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Well, he's always looked hyperactive, going way back before he got involved in politics. Even when he's been in films.

I dislike the whole hand waving thing, but he's certainly not the only one that does it - huge numbers of people in the media do.
I don't mind people who use their hands "naturally" when they talk. What I dislike is when I see people who have media/presentation skills training (TV presenters/interviewers on documentaries/politicians etc) doing it in a deliberate/conscious way. There is a way they do it which differs to the way everyday conversational hand wavers do it. I imagine they go to a training session where they are schooled in how to use their hands and when to move them and it is really annoying to watch - makes them seem much less sincere to me.

I feel the same about interviewers who do the horrible manic nodding just to demonstrate that they are listening intently to what the subject is saying. It is as if it is some sort of signal designed to say "this is a serious interview which I really care about" whereas I interpret it as the interviewer feeling unable to allow the subject/their comments stand on their own without their (nodding) input. It's as if they are scared no-one will remember they were the interviewer unless we see them nodding on screen every 30 seconds or so....

It is a way of making it all about you/not the topic or person being interviewed.

I think Brand/many other hand wavers in the media are like this. Whatever he says, he always wants it all to be about him (I suspect).
 
As to the point about gesticulation and the conscious use of such, it has a name:

Chironomia (wikipedia)

And as for the nodding of interviewers, it too has a name and wikipedia entry:

Nod shot

And let's not forget, Mr Brand has done a lot of hard drugs. His neurons might not be firing as healthily as they may once have.
 
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I tend to use my hands a lot when I am talking about something that I am really interested in, or when the conversation is very lively.

My family is not really animated at all, so I'm not sure where I came by that.
 
I tend to use my hands a lot when I am talking about something that I am really interested in, or when the conversation is very lively.

My family is not really animated at all, so I'm not sure where I came by that.

It's a quite interesting area of human behaviour, and its possibly unconscious use as a mnemonic aid has a modern expression in the hand gestures of rappers (sometimes known as 'hiphop hands'). I've seen, in a documentary, similar hand gestures used by West African storytellers, and read that ancient Greek storytellers may also have employed a sort of mnemonic dactylonomy. I find it quite fascinating that Homer might have been slicing air in something like the same way, but millennia before, Eminem.

My own habit is thumb counting. There's probably a proper phrase for it, but I don't know it and can't think of a simpler way of describing it: rapidly tapping the tip of my thumb against the tips of my fingers in sequence. It's not quite as visible as some hand gestures - and I think in my case it's some sort of cognitive aid, maybe similar to the way people use rosary beads.
 
There is some evidence behind it also being a 'learned' habit.
So many politicians, of different parties, use the same hand gesture in speeches - both hands as 'blades', chopping down together then moving side to side, parallel with each other. Liz Truss did this so often, it made it obvious, but - as far as I recall - the opening scenes of Spitting Image showed Neil Kinnock doing the same.
There is the whole realm of 'scholars hand gestures' which are intended to back-up the lecture with 'body language' signals.
 
Fried spun sugar, which is what makes them melt in the mouth.

Whatever they are, I can happily wolf them down with hot coffee.
I never thought this would happen, but my opinion of you has just dropped a couple of notches!:omg:
 
I never thought this would happen, but my opinion of you has just dropped a couple of notches!:omg:

Going back to the point of the joke: having only become aware of Brand via Arthur is a blessing because he was ubiquitous on British TV for a while, a state from which few celebrities emerge with undented popularity.
 
His image was always the 'bloke's bloke' who made everyone laugh by saying clever things in a laddish manner.
Apparently.
 
As I'm not overly sweet-toothed, to me a doughnut is a doughnut - I'd only notice a really bad one. :)
I wonder if Russel Brand likes doughnuts? (Trying to guide the train back to the track. ;) )
 
It's interesting that exactly when Brand was plastered all over the MSM, a bill (or what ever it's called) went through parliament giving the government powers to look at every email and message anyone has ever sent including ones like what's app and telegram even though they are encrypted.
 
It's interesting that exactly when Brand was plastered all over the MSM, a bill (or what ever it's called) went through parliament giving the government powers to look at every email and message anyone has ever sent including ones like what's app and telegram even though they are encrypted.
Parliamentary doings doesn’t get the readership that celebrity gossip does. MSM providers do like profits as much as any other corporation.
 
There is some evidence behind it also being a 'learned' habit.
So many politicians, of different parties, use the same hand gesture in speeches - both hands as 'blades', chopping down together then moving side to side, parallel with each other. Liz Truss did this so often, it made it obvious, but - as far as I recall - the opening scenes of Spitting Image showed Neil Kinnock doing the same.
There is the whole realm of 'scholars hand gestures' which are intended to back-up the lecture with 'body language' signals.
It is the learned and formulaic variety of hand gesturing and nodding that I hate. I spot it straight away - and it is irritating how many people are using it (on TV).

I have no problem with people gesturing or nodding in a "normal" or intuitive way.

I am quite expressive and gesture a bit myself - but I can't actually remember my particular gestures etc because they are not done purposefully/consciously.

I can imagine Russell Brand might gesticulate away from the camera but his gestures seem very consciously done when he is in front of the camera.
 
Inevitable..?

Screenshot_20231109-151904~2.png
 
Well, Alex Jones is desperate - he's lost his ability to claim bankruptcy and dodge his court liabilities.

On a slight tangent, though I can't stand Brand's 'blokey bloke' persona I recently saw the Branagh version of Death On The Nile. I was surprised because he was very good at playing a straight role.
 
Credit where credit's due .. the German's have described Liam Gallagher out of Oasis to a tee .. I'd love to knock him out.
Didn't Liam Gallagher get his teeth knocked out by a german or 2 in a hotel bar.
 
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