Brand arrives on stage with the immediate impression that he's aware of his own image, existing upon the invisible line between Rock God and great thinker. As he dives into a sea of those praying to touch the comedian almost acting as if he’s
something of a Steven Patrick in leather trousers. After fifteen minutes of
camaraderie with tonight’s audience, Brand steps into the
narrative of his stand-up which is a documentation of the similarities that he
shares with the aforementioned heroes. From the outset, Brand seems aware of
the possibility that this could be his five minutes as a political orator as he
declares to the masses the show will hold fragments of ‘clever stuff.’ One
of his theories being that the definition of a hero has diminished in recent decades. He
pulls this together in an overtly narcissistic but satirical manner as he declares the
similarities he shares with these iconic figures, one being that a protest in
London he was part of is somehow similar to Malcolm X stopping a riot in Harlem
with the raise of a hand. Similarly to his appearance on ‘Question Time’ in June, he does also raise a
political eyebrow as he points out the only reason for nobody attempting
Communism is because it ‘didn’t work for Russia.’ Which he explains to his
audience with the analogy of it being like blaming Steve Jobs for a ‘LiveJasmin
pop-up on [your] iPad.’ Although, he does delight in his hypocrisy as the illusion of him being something of a Left-Wing Libertine being diminished by his ‘expensive boots’ and career in Hollywood.The iPad analogy does seem to ring an alarm for the second half of the show which does falter into him almost blowing his own trumpet for being ‘shagger of the year.’ For the final half an hour or so, he does push the boundaries with everything from comparing female masturbation to the Galaxy advert and pink tic-tacs being a similar taste to a taboo cave that isn’t Plato’s. Admittedly, his taboo narratives does seem to suit the demographic more than jokes about Hitler and Wittgenstein and did raise a few laughs from myself. But it does leave a sense that there was so much more left to be said in the political and philosophical body of his show. As ‘Messiah Complex’ comes to a close with him pointing out that he is the ‘second coming’, the audience leave holding the impression of a class act at the top of his game but with the niggling question whether he is this generation’s Nietzsche or if the themes of lust merely creates a 'Ponderland' with a Highbrow agenda.
Conclusion - 4/5
