My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-Up

The first thing that struck me about this book is that Russell Brand is a very intelligent man, and an eloquent writer who can turn a nice phrase. I had to go to a dictionary several times, which is rare for me. There are several laugh-out-loud moments, as well as some cringe-worthy ones. I found myself vacillating between wanting to slap him silly and wanting to give him a big hug. The amazing thing is, no matter how horribly or despicably he behaved, you don't end up angry with him, mainly because it's apparent that he's a genuinely good person now, but also because he's discovered the secret of "to my shame". Also, his love for his mum radiates from the pages. Gotta love a guy who reveres his mom. A couple cons: The end (last fifth or so) felt a little rushed to me. Maybe it was a deadline issue, maybe not. Also, even with the invaluable footnotes, some of the Brit phrases, references, and slang went right over my head. My problem, though, not Russell's!

Russell Brand's stage show is singularly his own, and so it would follow that his prose would be similarly unconventional. I just didn't expect that it would be as good as it is. How many working comedians have the time to write a 400+ page memoir at the outset of their careers? For that matter, who has this much to talk about happening in their lives BEFORE stardom? Russell Brand, that's who. The writing is pretty dense with English colloquialisms, so I'm not sure how those will translate for American readers. Regardless, it's hilarious as hell, proving that Brand is a worthy successor to the outlaw comic crown previously worn by Richard Pryor and Bill Hicks. The book's US subtitle is "Sex, Drugs, and Stand-Up". There's a fair amount of sex, but not as many drugs as you might expect (and very little stand-up, for that matter). The book starts and ends with Brand's stay in a sex addiction clinic, but judging from his recent troubles with the BBC, he hasn't quite banished all of his sexual demons. Can't wait for the sequel!

Russell Brand's stage show is singularly his own, and so it would follow that his prose would be similarly unconventional. I just didn't expect that it would be as good as it is. How many working comedians have the time to write a 400+ page memoir at the outset of their careers? For that matter, who has this much to talk about happening in their lives BEFORE stardom? Russell Brand, that's who. The writing is pretty dense with English colloquialisms, so I'm not sure how those will translate for American readers. Footnotes, maybe? Regardless, it's hilarious as hell, proving that Brand is a worthy successor to the outlaw comic crown previously worn by Richard Pryor and Bill Hicks. The book is finally being released in the US, subtitled as a tale of "Sex, Drugs, and Stand-Up." There's a fair amount of sex, but not as many drugs as you might expect (and very little stand-up, for that matter). The book starts and ends with Brand's stay in a sex addiction clinic, but judging from his recent troubles with the BBC, he hasn't quite banished all of his sexual demons. Can't wait for the sequel!

..is probably how Russell himself would describe this book, and he would be right. Its hard to read this book without having seen him, as they way the book is written, you have to imagine him talking it, much like Huckleberry Finn for example. You know, its written in the style in which the narrator talks? Well, without the references to slavery and the Mississippi. Anyway. You will have seen him in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" in which he plays himself, no great stretch but as he is hilarious, so is the character. Russell is a mentalist of the highest order, those 18th and 19th century mentalists like them geysers in the Hellfire Club, or them Frenchies, all smoking opium and getting off their tits on absinthe were mere auteurs compared to our Russ. He dresses like a regency dandy and pulls no punches, he says what he thinks, and his mind is a quick as a steel trap. He would make a brilliant barrister, I am sure. And a hilarious one. Autobiographies tend generally to be of the "I am great" and "I remember when I rescued the puppies from the burning building" type. Russell Brand would probably rescue the puppies, he would also probably have set fire to the building in the first place, then attempted to have sex with the puppies after rescuing them. Are you getting the picture? Nothing is sacred to him, he just sets down every little indiscression and some fairly large ones in amusing yet frank detail. He has recently been in the news (and sacked from his job on BBC Radio 2) for ringing actor Andrew Sachs (Manuel in Fawlty Towers) on air and boasting of his sexual adventures with his granddaughter. He was also sacked form his MTV job for going to work dressed as Osama Bin-Laden on September 12th 2001. That's the sort of character he is. And it is all there in amusing Technicolor for you to enjoy. Get it, but try and see him on DVD or the TV if you don't know his work yet, or else you wouldn't believe the book.

When I first saw Brand--somewhere on British TV; Big Brother, I think?--I was kind of creeped out. But then I saw him as a contestant (with Noel Fielding, who is just plain charming and adorable!) on a quiz show, and my heart started to melt. Then I saw him in a more serious interview with Dawn French, and I was a smitten kitten. Next, I ordered his autobiography, My Booky Wook, and I honestly couldn't put it down. He makes me laugh; he makes me cry...he grosses me out. He admits to doing some truly disgusting things, and still, I love him so!