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"    Photo: Carol Rosegg    Sitting down with Russell Brand for his latest project, What About Dick?, ELLE.com got a taste of why everyone wants to work with the electric, eccentric comedian. The live L.A. performance of What About Dick? was captured on film and launches today for digital download. The story follows traditional British humor spiked with Monty Python word play, and zingers from a roster of comedians, including Billy Connolly, Eddie Izzard, Tim Curry, Tracey Ullman, Jan Leeves, Sophie Winkleman and, of course, Brand. Brand opened up about his first Monty Python experience, his ever-changing stance on narcissism, and what it&amp;#039;s like to do improv for Diablo Cody.   ELLE: Have you seen the film version of Dick yet? Russell Brand: I&amp;#039;m trying to limit narcissistic things. So, no, I haven&amp;#039;t seen it. ELLE: Why would watching your performance be narcissistic? RB: Do you know who Narcissus was? He stared at his own reflection, fell in love with it, and, I think, died. So, staring at your own reflection\u2014anything in that neighborhood\u2014is narcissistic, if you ask me. ELLE: Do you avoid mirrors? RB: Hm, I&amp;#039;m always looking at things like that actually. So, I guess I&amp;#039;m not so perfect\u2014just sort of trying. ELLE: What was your first Monty Python experience? RB: It was really, really young, watching things like Monty Python&amp;#039;s Flying Circus and Monty Python&amp;#039;s Fawlty Towers videos around my dad&amp;#039;s house [along] with pornography, Elvis, the movie, and other things. I watched Monty Python before I understood language. I didn&amp;#039;t understand it, but I loved it. It&amp;#039;s in my blood. ELLE: Your fellow comedians poke fun at your hair in the film. Do you get that a lot? RB: I think I look nice. My mom told me I have nothing to concern myself with. She was always very clear about this when I was a little girl growing up in Cleveland. ELLE: What&amp;#039;s the prime difference between British and American humor? RB: The accent. When I&amp;#039;m in England, I can&amp;#039;t exploit my Englishness in the same way [I can in America]. I also heard Eric Idle say that British people don&amp;#039;t care what others think of them and Americans do. I think that&amp;#039;s a pretty interesting answer. ELLE: You practice transcendental meditation. How do you balance that with comedy? RB: Andy Kaufman did transcendental meditation. He learned how to be a teacher of transcendental meditation. He loved the Maharishi. So, of course, [it balances with comedy], because it gives you understanding of universal truths. ELLE: You also just wrapped on Diablo Cody&amp;#039;s directorial debut. What was that like? RB: It&amp;#039;s the first time she directed anything. She&amp;#039;s very clever, demure and sweet on the set. She&amp;#039;s got very good insight and was incredibly gracious around letting me improvise. [Of the cast], Octavia Spencer is delightful and Julianne Hough is amazing.  Photo: Carol Rosegg  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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