Jessica
FX has closed a deal with acclaimed actor/comedian Russell Brand for six half-hour installments of an unscripted late night series (untitled), which will debut in the spring of 2012, announced Nick Grad, Executive Vice President, Original Programming, FX.
These will feature Brand’s unvarnished, unfiltered take on current events, politics and pop culture. The six installments will be shot in front of a live audience and the format will draw heavily on interaction with that audience.
“We’re very excited to add Russell Brand’s bracingly funny, original, and honest voice to the FX comedy line-up,” said Grad. “We look forward to supporting Russell and his partner Troy Miller’s ambition to strip down the hosted comedy format to its most fundamental elements and to create something daring and unfiltered for the FX audience.”
The series is produced by FX Productions in association with Branded Films and Dakota Films. This marks the first television deal for Branded Films. Executive Producers are Russell Brand, Troy Miller, and Nik Linnen. Miller also serves as Director of the series.
“I am so excited I’m on the point of climax, in fact I will put the “O” into FX, which spells FOX, which is actually the channel’s real name,” said Brand. “That’s the only thing that worries me about all this to be honest. At least I’ll be able to have a Christmas drink with Bill O’Reilly.”
Brand began his career as a stand-up comedian and that remains his foremost method of entertaining audiences today. He rose to fame in the UK and launched his first nationwide tour, Shame, in 2006; the show was released on DVD as Russell Brand: Live. Brand then launched his second nationwide tour in 2007, Russell Brand: Only Joking; released on DVD as Russell Brand: Doin’ Life. He brought his stand-up comedy tour to the United States in 2009 with his tour, Russell Brand: Scandalous, which was his first worldwide comedy tour that was regarded as a huge success.
On the big screen, Brand is best known for his role as rocker ‘Aldous Snow’ in the Judd Apatow produced “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek”, Russell Brand can soon be seen in the upcoming musical “Rock of Ages”. His other film credits include the Disney hit, “Bedtime Stories”, Warner Bros. “Arthur” (which marked Brand’s first role as a producer) and “The Tempest”. He has also lent his voice to animated films such as “Hop” and “Despicable Me”.
