Russell Brand will be on his best behaviour for the Dalai Lama on Saturday (16.06.12).
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The Rock of Ages star will act as master of ceremonies when the Tibetan spiritual leader addresses thousands of young people in Manchester at the weekend and, while Russell hopes to raise a laugh, he respects the Dalai Lama too much to ruin the occasion by going too far.
He said: “I’ve made mistakes in the past, I won’t lie to you, but this one I’m on my game!
“I’m going to crack on. I’m going to give the Dalai Lama the best show. I’m going to behave. He’s a holy man. It’s not pretend authority; its the proper authority of God!
“I’m going to improvise and I am going to be playing for laughs, but I’ve got to be entirely respectful of his holiness and that’s going to be no problem because I’ll tell you why: genuine respect.”
Russell claims the respect he feels for the spiritual leader is different to the fake respect he had for teachers when he was at school and he only pretended to be interested.
In an interview with Neil Fox on Magic 105.4, he explained: “It’s not like when you’re at school and you have to pretend – ‘I better pretend that I care what these people are saying’ – like for ten years, or however long it is they have you in that c**p hole, teaching you stuff you don’t need to know anyway, apart from writing and reading; that can be useful, I appreciate that.”
