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Russell Brand at TCA's: 'I forget who we’re supposed to hate'

By April MacIntyre Jul 29, 2012, 0:50 GMT

Russell Brand - FX Summer Comedies Party - Arrivals - Lure - Hollywood, CA, USA © Izumi Hasegawa / PR Photos

Russell Brand breathed life into an early morning panel session at the summer TCA to talk up his FX late-night talker BrandX With Russell Brand.

There's a change about Brand - more quips bracketed by spiritual and arcane references that show off his facile mind as he took the mickey out of one reporter bathed in "Caravaggio light" and another reporter as being in the "ghetto" part of the Beverly Hilton ballroom, versus the Bel Air side that M&C was sitting in.

The mood was set with what looked like Mardi Gras beads strung around his neck and barefeet on stage, as Brand answered questions about other comedians (Dane Cook and Daniel Tosh), racism, homophobia, eating chicken (he's a vegan) and how Season 2 of his new series will adopt a more conventional late-night show approach, as guests will be booked weekly.

Regarding the Dane Cook and Daniel Tosh controversies, Brand said, "I think if someone’s job is a comedian and they say something, like in the analysis of the content of their statement, you should recall the bit that they’re a comedian. Like not because I’ve noticed a lot of people sort of remove that from the analysis to sort of create some storm of condemnation. I don’t know about the what Dane Cook or Daniel Tosh said, but I know that they are comedians, and I know they’re nice human beings, so I don’t imagine that they had any intention other than to elicit laughter from their fellow human beings, as is their job. So I would imagine that they’ve probably, you know it was well intentioned, whatever happened."

As for season 2, Brand elaborated on his vision of the show, "I think the first part will be essentially like a monologue, where we look at the stories behind the news. The second part will be guest oriented, like when we had Metta World Peace on, who I now love. And then the third part will be sort of analysis and audience interaction. I think that there will be a lot more lightness, a lot more chaos. I’d like to think you can get to a territory where it’s like “Daily Show”-meets-Tom Green. That’s, like, the area I’d like to build it towards. I love that guy, Tom Green. He was out there. And like so I think that the guests, yeah, means I’ll have to listen to the guests."

One reporter couldn't resist suggesting Sarah Palin, who Brand seemed excited about as he went "straight for the subtext...”

“She’s popular because people want to fuck her, don’t they? That’s why they tolerate the other stuff….OK, that is a mad thing to say about seeing Russia out your window — but the dick don’t lie!”

FX has ordered another seven installments of the show. The first of the initial six installments concludes its run next Thursday, August 2nd, at 11 o’clock. The new episodes, new installments will return sometime in October.