Russell Brand Explains ‘Morning Joe’ Hijacking

Russell Brand is finally explaining what happened when he hijacked a segment on MSNBC's Morning Joe last month.

Appearing to promote his Messiah Complex tour, Brand grew increasingly frustrated with the set-up and the hosts referring to the comedian as if he wasn't there, leading him to admonish them for their lack of "manners" and take the interview into his own hands, promoting his tour and delivering the news himself.

Writing in an op-ed in The Guardian, Brand says he was polite when he arrived at MSNBC's studios, until he encountered "rudeness from the crew."

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"I was surprised by the soundman's impatient intrusiveness and yet more surprised as I stood just off set, beside the faux-newsroom near the pseudo-researchers who appear on camera as pulsating set dressing, when the soundman yapped me to heel with the curt entitlement of Idi Amin's PA," Brand explains.

He goes on to say that when he sat down, he realized what he was in for, claiming that he became aware the show was broadcasting "the shrill, white noise of dumb current affairs."

"One of the things that's surprising when you go on telly a lot is that often the on-camera 'talent' (yuck!) are perfectly amiable when you chat to them normally, but when the red light goes on they immediately transform into shark-eyed Stepford berks talking in a cadence you encounter nowhere else but TV-land – a meter that implies simultaneously carefree whimsy and stifled hysteria," Brand adds.

Brand then continues describing his frustration with on-camera interviews and the "detachment" that occurs.

Watch the clip of Brand's Morning Joe appearance below.

Hilary Lewis