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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Miranda Sawyer

The week in audio: Origin Story: Russell Brand – Confidence Man; Lost Notes: Groupies; The Lion, the Witch and the Wonder – review

Russell Brand in the back of a car wearing sunglasses
‘In hock to his nutso supporters’: Russell Brand. Photograph: James Manning/AP

Origin Story: Russell Brand – Confidence Man (Podmasters)
Lost Notes: Groupies: Women of the Sunset Strip from the Pill to Punk (KCRW)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wonder (Radio 4) | BBC Sounds

Origin Story, a podcast about understanding politics (topics covered: centrism, George Orwell, No 10, among others), has just launched its sixth series. The opening episode is a 90-minute show on that renowned political powerhouse Russell Brand. Which may seem odd, but hosts Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey use Brand in a way, you could argue, that Brand has used others: as a means of getting somewhere. They look at his slide from darling of the left into gesticulating, never-off, “just asking questions” internet charlatan, and draw conclusions about why politics (big politics, presidential politics) has ended up splashing about with the conspiracy theorists.

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