Relive Chelsea Handler Battle Wits With the Formidable Russell Brand

To a lot of people, British funnyman Russell Brand was a lot more relevant in 2009 than he is now. That is probably fair. But, the same can be said for Chelsea Handler… maybe moreso.

Anyways, Brand actually still an active performer who tours regularly and has a very successfully YouTube channel. But because he’s no longer married to one of the world’s most popular pop-stars, people just assume that he fell of the radar.

But back in ’09 he was everywhere: movies, billboards, the MTV Movie Awards and, of course, talk shows. This clip — taken from a 2009 episode of Chelsea Handler’s late-night talk show Chelsea Lately — features Brand in his prime as he goes toe-to-toe with the show’s snarky host.

Handler grills Brand on his past and questions the legitimacy of his sex addiction, to which Brand responds calmly and humorously. It’s a funny interview that comes dangerously close to going off the rails, but manages to stay on the right side of awkward.