America, meet Russell Brand.
In his native England, he's a comedy giant - instantaneously identifiable by his Einstein-like tousle of black hair and formfitting, chest-baring, glam-rock clothes - a television host and standup comic with his own radio show and weekly column in The Guardian. In the U.S., he's that British guy who was in the movie "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."
But that all could change 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 have promotional purposes, but he knows the show volition serve as his introduction to a broad American audience.
"It's awful, because evidently I'm not known in this country, so it's a real unusual situation to be in," aforesaid the 33-year-old, noting that past hosts have been "really, in truth famous." "I think I'd be mad if I wasn't unquiet, although I've clinically been declared insane on several occasions. Perhaps my thin apprehension is a scratch of my return to sanity."
Brand might not be exaggerating about his diagnosing. At base he's known for his hedonistic tendencies and drug-addled past, and he sought treatment for drug addiction and sex addiction. He detailed his storied history in "My Booky Wook," a memoir that was a bestseller in Britain and is due to be published in the U.S. in February.
A moving picture version of his story has already been greenlit, but the film has been put on deem while Brand juggles other projects, including shaping his American image.
"I was scarcely advised that this is not the right clip to do that ascribable to the content," he said. "Also, because actually I'm acquiring a lot of offers to play a pot of former people and I play myself" in the film. "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."
Besides, Brand's schedule is packed. He'll seem with Adam Sandler and Keri Russell in the Christmas sept film "Bedtime Stories." He's also co-writing and star in a film Sandler will give rise next year, Brand aforementioned. He's reprising his "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" role in "Get Him to the Greek," a film based on his rock-star character, Aldous Snow. He's got another holy Writ in the works, and he's holding up with his weekly newspaper editorial, radio usher and standup gigs back home.
"My entire life is utterly outlined by work out and action," he aforementioned. "Luckily I work with really gifted and well-organized people, other than I recall I would become ill.
This week, though, his focus is on the MTV Video Music Awards, where he hopes to create a "celebratory" vibe that keeps the spotlight on the performers and winners.
"The focus will only add up on to me if spontaneity ensues," he said. "It would be shortsighted and egotistic for me to make it about me, although inevitably I will a bit."
It's Brand's undeniable charm and bent for self-generated comedy that inspired MTV to tap the congenator unknown as host of its streamer awards show, said MTV Networks Music Group President Van Toffler.
"He is both cerebral and straight-ahead anti-intellectual in the same mother wit, and he's really got a with child take on American culture," Toffler aforementioned. "For us it's similar to the first year we had Chris Rock and Arsenio Hall. They were kind of close to to bust wide open. (They) weren't huge household names, simply they in spades brought the edge and the unpredictability."
Rihanna, the Jonas Brothers, T.I. and Pink are among the performers set to appear on the unrecorded show, which begins at 9 p.m. EDT. Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, Scarlett Johansson and Michael Phelps are set to present awards. Spears will make an appearance, and other surprises are planned, though Brand won't offer any hints.
"I'm hoping that spontaneity will play a part," he said. "When you hear some of the performances that they've got planned, there's so much technical precision needed. How on Earth ar they departure to do that? Surely something is going to catch fire."
It might just be Brand's American image.
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MTV is owned by Viacom Inc.
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On the Net:
http://www.vma.mtv.com
http://www.russellbrand.tv
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AP Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody contributed to this report.
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