America, take on Russell Brand. (Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)
In his native England, he's a comedy whale � now identifiable by his Einstein-like tousle of black tomentum and formfitting, chest-baring, glam-rock clothes � a tv host and standup comic with his own radio show and weekly column in The Guardian. In the U.S., he's that British hombre who was in the movie "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."
But that all could modification Sunday, when Brand hosts the MTV Video Music Awards � the TV institution that lured millions of viewers with Britney Spears' fumbled comeback last year and her fabled kiss with Madonna before that. Brand said he has no intentions to hijack the awards for his possess promotional purposes, but he knows the show volition serve as his introduction to a broad American audience.
"It's amazing, because patently I'm not known in this country, so it's a really unusual situation to be in," said the 33-year-old, noting that past hosts have been "really, in truth famous." "I think I'd be insane if I wasn't uneasy, although I've clinically been declared insane on several occasions. Perhaps my slight apprehension is a mark of my return to sanity."
Brand power not be exaggerating nearly his diagnosis. At home he's known for his hedonistic tendencies and drug-addled past, and he sought-after treatment for drug dependency and gender addiction. He detailed his storied history in "My Booky Wook," a memoir that was a bestseller in Britain and is due to be promulgated in the U.S. in February.
A moving picture version of his history has already been greenlit, but the film has been put on give while Brand juggles other projects, including shaping his American image.
"I was just advised that this is not the right metre to do that due to the content," he said. "Also, because really I'm getting a lot of offers to play a lot of other people and I play myself" in the movie. "Maybe that isn't the best way for the people in America to get to know me because that book is kind of candid in some places."
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