breakout star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a movie already
notable for launching Jason Segel's big-screen writing and acting career.
In the movie, Brand played the ostensible villain, a pretentious British rock star named
Aldous Snow.
But despite the character's many flaws, Brand made Aldous entirely likable.
He was such an audience favorite in the film that the producers put together Get Him to
the Greek, a spin-off movie centered on the character.
Co-starring Jonah Hill as a record label employee who has to get Snow to an important concert
at the historic Greek Theater in Los Angeles.
The movie didn't quite click as well with audiences as Sarah Marshall did.
That may have been a hint that moviegoers might prefer Russell Brand in small doses
rather than a starring role.
That certainly seemed to be the case for his next big chance at the marquee.
In 2011, Brand filmed a remake of the Oscar-nominated 1981 comedy Arthur, and in it Brand, who has
a history of addiction, played a believable sad drunk.
But remakes have an uphill climb, and audiences failed to turn out, slowing his film career
momentum.
Hosting debacle
Among his first high-profile gigs in America was his turn hosting the 2008 MTV Video Music
Awards.
The show had a long history of using comedians as hosts, but unfortunately, it didn't go
so well for Brand.
While he was expected to make fun of sacred cows, Brand went too far for a lot of people,
mocking the Jonas Brothers' public pledges to abstain from sex until marriage and the
purity rings they wore to signify it.
Later in the show, fellow purity ring wearer Jordin Sparks lashed out at him on-stage,
and this prompted Brand to awkwardly return to the subject on-stage and declare, "I'd
like to take this opportunity to say, no one ever have sex again.
It's a mad idea.
What a way to spend an evening!"
Voiceover wins
Maybe instead of watching him look and act like a rock star, audiences would rather have
Brand disappear into a role — literally — to the point where they can't even see
him.
As proof, he's put together a pretty impressive track record for voicing animated characters.
He provided the voice of the Easter Bunny, in the 2011 hit Hop, and the ancient, bumbling
Dr. Nefario in two Despicable Me movies.
"I miss bein' evil."
And more recently, he was part of the cast of the hit animated musical Trolls.
Talk show takedown
The FX network got into the hot Russell Brand game in the summer of 2012 by signing the
comedian on for a weekly late-night talk show called Brand X.
However, the series struggled to find a niche in the crowded late-night comedy arena, and
Brand and producers changed formats a few times.
When the show debuted, it was little more than a sounding board for Brand to speak,
joke, and riff about a political or social issue.
"As you already know it's my propensity for verbosity."
Later on, he experimented with the format, introducing celebrity interviews, an audience
advice segment, and even on-stage debates with hate groups.
But after roughly two dozen episodes over the course of a year, Brand X was branded
a failure — and canceled.
Sitcom sadness
FX got rid of Brand being himself on Brand X so they could make a show where he pretended
to be himself.
In the same press release announcing Brand X's cancellation, the network revealed it
had another project for the actor in store: a single-camera documentary-style sitcom in
which he'd play a version of himself.
The concept was likened to HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Ironically, the network ultimately curbed its own enthusiasm by declining to order the
show to series.
"I slunk out."
"You slunk out?"
"Slunk.
I slunk out."
"So you didn't do s---?
And you punked out.
That's what the f--- happened, right?"
"Yeah, I punked out.
I punked out."
Romantic rows
Brand reached peak fame in October 2010 when he married Katy Perry, one of the biggest
pop stars of the day.
It seemed like a bit of a mismatch: she was a squeaky clean all-American pop star, while
he was a former heroin addict and a stand-up comedian.
They were both, at the very least, cheeky and good-looking, which was one of the things
that kept the marriage afloat for two years…until Brand broke up with her via text message.
Perry has spoken about the pain and sadness of the divorce, and initially pinned the split
on their busy schedules.
Brand later blamed his exit from the marriage on Perry's commitment to what he called a
"vapid, vacuous" celebrity lifestyle, but he still came out of the whole ordeal looking
pretty bad, hurting his public image.
The scrivener
In addition to all his other projects, Brand has somehow found the time to write and publish
a whopping six books and kick off a career making documentaries.
Always a political comedian and a curious guy, Brand's interest in politics have kind
of become his — well, Brand.
He now spends most of his professional life making documentary films about political causes.
In 2015 he made The Emperor's New Clothes, a film about the disappearing middle class,
economic disparity, and the recent recession, and before that he was hired by BBC3 to make
a documentary about the war on drugs, and whether it had failed.
This project had Brand going to other countries to research their progressive drug policies,
which was a subject close to Brand's heart.
A recovering addict, he also made the 2012 BBC doc From Addiction to Recovery.
Hitting the web
In between making full-length, in-depth documentary films primarily about individual issues facing
the poor and those living on the fringes of society, Brand also has a YouTube series called
The Trews: True News with Russell Brand.
He's already made more than 380 episodes of the series in which he delivers the news while
analyzing and making fun of it, then invites on experts and pundits for further discussion.
"Do you think I'm trivial?"
"Yes!"
"A minute ago you're having a go at me because I wanted a revolution, now I'm trivial?"
"No, I'm asking...."
Brand was never a monster movie star to begin with, despite having some key memorable roles,
but he's proven himself to be more of an ensemble funnyman for films while approaching other
subjects that are more personally interesting for him.
So while his days as a leading man in the film industry seem to have ended as quickly
as they began, he's still got our ticket money if and when he does sign up for that next
comedy sidekick flick.
In the end, you can still get a full dose of Russell Brand these days — you just need
to know where to look.
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