The Russell Brand Show (radio show)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Russell Brand Show | |
 Current show logo
|
|
| Genre | Comedy, Talk |
|---|---|
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Languages | English |
| Home station | BBC Radio 2 |
| Hosts | Russell Brand Matt Morgan |
| Producers | Nic Philps Paul Sheehan |
| Recording studio | Western House, London |
| Air dates | April 9, 2006 to Present |
| Audio format | Stereophonic sound |
| Website Official Website |
|
 PodcastOfficial Podcast |
|
The Russell Brand Show is a Sony Radio Academy Award-winning Saturday night radio show in the United Kingdom which is broadcasted on BBC Radio 2. The show is hosted by comedian Russell Brand who started his radio career in 2002 on a Sunday afternoon show on Xfm. Russell's co-host is long-term friend, Matt Morgan who has worked with Brand on other TV projects.
The show originally featured contributions from comedian Trevor Lock. In March 2007 it was announced that Trevor Lock had left the show to pursue other projects which included his own show on BBC 6 Music.
On the May 31, 2008 show Brand announced that the show was now produced by Vanity Projects, the production company that he has been part of with many of his previous TV shows.
Contents |
[edit] Beginnings on 6 Music
In December 2005, Brand filled in for Nemone with co-presenter Karl Pilkington for three one-off radio shows for BBC 6Music. In April 2006, Brand was given a regular Sunday afternoon slot on the station. Karl Pilkington was advertised as being his co-host and appeared with him on the first show. However, Karl mysteriously disappeared from the show leaving some to speculate about a falling out between Pilkington and Brand. Pilkington was replaced with Brand's long-term contributor Matt Morgan and comedian Trevor Lock (who left in March 2007 to start his own radio show). The actual reason for Pilkington's departure, as confirmed by Brand's co-presenter Trevor Lock, is that 6Music's desire to release a downloadable podcast of the show conflicted with Karl's commitment to The Ricky Gervais Show podcast. Brand's 6Music radio show was ranked as high as number 2 in the iTunes most-subscribed podcast chart.
[edit] Move to Radio 2
In October 2006, BBC announced a 40% rise in listeners to BBC digital radio, which they claimed was largely attributed to host Russell Brand. According to industry ratings body Rajar, the station was attracting over 400,000 listeners.[1]
The show was transferred to BBC Radio 2, the UK's most popular radio station, from Saturday November 18, 2006 in the 9 p.m. - 11 p.m. timeslot.[2]
Because of Brand's work in movies and stand-up the show has had to be broadcasted from Hawaii in 2007 for 3 months and more recently Los Angeles, with Matt and Mr Gee remaining in London. In May 2008 Matt briefly joined Russell in LA in order to pursue opportunities within the film industry, in particular with writing.
[edit] Show format
The radio show often features a phone call, or appearance by Noel Gallagher of Oasis and discussions revolving around listeners' emails, text messages or phone calls. The music on the show is decided by the hosts and because of Brand's admiration for him, songs by Morrissey or The Smiths are often played.
[edit] Current features
- Jingle race war - Listeners send in their homemade jingles for features.
- GAY! - Listeners write or phone in with Gay related problems.
- Matt's Cultural Review - Matt reviews some aspects of culture, including restaurants, theatre shows and cities.
- Nanecdote - Listeners send in stories about Nans.
- Mr. Gee's poem[3] - The shows resident poet Mr. Gee reads a poem that sums up the show.
- Humorous look at world events - Russell and Matt discus bizarre news stories, e.g. breast-milk food products
[edit] Past features
- Cry For Help - Consisted of listeners phoning and asking Brand and Morgan for advice.
- Tramps That Look Like Matt - Listeners sent in pictures of Tramps that look like Brand's co-host Matt.
- Trevor's Sonic Enigma - A regular feature on the BBC 6 Music show, Trevor Lock played out a short cryptic sketch which alluded to the title of a popular song. Listeners to the show then had to guess what this song was, and winning entrants would be invited to the studio the following week. In its early days, this feature was known as "Trevor Done A Noise".
[edit] Guests
Brand has had a wide array of celebrity guests either in the studio or over the phone on his show. Notable appearances include Morrissey, Ronnie Wood, Kristen Bell, Jonah Hill, Ricky Gervais, Slash, Noel Fielding (also guest presented), David Walliams, David Mitchell, Courtney Love, Lily Allen, Victoria Wood, David Icke, Chrissie Hynde, Dale Winton, Jonny Lee Miller, Max Beesley, Seth Rogen, Cilla Black, Guy Pierce, Henry Winkler and Adam Green.
[edit] Controversies
- In March 2008 the show was exposed for faking a competition in April 2006 when the show was broadcasting on BBC 6 Music.[4] The show was broadcast on 9 April 2006 in which listeners were invited to take part in a competition via text message. The show gave the impression that it was broadcasting live but it was actually a pre-recorded show. The winner of the competition was a member of BBC staff. BBC 6 Music later gave an apology and offered listeners who entered the competition compensation for the cost of text.[5]
[edit] Awards
| Year | Ceremony | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | .net Awards | Podcast of the Year | Won[6] |
| 2008 | NME Awards | Best Radio Show | Nominated[7] |
| 2008 | Sony Radio Academy Awards | Entertainment award | Won[8] |
[edit] Podcast
In January, 2007, the show reached the number one spot on the iTunes podcast charts and held that position until April 2007 when it was overtaken by The Apprentice podcast and continued to go up and down the charts prompting Brand to start a campaign to get it back to number 1, which eventually succeeded. The podcast still regularly tops the charts and whenever it slumps Brand reminds listeners to continue to spread word about the podcast.
[edit] References
- ^ 'Brand effect' boost for 6 Music at BBC News
- ^ Russell Brand lands Radio 2 job at BBC News
- ^ Mr Gee's Show Blog
- ^ Whiley, Brand shows faked competitions
- ^ Apology from BBC 6 Music
- ^ Blenders and Brand pick up awards. BBC News Online. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.
- ^ Nominations. NME.
- ^ Comedian Brand wins radio prize. BBC News Online.
[edit] External links
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
