Hypnotising performance by funnyman

Russell Brand, St David’s Hall, Cardiff

RUSSELL Brand is back on the road bringing his wiry, rude and charmingly narcissistic stand-up to, admittedly, make some dosh after his weird entry into the world of politics, but mainly, as the show’s title suggests, exult his newfound respect for life and lady parts since having a baby.

Since he interviewed Ed Miliband on the edge of his bed and appeared on Channel 4 News outside No 10 fighting for a group of Londoners whose homes were under threat, Brand has entered a weird vortex of bemusement and attack.

Why should this comedy fella be telling us what to think and not to think about the world screams the media and those who want him to just remain as the eyeliner and uncomfortably tight jean-wearing famous person, we can gaze at from afar because his world does not infiltrate ours.

But, luckily for us, and unlucky for those latter types, Brand has masterfully taken those TV-news mishaps, Danny Dyer impressions and all, his new dad status and turned it into a new show.

And yes, it goes some way to feeding his aforementioned charming narcissism, but he’s a famous entertainer, so of course he and all his chums are narcissists, he just does a great job of making a career out of it and a funny one at that.

Brand states at the start of the show he wants to know the real you, and he does a fine job of getting to know his audience via some rude questionnaires willing participants filled in.

It’s not all deep and meaningful (and hilarious) enlightenment. Brand weaves in stories about collecting his dog’s drugs from the vets, his feeling about nanas (brilliant), meeting Donald Trump and some questionable Welsh accents.

But we forgive him because he’s a generous (he signed and had pictures with many fans during the interval), clever and hypnotising comedian and his new show tells a different story of Brand. One which hopefully will see him whipping up creative and brilliant material for the foreseeable future.

Re:Birth revisits Cardiff on February 27. For tickets, call St David’s Hall on 029 2087 8444 or visit www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk by Kathryn Williams