A New Brand of Household Names

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s hard to believe funny men like Jim Carey (who’s now sporting a mohawk by the way) or even odd numbers like Steve Carrell who is this month saying his final goodbye to NBC’s “The Office” can be topped by reputation. These days, one name has graced the big screen, small screen and in some cases, even our radios..Russell Brand.

This week alone, he has starred in two box office smashes. Brand voices an animated bunny in Universal’s “Hop” as well as playing the star in the remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore film, “Arthur”. However, instead of Liza Minnelli this time, we get stars like Jennifer Garner and Helen Mirren sharing the stage with Brand.

You may remember Brand from other films, regardless of your taste of films. Children remember him as Dr.Nefario in “Despicable Me” and Adam Sandler’s crazy friend Mickey in “Bedtime Stories”. While adults will remember his relationship with Kristen Bell in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” as he played the insatiable Aldous Snow, a character which was deemed good enough for his own movie. Brand teams up with chubby funny man Jonah Hill in the film which brought Brand’s vocals to the surface, “Get Him to the Greek.” If you haven’t seen any of these yet, I highly recommend them.

Recently, he graced the small screen in a various number of outlets. First and foremost, he married teen pop queen, Katy Perry after meeting her at MTV’s Video Music Awards in September of 2009. By this time he was cleaning up from his life of drug abuse and blatantly openness of being a sex addict. Katy managed to tame the beast. However, if you tuned in more recently say to Nickelodeon’s Kid Choice Awards this past month, you may have seen him covered in their infamous green slime. Makes me miss “You Can’t Do That On Television.”

Last week alone, he starred as guest “charisma” coach on American Idol. He even penned now infamous in the idol universe, one liner’s such as telling Casey Abrams “I’m very happy you are here. I think you’re a gorgeous hairball of wonder.” He also told them that being a great rock front man comes from well…that special area, just below your gut. He left the idol hopefuls by saying “I think fear comes from them judges judging us, who the hell bloody hell do they think they are?”

So while you’re looking for a movie to see, or even one to download from Netflix, try out one of Brand’s many amusing flicks to idle by your time. You surely won’t be disappointed and then you too will realize you’re quoting his lines and maybe even acting a little more “rockstarish”. Stay Tuned…