Russell Brand's Ponderland
- TV stand-up
- Channel 4
- 2007 - 2008
- 12 episodes (2 series)
Russell Brand presents a series of stand-up monologues, interspersed with old video clips. Stars Russell Brand.
Episode menu
Series 2 - Russell Brand's Christmas Ponderland
Further details
Russell ponders the concept of Santa Claus and the requirements for playing the role; contemplates Yuletide over-indulgence of food and drink; mulls on crime; reveals how the Saxons celebrated Christmas; and considers Christmas commercialism - and debt.
Featuring rare archive footage and recollections of his own often bizarre personal experiences, Russell provides a unique perspective on the festive season.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Sunday 21st December 2008
- Time
- 11:10pm
- Channel
- Channel 4
- Length
- 35 minutes
Cast & crew
| Russell Brand | Host / Presenter |
| Russell Brand | Writer |
| Jack Bayles | Writer |
| Gareth Roy | Writer |
| Toby Baker | Director |
| Jack Bayles | Producer |
| John Linnen | Executive Producer |
| Gareth Heal | Editor |
| Rudi Thackray (as Rudi Thackery) | Production Designer |
| Jason Tarver | Composer |
| Ben Vella | Composer |
Press
I enjoyed Russell Brand's Christmas Ponderland a lot more once I started to imagine the Daily Mail headlines it might provoke: 'Foul-Mouthed Brand in Virgin Mary Blasphemy', perhaps, for the sequence in which he imagined the Holy Mother as an Essex slattern, taking a very dim view of the accommodation.
Or 'Brand in Paedophile Joke Outrage' for the sequence in which he explored the dangers of Christmas Santas: 'I've been working in the grotto trade for quite a while,' he slurred, parodying a Santa manager. 'And I've learnt to get rid of anyone in the nonce line.'
Not that I wouldn't have enjoyed him without the pleasing fantasy of someone harrumphing themselves into an apoplexy. He's not to everyone's taste, as the BBC so painfully discovered, but he is funny.
The show itself is a fairly standard funny-clips-and-commentary deal, but it works because of Brand's wild energy. I particularly enjoyed his indignant dissection of Wizard's song 'I Wish It Could Be a Wombling Merry Christmas Every Day', a number he rightly arraigned for conceptual overkill. An hour of a Wombling Merry Christmas perhaps, but everyday? Surely not.
Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent, 22nd December 2008