Animated, enthused, and possessing a level of zest and zeal for life that never seems to subside, Russell Brand is known for embracing even the banalest subjects in pursuit of what he deems “enlightenment.” And yet, totally, he’s in a slightly more serious mood. He wants to discuss truth, the mainstream media, the faith we have in the next generation. And fishing.
Brand’s search for exactness has taken him from the drug dens of inner London to the floodlit expanses of LA, gathering and nurturing a fanbase addicted to the writer and comedian’s slightly skewed, often controversial, and always candid take on the world.
The 45-year-old has put his name to several projects in recent years, with the web channel The Trews looking to be true to its word in unveiling an understanding of what’s going on in the world away from the bias of MSM or social media.
And more recently, his Under the Skin podcasts have delved deep into the human psyche in unraveling the mental landscapes that shape our thoughts and actions.
In one sense, you feel Brand is gradually getting to a place of comprehension. Over four decades of painstaking research will soon harbor genuine lightbulb moments that the orator can share with an intent and admiring audience. And yet, on the other hand, as he spins, twists, and diverts between ideas, theories and philosophies, Brand seems as far away from a conclusion as he ever was, and he quite likes that.
STRIPLV: Tell me about this pursuit of the truth and, ultimately, how you believe our understanding of it is shaped? BRAND: I think the truth is further away than ever before. I feel we have categorically failed to serve and to service ourselves with the truth, and as a result, we are lost either in a sea of untruth or a cloud of uncertainty. Neither is good, and neither ultimately will help us get to the place we want to be. STRIPLV: Which is where? BRAND: Which is peace. That’s all the human condition craves, peace. Peace means happiness, but it means security, fulfillment, nourishment, pleasure. If you have all those things, you don’t strive for anything else in life. The reality, of course, is that very few of us have peace in any recognizable sense. We are all striving for the next thing. It’s only when we get to our mid-nineties, and we’re laying there on our death beds, and we go, “Ah yeah, actually, I needn’t have kept pursuing all that pointless shit for all those years, because it didn’t make me happy after all.” “The time I was happiest was that afternoon when I went fishing in 1997. Fishing, I mean, of all things that it could have been, and it was a fishing rod that connected me to utopia. A fucking fishing rod.” I think that’s how it goes. It makes humans appear largely stupid for our drive towards this delicious elixir, but we can’t help ourselves. None of us can. STRIPLV: So how do we go about protecting ourselves from things that aren’t true? It seems so difficult now. BRAND: You’re right. It’s very difficult to access the truth. Most of the things you have been told are by people who have an agenda. Big businesses and the media are in alliance with one another, governments too, and it’s very hard to get the truth. The thing is, if we’re smart, we can begin to detect what clearly isn’t right. The task at hand is to not just accept it and move on. It’s to do something about it. It’s like when you’re watching TV with your mate, and you go, “That’s fucking bullshit what he just said,” that person is just saying that because he’s got money invested in it or he’s sticking up for his mate. You see, while social media serves to inflame, exaggerate and perpetuate these untruths, it’s also the best weapon we have to call out the bullshit, so we need to utilize it and use it for that. We need to call out a lot of stuff for how crap it is. When I did my TV show in America, I went into the break by saying, “Don’t buy any of these products. If you needed them, they wouldn’t have to do these little films convincing you to buy him them.” The producers asked me to stop it pretty quickly. (Laughs) STRIPLV: The same goes for the gossip columns, I guess, which is where a lot of your column inches come from. BRAND: Well, they are the worst of the lot, but you end up not caring. It’s all just gossip and hullabaloo, like a giddy, wild soup of nonsense, half-true lies, madness. If people want to reach that, fine; if they want to believe it, equally fine. But, you won’t find yourself in any useful place at the end of it. It’s just a big veil of madness on top of reality. STRIPLV: So, is MSM the enemy nowadays? BRAND: Well, mainstream media is only giving us what we demand or what we think we should demand. If there wasn’t an appetite for all that salacious bollocks, then the Mail Online wouldn’t publish it. So yes, the MSM are our enemies, but in a way, our enemies are within our own selfishness and our own greed, and our own ego. The organizations and individuals that most exemplify that selfishness are there based on our own invitation. They continually blast you with fear and desire. You’re not good enough. You don’t look right. You should be better looking; if you buy this car, if you buy these trainers, if you turn against this political party. Outside of that, you have enemies in the form of major corporations that are destroying the planet simply for profit. The reason they do it is the same reason I do selfish things, or you do selfish things. On those occasions when we are sometimes awakened to the true reality, that is when we have to come together to bring about a different type of consciousness so that the people that are currently in power are forced to change the way they behave. So that’s bringing an end to economic inequality. We have to end all forms of racial bias and segregation, and we have to, most importantly of all, arrest the ongoing annihilation of the planet and recognize that we are just temporary custodians here for a fleeting moment before handing the world on to our children. STRIPLV: It’s been said before, but given your skill to combine serious discussion with humor, perhaps you are best placed to guide us through into a more stable, sensible way of existing? BRAND: Not sure about that, but the method of delivery is all-important, definitely. I find it boring sometimes when I’m having long political conversations - we must remember that we have playful, joyous creatures. It’s okay to be stupid, okay to have fun, but we can start to use our energy to create better worlds. STRIPLV: How do you look at the evils of addiction? BRAND: I’ve learned there is nothing that’s unsolvable. I don’t believe it’s valid anymore to be a victim of addiction. My problems were initially chronic heroin addiction and crack addiction. When you have those, it’s the equivalent of swinging a car door open into a cyclist. Someone’s going to get hurt. I had to admit there was a problem. I then had to believe it was possible to change. The first step towards change was not taking heroin every day. The second step was either to stop doing it, either by having the strength to lead that out myself (which I didn’t have) or by accepting help from someone else. It’s so deeply saddening when you meet people who don’t think change is possible because it really is. STRIPLV: You seem more positive and optimistic than during the time when we’ve chatted in the past. BRAND: I believe human beings can do something different if they want to, and that’s really all you need, that faith. I certainly don’t have a cynical worldview. For all those who still hate him, Donald Trump is only ever a transitional moment. Brexit is only ever a transitional moment. What encourages me quite a lot is that the next generation seems a lot less wrapped up in the cynicism skeptical, the constant questioning that has defined this generation. I have worked with an organization called The Mix. It’s like a helpline for kids, and they can talk anonymously. When I do that project, I get a real sense that they have more tolerance, openness, awareness, and alertness to things that you and I have to really struggle through. There is a resilience in young people that I hope they hold onto better than we have.