Russell Brand Scandalous - Live at the O2   Starring: Russell Brand 4DVD RRP: £19.99 C4DVD10313 Certificate: 18 Available 09 November 2009

Russell Brand's first live DVD in two years features fresh stand up material inspired by the "Sachsgate" scandal, including Brand’s first hand experience of the media storm that followed his actions with Jonathan Ross on the BBC Radio 2 show. From death threats to being likened to Harold Shipman, Brand rolls out 60 minutes of sharp material and slams some of the more extreme public reactions to ‘that’ phone call - “send them to Afghanistan!” The lively set, recorded during his sell out UK wide ‘Scandalous’ tour, rolls out two hours of material, confronting ideas that others would never dream of voicing...

Russell Brand: Scandalous - Live at the O2 is a recording of the London show of his Scandalous tour - which saw Brand performing in the UK, America and Australia between January and April 2009.

For Brand fans this is obviously worth picking up, but for those who only know of him because of the Andrew Sachs phone scandal, it's also worth watching for a couple of reasons. Firstly it allows Brand to put his side across. After the politicians and gutter press had finished making a huge thing over something so trivial and silly it's good to finally hear Brand's take on just how ridiculous the whole affair was. Secondly, it will give those not familiar with Brand's comedy, the chance to hear him perform his standup routine.

Over the course of this DVD Brand dissects his rise to Hollywood fame, lives up to his notorious reputation by flirting with the audience and offers amusing animated sex tips. He pokes fun at his trademark style, defending his leggings as “Testostertrousers” and offers hysterical anecdotes about Tim Westwood and "Mummy" Helen Mirren.

His stateside experience of hosting the MTV Video Music Awards in 2008 is also a source of material for Brand as he infamously offended American viewers by calling U.S. President George W. Bush a “retarded cowboy fella”. Quickly realising he had to abandon his original script and present off the top of his head, Brand saves many of the original jokes for the DVD.

Sure, there's something a little odd (and vaguely sad) about a 34 year old man wearing tight clothing, running around the stage and telling the audience he'll sleep with anyone but girls under 18 and the dead, but to be honest he looks much younger than he actually is and it's all part of the charm that is his stage persona.

Extras include Frank & Explicit (43 min, 26 sec featurette which sees Frank Skinner interviewing Brand in August 2009. There are many interesting aspects touched on here, including how Brand came up with his stage appearance and why he things he's finished with that look now); Private Glancer (12 min, 45 sec look behind the scenes on the tour. In reality this is just snippets of home video while on the move as well as the odd clip of him on stage at various venues); and Tour Brochure (stick the DVD in your PC to access this extra).

Brand fans will love the chance to own this on DVD and, as I mentioned before, any fans of standup comedy should consider picking this up.

8

Pete Boomer