There have been few more satisfying TV moments of late than when ‘comedian’ Russell Brand appeared on Have I Got News For You and attempted to impress the audience.
His winning tactic? Erm … simply rambling about author Anthony Burgess in relation to his own bestseller My Booky-Wook and expecting the assembled onlookers to clap like special-needs sealions at his stunning intellect.
Cue a grim look of realisation as Brand found this wasn’t his usual crowd – i.e. an audience made up entirely of slightly-dim sixth-formers who’d label a turnip a ‘legend’ if it had its own E4 series. He then had to do more entertaining, rather than pass off unremarkable literary references as the height of sophistication. A task which – unsurprisingly – he failed spectacularly.
