Photo: Winter/Getty

Though his performance at the Video Music Awards received a decidedly mixed reaction, there’s no denying Russell Brand is one of the more unique minds in comedy today. Having long made headlines as a talk show host and Jackass-style stuntman in the U.K., he’s now making Hollywood movies with the likes of Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow, learning a great deal about Americans along the way. “I made a documentary about Jack Kerouac a year ago, and traveling across America I met people that look like slack-jawed, gaptoothed hillbillies. I thought, ‘This’ll be a laugh.’ But when I went to talk to them, they talked about Noam Chomsky, the Federal Reserve, the worthlessness of the dollar — there was unbelievable awareness,” says Brand. “A mistake that I will never make is to forget that there is a distinction between American foreign policy and the American people.” Click below for more on Brand, including what sexual technique he taught to Britney Spears while filming promos for the VMAs.

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