Russell Brand in New York City: Extended & Uncensored

Many Americans saw Russell Brand for the first time playing addled rock star Aldous Snow in 2008's Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but Brand was already well known in his native Britain as a popular actor, comedian, and author. Brand followed up his big-screen success with this one-man show, recorded at El Museo del Barrio in New York City and aired on Comedy Central. An undeniably dynamic and charismatic performer, Brand's free-wheeling, conversational style and earthy humor are refreshing, although there's just a bit of self-pity evident in his revealing riff on achieving fame in America. Still, by and large Brand is an unusually controlled comedian whose currency is his brashness: not all standup artists could get away with some of his material, especially the routine about attracting female fans (somehow it doesn't sound so smarmy coming from someone with a British accent). Other topics include death threats, meeting the Queen, and horseback riding. DVD extras include a hilarious segment in which Brand rides around the Broadway-Times Square area and corrals hapless pedestrians for impromptu interviews, a rib-tickling scene cut from the special in which Brand interacts with a female heckler, and the scabrously funny (albeit tasteless) monologue that Brand delivered at the 2008 MTV Music Video Awards. Recommended. Aud: P. (E. Hulse)