Russell Brand came to Vienna with his Messiah Complex program. He was supported by Mr Gee.

Mr Gee is basically a spoken word artist, basically a stand-up poet. He did a bit of traditional stand-up and then recited two of his poems (you can listen to Beauty and the Beast here) that I quite liked, though I’m really crap with taking in  poetry audibly.

Watching Russell Brand himself is a rather schizophrenic experience. His program goes from political analysis to jokes about fucking your cat. But mostly, Brand does a show about Russell Brand. That this never becomes pure wankage is due to the self-awareness and self-irony he displays. When he becomes a little self-conscious those are the best moments of the show.

Not that I don’t enjoy his more flamboyant moments as well. Or his politics that are mostly pretty smart. The way he talks about the messiahs he introduces shows that he knows a lot about them and that he doesn’t want to accept them uncritically (though admittedly the criticism of Che Guevara was a little thin). And the way he connects them to himself is just goddamn funny.

His show is rather short and was the most expensive of the English stand-up shows in Vienna so far – meaning I would have expected a little more from it. And some parts of his show were rather problematic, too, though it never got so bad I couldn’t enjoy it anymore.

I can’t help but look at the personality cult that comes with him with a certain distrust. He obviously enjoys it but everything that comes with that much hype feels weird to me. That doesn’t change his stand-up and it doesn’t change the fact that he’s hilarious but it does mean that I remain at a distance.

Summarizing: an interesting, entertaining evening.