Russell Brand

Given that it contained two of my favourite phenomena, namely Russell Brand and psychic cats, it's odd to report that Russell Brand's Ponderland only fitfully tickled my whiskers.

Maybe it was because the peerless Harry Hill's TV Burp does the clip'n'mix style of comedy so well or maybe Brand was fitting in between Hollywood movies, pestering Andrew Sachs and resigning from the BBC (my nomination for non-scandal of the year) but there were times when his bestial riffing - his subject was pets - felt a tad forced.

Still, even when Brand is only purring on low gas he's still worth a sniff, ripping ribald laughs out of a scary woman who'd become rather too fond of her dog and a suicide pact involving a parrot. But for every good gag there was one he should have dumped in the litter tray.

Russell Brand is a highly original, attractive, instinctive comedian. In all seriousness, what else could he do in life? He is much safer making jokes than driving a bus.

The Times Review

In Ponderland Russell Brand proves how very funny he is. The idea is that he riffs on topics in that Brand kind of a way that makes no sense written down. His jokes are not quotable, not because they are profane, but because they are a stream of mucky consciousness and absurdity.

At least Channel 4 still loves Russell Brand. The comedian, who quit the BBC yesterday over his 'prank' calls to actor Andrew Sachs, opens his new C4 series of eccentric rants with the subject of pets. It's a rich topic which allows him to weave together gleefully dirty stories about our unnaturally intense relationships with animals. Showing he's not entirely a reformed character, Brand shares a distressing but amusing tale of a woman who had an affair with her dog. Irreverent, witty and packed with imagination, Ponderland shows how good Brand is when he reins in his most childish excesses.

There are good reasons why Russell Brand has become such a comic phenomenon - and there are equally good reasons why he has been suspended from BBC duties. Publicity accompanies Brand like an attendant pilot fish, so much so that Sachs-gate suddenly seems like brilliantly spun PR for his returning Channel 4 stand-up series. Those who enjoy his surreal, decidedly unwholesome observations on the oddities of life will gleefully lap this up.

Lanky comedian Russell Brand performs a stand-up show which was filmed in London in 2006. His quirky and foul-mouthed observational comedy isn't always successful, but it's engaging enough to stop you spending the entire programme thinking how satisfying it would be if you could give his alarming bush of hair a good run through with a comb.

I'll declare an interest and reveal that I am a fan of ubiquitous, outrageous, kohl-eyed Russell Brand, which some people my age apparently find strange. But beneath the back-combed hair lies a smart if unconventional mind. Russell Brand's Ponderland, showing each night this week, combines reminiscences on various topics with archive and newly-filmed segments, plus phone calls to supposedly 'unsuspecting' targets. Last night's opener was about the fears and confusions of childhood and the phone target Russell's dad Ron, who was called upon to reflect on the difference in colour between boys' and men's willies. Well, Brand has never been known for holding back, though I sensed a slightly less wild Brand than hitherto. There were even some grains of common sense amid the hilarity, the f-words and the 'awright' accent.

Radio Head: Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation

Rowland Rivron, Sandi Toksvig, Mark Steel, Mark Thomas, Jo Brand, Graham Fellowes, Russell Brand . . . the list of modern comedians that divides the nation is a surprisingly lengthy one. And it will be only part of the listening public that will be rearranging its life to be in front of the wireless when the latest series of the sociopolitical lecture Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation kicks off next Tuesday (Radio 4, 6.30pm).