Over the course of his career, Brand has been the subject of frequent media coverage for issues such as his promiscuity, drug use, political views, provocative behaviour at various award ceremonies, his dismissal from MTV, and his resignation from the BBC amid a prank call controversy.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Brand's YouTube channel underwent an increase in activity and change in political direction, and was accused of promoting COVID denialism and conspiracy theories.

[22] That year, he also made his Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut as one-third of the stand-up show Pablo Diablo's Cryptic Triptych, alongside ventriloquist Mark Felgate and Anglo-Iranian comic Shaparak Khorsandi.

Brand appeared in a sketch and performed stand-up at Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Ball in 2006[23] and again at the 2012 edition at Radio City Music Hall.

[27][28] In 2013, Brand presented and toured his comedy show Messiah Complex, in which he tackled advertising, the laws on drug addiction and the portrayal of his heroes, such as Gandhi, Guevara, Malcolm X and Jesus, and how he is, in comically contrived ways, similar to them.

[33] Over the years, Brand has named Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks,[34] Peter Cook, Lenny Bruce, Tony Hancock, Jack Kerouac, Stewart Lee,[35] Tenacious D,[36] Eddie Murphy,[37] and Monty Python among his comedic influences.

[39] During a live show at the Royal & Derngate theatre in Northampton in 2008 Brand made a hoax call to police saying he had seen a man responsible for a number of assaults.

[73] In 2010, he reprised the role of Aldous Snow for a buddy comedy titled Get Him to the Greek, co-starring Jonah Hill,[74] which also reunited him with Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow for the film.

[90] Brand's radio career began in early 2002, when he hosted a Sunday afternoon show with Matt Morgan on London's Indie Rock station Xfm.

[99] Brand announced on 30 March 2017 edition of The Chris Moyles Show he would return to radio, beginning on 2 April 2017 he began hosting the 11 am – 1 pm slot on Sunday with Matt Morgan and Mr Gee.

Andrew Anthony from The Observer commented that "Russell Brand's gleeful tale of drugs and debauchery in My Booky Wook puts most other celebrity memoirs to shame".

[109] Brand has written articles for The Guardian that offer his perspectives on current events and pop culture, including the deaths of Amy Winehouse and Robin Williams.

[112] In The Guardian, reviewer Lucy Mangan noted: "The on-Brand need to be noticed is there on every page, his unwillingness to get out of the way of the story tripping the reader up at every turn" and adding that Chris Riddell's illustrations "give the book a beauty it does not deserve and a coherence the text does not deliver".

[113] Nicholas Tucker, in The Independent, noted the book's "wearingly offensive" language, and commented: "Brand's take on The Pied Piper of Hamelin is the first of a series of riffs on traditional fairy and folk tales.

[132][133]Brand guest-edited a special issue of the New Statesman that was published on 24 October 2013 and explored the theme of Revolution, and in which he explained his objection to the destruction of Earth through greed and exploitation, and called for a change in consciousness to accompany political and economic measures to achieve a more sustainable future.

[134][135] In November that year Brand joined the Anonymous Million Mask March in London that protested against "cuts, corruption and an increase in state surveillance".

[148] During a protest for the New Era residents, Channel 4 News reporter Paraic O'Brien continually pushed Brand to answer questions about the value of his own property, which is rented.

[149][150][151] Later that month, on 11 December, Brand appeared on the BBC's Question Time programme, which included the UK Independence Party's leader Nigel Farage as one of the other panellists.

[158] In March, readers of Prospect magazine voted Brand the fourth-most influential thinker in the world, behind Thomas Piketty, Yanis Varoufakis, and Naomi Klein.

The film features archival footage with appearances by Brand in London and New York City, examining the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and global economic inequality.

I said 'There's no point in voting when the main political parties are basically indistinguishable and the relationship between government, big business and factions of the media make it impossible for the democratic will of the people to be realised.

'"[172] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Brand's YouTube channel underwent an increase in activity and change in political direction, and was accused of promoting COVID denial and conspiracy theories.

[7] According to culture reporter Louis Chilton, his videos are usually "framed with some sort of contrarian take or calling out hypocrisy in the mainstream media", and often hint "at a vague, world-altering conspiracy".

"[185] When YouTube took down one of his videos in September 2022, citing its policy on medical misinformation,[186] he moved his channel to Rumble, where he launched a new daily live show, Stay Free with Russell Brand.

[191] Brand has hinted at his support for both Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and also Nigel Farage on his YouTube channel, but has stopped short of explicit endorsements.

[215] Wood released a statement, writing in part: "Russell Brand categorically and vehemently denied the allegation made in 2020, but we now believe we were horribly misled by him.

[219][220][221] Television presenter Vanessa Feltz released a clip of her appearance on Brand's TV show in 2006, where he asked if he could "have it off" with her or her daughters, which left her "deeply offended".

In the October 2014 issue of Vanity Fair, Brand said of the allegations of misogyny made against him: I have lived a life and had a frame of cultural references that make that charge quite legitimate...

[280] On 16 September 2010, Brand was arrested on suspected battery charges after he allegedly attacked a paparazzo who blocked his and then-fiancée Katy Perry's way to catch a flight at Los Angeles International Airport.

The warrant cited "simple criminal damage to property", leading Brand, who offered to pay for the replacement of the window, to voluntarily appear at a police station.