I'll never tone down my routine, says Brand

Controversial comic Russell Brand said he would never tone down his comedy routine and was not afraid of censure.

As hundreds of fans flocked to a DVD signing session in central London last night, Brand leapt to the defence of fellow stand-ups Jimmy Carr and Frankie Boyle, who were criticised recently for offensive routines.

“I’ve heard them jokes, they’re good jokes they are,” he said. “Frankie Boyle is brilliant and Jimmy Carr is brilliant.

“They’re not trying to be offensive, no one is actually offended, the people saying they’re offended aren’t actually offended, the whole thing is constructed.”

He added: “If you hear it (the joke) delivered cold, like vomit into the nape of your neck, it might be offensive, but mucking around I don’t think is offensive.”

Last year, Brand resigned from his job at BBC Radio 2 after the scandal surrounding a series of lewd messages he left on actor Andrew Sachs’ answer phone.

But he insists “Manuel-gate”, as Brand prefers to call it, was just “rhubarb and guff” and he would do the same again.

“I would’ve done nothing differently. I apologise for the thing I did wrong to the person I did it to but the whole subsequent scandal was funny, it is funny I think. It’s just rhubarb and guff.”

And he vowed never to tone down his own material for fear of further censure: “I ain’t afraid, I don’t give a f***. I will not lose my edge.”

When Brand took to the stage at HMV’s Oxford Street store he warned the 500 fans who had queued to meet him that he was being “cautious” because he did not want another Leona Lewis situation. Lewis was assaulted at a book signing session in London last month.

In the question and answer session he was asked by a female fan which celebrity he would have liked to appear on his radio show and Brand joked Andrew Sachs.

He said: “It would’ve been nice if he had answered his phone. No-one ever mentions that side of it. Everyone mentions me, but is it that hard to pick up your phone?”

Brand said one of his next projects would be producing a series of podcasts with friend and former-Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher which he promised would be a “laugh and mucking around”.

He also paid tribute to girlfriend Katy Perry who wore a sexy West Ham strip with his nickname Rusty on the back at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Berlin this month.

He said: “I don’t think she realised the impact it would have on me because there isn’t a single person in my life that I haven’t at some point sulked about or not spoken to, but with West Ham, even when we went down, there’s not been a single time when I’ve not supported them, plus, she looked amazing.”

Brand said it was a “necessity” Perry visited Upton Park to watch West Ham play and had planned to take her last Sunday but was too tired.