Booky Wook 2 by Brand Russell

Author:Brand, Russell [Brand, Russell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-09-29T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

It’s What He Would’ve Wanted

Do you, as I do, agree to things assuming that they’ll never happen? These pledges can vary in severity – “Will you pick me up from the airport?” “Sure!” Or: “In the event of my death will you raise my daughter?” “Why not?” Of course the merry assumption is that the plane won’t make it to Heathrow or that the daughter will be like flour – self-raising. In both cases by assuming the promise will remain unfulfilled you are making a fool’s wager. This was the mentality I employed when I was offered the chance to make a film driving across America for three weeks in the spirit of Jack Kerouac’s classic Beat novel On the Road to mark the fiftieth anniversary of its publication. As usual I eyed the notion of “a future” with rigid scepticism. “Fine. I’ll make your poxy film in September,” I belched. “Who’s to say there’ll even be a September?” I thought. With that idea safely stashed in the “thinky-fuck-hole” that is my brain-pot, me and my gaggle of gits got on with making my new TV series – the brilliantly named Ponderland.

Ponderland was a clip show in which we pulled together funny archive and then I’d comment on the clips and use them as a “jump-off point” for stand-up. For example in the episode about crime we used footage of the notorious Santana gang boasting about their artillery to ridicule their re-appropriation of guitarist Carlos Santana’s merchandise. The thugs stood there with their AKs, brazenly wearing Carlos Santana baseball caps; if they’d changed their name to “The Hello Kitty Crew” they could’ve brandished everything from toasters to hairnets – they’d’ve been the best-dressed gang of thugs in history – not including the Nazis.

The content of the show was less significant than the fact that it was the first project undertaken by Vanity Projects, me and Nik’s production company, without the stewardship of a more “grown-up” operation. The production process comprised me, Matt, Nik, Jack and Gareth sat about in my office watching telly and giggling. Occasionally I imagine Jack and Gareth had to go and do boring production work, but as far as me and Matt were concerned, it was a cinch. Have a look at the show on YouTube; it’s funny.

So when September arrived with its smug knowledge that I was contracted to make Russell Brand on the Road, I didn’t want to do it. Aware that it would be real work, I tried to sabotage the production.

The documentary was for the BBC and had a highly professional production team. In a now all-too-common refrain, they assured me that the film would be made in the spirit of its subjects, in this case Kerouac and Neal Cassady, his muse, side-kick and fast-pulsing heart of the movement, the heart-Beat. Kerouac was a bit of a square actually, a scholar and a worrier. Neal Cassady was the real deal; a hard-drinking, womanising animus-storm. In the book they drive across their

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