Comedians And Controversy

A recent on-stage routine by Russell Brand landed him in hot water. It prompted a police warning about hoax or "frivolous" calls and resulted in the comedian issuing a statement of apology.

There's a fine line between humour and bad taste and, by dint of their profession, comedians continually straddle it. Inevitably, there are times when they go too far. In some instances, the 'joke' that caused all the fuss probably sounded good in their head...until they voiced it, that is. In other cases, there's no excuse whatsoever for the resulting offence caused. Russell Brand's transgression is an example of the former; an audience at a theatre in Northampton saw the actor and presenter use a mobile phone to call the local force and claim he had spotted "the underpass attacker". The prank call was inspired by local media coverage of investigations into a number of assaults in underpasses in the town in recent weeks.

In footage taken by one audience member and posted on the internet, Brand tells a Northamptonshire Police call handler: "It's regarding the attacks in the underpass. I have got some information for you. I have seen a gentleman who fits the description. He was wearing a light green top and polka dot trousers and I thought, well look at the state of him."

He was then put through to Northamptonshire Police's control centre in a call that lasted about three minutes. Apparently able to hear the laughter of the audience at the Derngate theatre, the second force employee asked if he was making the call from home. The celebrity said the background noise was from his television and an episode of ITV drama The Bill. The police staff member apparently ended the call as the comedian started to sing down the phone. A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said: "We would discourage anyone from making such hoax or frivolous calls."

A contrite Russell Brand apologised saying: "I appreciate the seriousness of the issue and I am devastated by the possibility that I may have offended vulnerable people." He's not the only comedian judged to have overstepped the comedy line as our gallery below illustrates.

The views in this column/blog are those of the author alone and not of MSN or Microsoft. Warning: the gallery below contains language that younger readers and those of a sensitive nature are advised to avoid.