Spontaneous day out

Cyclops and I had a lovely and completely spontaneous day out.

First we went to the flicks to see Filth. I absolutely loved this, and James MacAvoy was brilliant.

We then grabbed some food at All Bar One before seeing Russell Brand at the Usher Hall.

Russell Brand is well known for being over the top. An ex drug addict and sex addict. I’ve read his autobiography My Booky Wook. Silly, grandiose, unreliable, a bit much.

These days Russell is reformed, and his public image appears to be all about the critical analysis of social issues. He conducts himself with a bit of class and his writing is beautiful and lyrical and eloquent. His articles and some of his media clips get shared on Facebook a lot, and usually to a positive reception.

I’ve wondered if he might be a genius. But I wouldn’t say I’m a fan as such in that I haven’t particularly followed his comedy, but I do find him so so interesting as a man.

From what I’ve seen of Russell on TV – particularly his early work – he is a real disruptive game changer in the field of comedy.

And that’s why I wanted to go and see him perform live. As a comedy fan I thought it would be a shame if I never saw that. So we bought tickets on the day to see him at the Usher Hall. God our seats were crap. Anyhoo.

Russell was, as expected, creative and articulate and charismatic. His set was extremely coherent and well crafted, and wonderfully delivered. He’s a fast talker and used big words and big concepts, and is not shy to quote the great philosophers. No dumbing down here. I like that. He was also self-deprecating (albeit in an attention seeking manner) which I found to be quite charming.

Russell’s show had a point, and the point was delivered through a variety of methods from the satirical to the sly to the silly to the downright crude. Things started off pretty intelligent and built up to an extremely vulgar finale, but none of it was superfluous it all contributed to the narrative.

And it was funny.

Liked it.