Unrepentant over Sachsgate

Russell Brand has stood up for comedians’ right to make offensive jokes – and says the ‘Sachsgate’ furore won’t make him tone down his behaviour.

He claimed scandals over inappropriate jokes, such as his calls to Andrew Sachs’s answerphone, are largely fabricated by newspapers taking the comments out of contect

And he leapt to the defence of fellow stand-ups Jimmy Carr and Frankie Boyle, who were criticised recently for offensive gags.

‘I've heard them jokes, they’re good jokes they are,’ he said at the launch of his Scandalous DVD. ‘Frankie Boyle is brilliant and Jimmy Carr is brilliant.

‘They’re not trying to be offensive, no one is actually offended, the people saying they’re offended aren't actually offended, the whole thing is constructed.’

‘If you hear it delivered cold, like vomit into the nape of your neck, it might be offensive, but mucking around I don’t think is offensive.’

And of the tabloid furore that cost him his job at Radio 2 – and is widely considered to have led to a more timid approach to comedy in the BBC – he said he would do the same again.

He said: ‘I would’ve done nothing differently. I apologise for the thing I did wrong to the person I did it to, but the whole subsequent scandal was funny. It’s just rhubarb and guff.’

And he vowed never to tone down his own material, saying: ‘I ain’t afraid, I don’t give a fuck. I will not lose my edge.’

Published: 14 Nov 2009