Russel Brand Shares The SECRET For Finding HAPPINESS & PURPOSE IN LIFE | Jay Shetty

Russell Brand 0:00 And this same lesson has been taught to me in many ways through drugs or sex. Economic success is emulating social power. It's the idea of, oh, like what, what can we infer from the wealth of Kylie Jenner, is it?

Jay Shetty 0:16 Kylie, yeah.

Russell Brand 0:16 Kylie Jenner.

Jay Shetty 0:20 He's an actor, activist, comedian, and someone who I truly believe is a amazing thinker in the realms of philosophy, spirituality, politics-

Russell Brand 0:30 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 0:30 ... and life. I'm so excited to dive in to his fascinating life, which I believe he's had one of the most fascinating ones. He is none other than Russell Brand. Russell.

Russell Brand 0:41 Thank you again for that introduction. I was enjoying that.

Jay Shetty 0:43 Yeah. Well, you deserved it-

Russell Brand 0:45 Thank you

Jay Shetty 0:45 ... like I said last time.

Russell Brand 0:46 Thank you.

Jay Shetty 0:46 Thank you. Thank you for doing this again. It's great to be back with you.

Russell Brand 0:48 Congratulations on your podcast.

Jay Shetty 0:50 Thank you. I appreciate that. It was wonderful being on yours.

Russell Brand 0:53 Yeah. This is the world now, just people podcasting each other. I suppose ultimately there'll be a time when no human interaction is not subsequently released as a podcast.

Jay Shetty 1:03 Yeah. Well, I think that's what happened, right? People had amazing conversations and then they thought, "Oh, I wish we could have shared that with someone."

Russell Brand 1:09 And now...

Jay Shetty 1:10 And now they do.

Russell Brand 1:11 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 1:12 So I remember last time we were together, it's actually been just a year since I interviewed you for Recovery-

Russell Brand 1:17 Wow

Jay Shetty 1:17 ... which was awesome. I was looking at that the other day, which was beautiful to be with you. And the, the feedback we got for that live broadcast last year, I think like over two and a half million people saw it, and the amount of energy we had for it was absolutely amazing.

Russell Brand 1:29 I was very impressed. And for a while afterwards, I couldn't do an internet video without going, "Press like, press... Let me see a little heart, a smiley face." But then I, I couldn't keep up the enthusiasm, Jay.

Jay Shetty 1:39 Oh, yeah?

Russell Brand 1:39 That is why we need you.

Jay Shetty 1:40 [laughs] Well, yeah, I'm not doing it this time because it's not live-

Russell Brand 1:43 It's-

Jay Shetty 1:43 ... so I can't ask for that.

Russell Brand 1:44 No.

Jay Shetty 1:45 But we were together in Ire- so the last time we were together we were in Ireland on a beach because you were shooting a movie.

Russell Brand 1:49 Mm.

Jay Shetty 1:50 And you were kind enough to invite us into your trailer while you were getting your makeup done and wearing your outfits. Tell us a bit about that.

Russell Brand 1:56 We were doing... I was doing a children's film, it was called Four Kids and It. And now everything I do in my life is weighed up against is it gonna be as enjoyable to me as doing my daughter's bath time, where I get to spend good quality time with them, mucking around, and it's one of my favorite things to do. So I only really do work if it doesn't get in the way of parenting. I've been like, you know, I've done- had a long period of my life where I wasn't a parent, and now so parenting, that's it for me. You know? Like at this stage. There might be a bit where I get bored of them. I'm-

Jay Shetty 2:28 [laughs]

Russell Brand 2:28 ... considering that as a possibility. So, like, doing that film out there, Radhanath Swami, a friend and teacher to both of us, was kind enough to come visit us in County Wicklow, Ireland, also to do the podcast as usual. Heaven forbid that a conversation should occur-

Jay Shetty 2:44 [laughs]

Russell Brand 2:44 ... without being recorded and subsequently downloaded. So, you know, on the last, I was writing about it funny enough today, because I've, like, written a book on mentorship, and Radhanath Swami is one of the mentors that I write about in that book. And I wrote about that occasion and how strange it was to be in a trailer with you, a couple of other guys, Sandipan, our mutual friend, and Radhanath Swami, and of course my own father. I'm thinking how unusual that felt, those sort of, those worlds colliding, and Radhanath Swami telling those stories from The Bhagavad Gita. You know, and in a sense, those kind of, those kind of encounters are demonstrative of a new life where my past is coalescing with my future, where different groups of my friends are starting to meet. In the past, I, things were quite atomized for me. I was quite insular and solitary and quite... I don't know. I'm still quite protective, I suppose, but in a different way. So now, you know, if I do make a film, then I'll make a film where I can bring my kids. You know, if I do do podcasts, I try to do it in a way that doesn't disrupt, you know, my connection to my family. So things have changed. And that little experience there of making that kids film, uh, and, and the encounter that you and I had there, in a sense is emblematic of this transition.

Jay Shetty 3:58 Yeah, it was an amazing conversation. And it's, it's fascinating to see that transition, because did you ever, did you always dream of being a father? Was that always a step you wanted to take? Did you want to have-

Russell Brand 4:06 Yes

Jay Shetty 4:07 ... children?

Russell Brand 4:08 Yes. I, like, almost as soon as I stopped being a child, I wanted children. I really like children a lot. When I was sort of, like, 15 or 16, I like... I... There's something about them. I suppose what it is, is that the unstructured connection that they have, which most evidently is observable through play. The way kids play for me makes me very, very happy.

Jay Shetty 4:32 Mm.

Russell Brand 4:32 That you can just invent what your situation is. And my daughter now is just reaching that age where you can... That's what she'll do. "Oh, no, Lucy's stuck in the mud." They don't even know who Lucy is.

Jay Shetty 4:44 [laughs]

Russell Brand 4:44 "Let's get Lucy out of the mud. You hold on my pajama. You hold my jamas. We have to get Lucy out of the mud." But no sooner have we got Lucy out of the mud, then she's in a tree. This kid's got no respect for reality-

Jay Shetty 4:54 [laughs]

Russell Brand 4:54 ... the way that reality is configured according to m- material situations. For her, Lucy is always on the precipice of being stuck in the mud or caught in a tree, and it's our duty to get them back. I feel some of the storylines might be being plagiarized from the Disney version of Winnie the Pooh.

Jay Shetty 5:10 Right.

Russell Brand 5:10 Although the central character, Lucy, seems to be her own construction, unless that has been taken from Ben and Holly, the kids show. Either way, it's a kind of hip hop editorializing of various media into her own imaginary narratives. The- they say that hip hop were the first po- post-modern art form.

Jay Shetty 5:29 Right.

Russell Brand 5:30 And now children's play is this wonderful collage-

Jay Shetty 5:33 Mm

Russell Brand 5:33 ... of influence, and I want in.

Jay Shetty 5:35 Do you still have play yourself? Is there something that you feel... Because I feel as adults, a lot of people I know, I spoke to, uh, the founder of ClassPass, who's a good friend of mine, and she was talking about how, as a CEO, she really believes that one of the things we lose as adults is play.

Russell Brand 5:49 Mm.

Jay Shetty 5:50 And you've just brought that up, and I'm just thinking that reconnection of play in our own lives. Is that something that you have a form of?

Russell Brand 5:57 Yes. I have, like... Firstly, I will say this, that a, a very good friend of mine, Emma Kenny, who you should have on your podcast, said that, uh, sex is adult play, that in a healthy relationship, your sexuality should have a, an air of playfulness in it. So that's something that I think about and aspire to. Elsewhere in my life, in my friendships, like, I like- I've always enjoyed people... I guess that's why I like comedians, is like people that you can start talking about stuff, and you sort of know that what you're talking about is not really real or something, but you're just inhabiting a role. Of course, I'm a performer as well, and a performance requires play. It requires play.

Jay Shetty 6:35 Mm.

Russell Brand 6:35 Now, from, you know, you and I are getting to know each other more, you have a lot of, uh, spirit you are running deep, you know? So you have a kind of a s- sort of a very, what seems to me, a very natural, monastic, uh, s- sage-like quality, you know? I'm not saying that that doesn't mean that play is accessible to you. I'm sure it is. But for me, coming from the background that I do of a performer and an entertainer, play is vital. The tricks, that energy, the energy of none of this is real, don't take this stuff seriously, you know, is found in a lot of deities that I like, you know? Sort of like in Krishna, for example, there's a lot of, "Eh," you know?

Jay Shetty 7:12 Mischief, yeah.

Russell Brand 7:13 Mischief.

Jay Shetty 7:13 Yeah.

Russell Brand 7:14 I like that stuff. Now, mischief is a risk because we live in a orderly material world of regulation, but I suppose the idea of play is you're not hurting no one.

Jay Shetty 7:22 Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about a few things today, and one of, one of the first things was, and I don't know if you know this, one of the most Googled thing is, is Russell Brand married? And, and obviously, I know Laura, your wife. She's, she's wonderful and amazing, and-

Russell Brand 7:34 That's me Googling that.

Jay Shetty 7:35 Yeah. [laughs] That's- [laughs]

Russell Brand 7:37 Is he-

Jay Shetty 7:37 Making sure

Russell Brand 7:38 ... who's this person in the bed?

Jay Shetty 7:39 [laughs] Where are these credit card bills coming from? [laughs] You, you making sure, just checking in with yourself.

Russell Brand 7:46 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 7:46 But it's, it's so fascinating to me because... And I, and I, and I meant what I said earlier. You've lived an incredibly fascinating life already, and you continue to do, but every part of your life's been so well-documented by the media, and I s- I use the word well loosely. But your life has been documented by the media, and, and how has that felt for you? Like, to... How has that felt from an experiential point of view? I feel like today, the reason why I ask it is people are listening, my audience, people are just struggling with their lives being documented by their own social media profile. Like, people are struggling with that, but you've had your life documented by people you don't even know.

Russell Brand 8:22 It can make you feel a kind of distinction and separation from yourself, like a part of you gets taken away. In fact, when I first got famous, I was f- friends, and still am friends, with Jonathan Ross, the broadcaster-

Jay Shetty 8:35 Mm-hmm

Russell Brand 8:35 ... the English broadcaster, and he said, "You lose something when you become famous, and you never get it back." And what it is is a kind of s- privacy and a sense of who you are. Now, at the beginning of my life in public, I didn't have any regard for privacy because I didn't, I wasn't that kind of person. You know, I was... I liked being famous. I liked performing. I was single. And so I didn't regard myself in that kind of way. So how it feels like is I, the illusion sometimes become more powerful than the truth, but I, perhaps everyone experiences that. In a sense, fame is simply an ap- amplification of what we all experience. We all know what it's like to be gossiped about. We all know what it's like to have people not like you and then attack you. You know, and in fame, you ex- experience these things in amplification. So in a wa- in a way, it's very alien, but in another way, it's very ordinary, just by degree is different from-

Jay Shetty 9:37 Mm

Russell Brand 9:37 ... the normal experience. So in time, at times it's been frustrating because I, sometimes you want to control your own narrative, and you want to control what other people think of you, which obviously is impossible. And so it's at times been quite challenging 'cause I've wanted to, "No, that's not what I said. That's not what I meant. I meant this." And, and my journey as a person with a public profile has been one of relinquishing that control, accepting the terms of fame, accepting that I'm here now, and trying to renegotiate so that I, I can be somehow useful in this role.

Jay Shetty 10:11 I, I think you're one of the few people who can probably say that authentically because I was saying this to you earlier, and I said I'd bring it up. I was watching the start of your new Netflix show that's about to come out in D- that's coming out in December, so it will have come out by the time this comes out, but-

Russell Brand 10:25 Right

Jay Shetty 10:26 ... but in that show, you start off, and you talk about how you realize, you, you make a great joke about how... Actually, why don't, why don't you explain it? It's probably better you explain. You make a great joke about how, you know, you're out here to send a message, et cetera, and then also to monetize.

Russell Brand 10:39 Oh, yeah, yeah.

Jay Shetty 10:40 Yeah.

Russell Brand 10:40 I do. I say that it's very difficult to make a living in media if you spend all your time criticizing all media.

Jay Shetty 10:45 Yeah. [laughs]

Russell Brand 10:45 That I learned that I was using wh- like, if you use your position of fame to attack the way that fame and celebrity functions, then eventually you're gonna cut the head off the serpent. The serpent's, like, gonna stop. I, I mean, in, in the end, you can't ride that forever. So there was a, it was a sort of a curious time because I suppose we've talked about mental health, and in a way what happened to me is I reached a point of total disillusionment because I reached saturation in terms of my own, in, in a way, my own expectations of celebrity. I would have liked... There were points in my life where I would have liked to have been as famous as, say, Tom Cruise or as famous as Will Smith or as famous as you and I. I don't know, famous, famous people. But, like, when I was very close into that world, it, found it very, something, uh, in it made me recoil and not at ease with myself.

Jay Shetty 11:42 Mm.

Russell Brand 11:42 Not that I made a deliberate choice to leave, but in the s- like, it's created a kind of spasm in me that I didn't have much control over. Subsequent to that, I experienced a sort of death, a kind of death of what I thought I wanted, even though, Jay, I was never s- you know, I'm not a bloody idiot. So I knew that fame wouldn't, uh, entirely... Excuse me grabbing a tissue.

Jay Shetty 12:05 It's okay.

Russell Brand 12:05 I sort of knew that fame would not be, um... [zipper swooshes] I knew it wouldn't work. Just got me old, uh, plastic bag here.

Jay Shetty 12:11 Yeah. [laughs]

Russell Brand 12:11 That's where I keep tissues.

Jay Shetty 12:12 Is that the baby bag or the... No.

Russell Brand 12:13 It's actually just mine.

Jay Shetty 12:14 Oh, right, okay. [laughs]

Russell Brand 12:14 This is the baby bag. [laughs] This is the bloody thing.

Jay Shetty 12:17 It looks too organized. It looks-

Russell Brand 12:18 I know. Well, let me tell you-

Jay Shetty 12:19 ... like an organized baby bag

Russell Brand 12:20 ... I'm not the genius behind the construction of that device.

Jay Shetty 12:23 Right.

Russell Brand 12:23 Um, so I knew even when I was little, even when I was really little, I thought, "I want to be famous. If I'm famous, I won't be me anymore. I would have escaped me." But, uh, I also knew that it definitely wouldn't work as a technique But then it's still sort of weird when it actually happens, and this same lesson has been taught to me in many ways through drugs or sex or, you know, money.

Jay Shetty 12:45 Mm.

Russell Brand 12:45 Lot, lots of ways. Not that it's been as if... I know there are people that are more extremely famous, more extremely wealthy, have more sex. I know all of those kind of things, but for me, uh, I suppose I'm like an idiot student of spirituality that it's like, "Well, I just really will check that sex doesn't work again." Like, and then before going in, it definitely, definitely doesn't. It definitely doesn't. It's definitely not the answer. But these things are seductive for a reason. Temptation isn't ugly. Temptation is beautiful.

Jay Shetty 13:12 Absolutely, and you said you s- you wrote your book, Mentors, which I'm super excited about because tell us a bit about the few people that are in there and how they've helped you maybe come to terms with some of these things that you just mentioned there. Who are those mentors? What are the topics that vary across that book?

Russell Brand 13:27 Once I met this guy, I were hanging out with Puff Daddy of all people.

Jay Shetty 13:30 Okay.

Russell Brand 13:31 And this guy that was mates with Puff Daddy, he were called Tracy. He was pretty cool, and he used this metaphor, which I've not used in the book, and I realize now that perhaps I should have done. He goes, "Life's like a computer game. You get trapped on different levels, and until you can master that level, you'll be trapped on it." He goes, "You obviously was trapped on the drug level, then you get trapped on the sex level. You've got to transcend these different levels." Now for me, these levels are overseen or you're helped ferried across by mentors. When I was a drug addict, I met Chip Summers, and Chip Summers was the first person I met that was clean. He'd, was a worse drug addict than I'd been. He would, been in prison for armed robbery and stuff. I was never, never served a custodial sentence. So when I saw this guy talking about, "I don't take drugs anymore," even though he, there were lots of things that were different, he's an atheist, I'm not an atheist, I was able to sort of somehow download from him or he were able to transfer to me, like any good teacher will, something that was latent within me but I was not in a position to realize. So he was the first mentor that I had. I made the decision this is, like... At first I didn't know it was possible. Like you say, you can't be what you can't see. I didn't know it was possible to not be a drug addict. I thought that was the solution. Then I saw people not being a drug addict, and then I was willing to do what he said. In this case, 12-step recovery, which I believe is a good solution for anyone with addiction issues or anyone that wants to change themselves actually. Then like, um, you know, then I got kind of caught up on other stuff, the sexual behavior, the obsession with fame, pleasure, individualism. And then I m- met a series of different mentors, including spiritual, like you know, h- devoted spiritual people such as Radhanath Swami, who we both know, Amma, the great I- Indian saint. Um, and uh, then like people that are more, what do I want to say, parochial, like my mentor Jimmy, who's like a very successful producer and manager of a production company, who's got four kids, been married a long time, doesn't drink or take drugs like me, hasn't for longer than I have, who's quite a solid person from a background that I identify with, uh, who's intelligent and lucid. So like I watched this person and it was very practical mentorship. He's like, I'll... If I'm at the point of a decision, like, "I'm gonna do this. Jimmy, I'm thinking of doing this." "Do not do this."

Jay Shetty 15:45 [laughs]

Russell Brand 15:46 I do what he says instead, so I'm already on a different path now. I'm, I'm using a consciousness that is not my own. I'm accessing external consciousness. So in a way, I know it's bloody simple, it's just following advice, but we don't have, you know, we come from similar worlds, similar backgrounds. We don't have mentor traditions in bloody Essex or Wood Green. No one says the right, "Emulate this guy. This person is connected." You have to find them by chance and by circumstance, and sometimes you don't even know that that's what you need. You know, so through my life, once I was switched onto it, because of the good fortune of being a drug addict, I became more alert to the possibility of doing it. So I started to look at, "I like this guy. I want to emulate him." It could be like a comedian, like Bill Hicks, where like who was sadly already dead by the time I'd become a comedian, but I thought, "I like how he does that."

Jay Shetty 16:32 Mm.

Russell Brand 16:32 And I model myself on that man, and like, "Oh, what, what does he do?" Of course, with, you know, when you're constructing your identity, you... Everything is about trying to connect to your own essence.

Jay Shetty 16:42 Mm.

Russell Brand 16:42 So you're not gonna... You know, like I'm not from Texas. I'm not s- like I don't use anger in the same way as he d- I mean, there's all sorts of distinctions, you know? And I, you know, so, you know, my, like a l- little bit of Kenneth Williams, a little bit of Richard Pryor, a little bit of Peter Cook. You just copy the people that you admire, and it helps you to become yourself because the latent energies within you will be realized if you have the external coordinates to follow, but don't get obsessed or fetishize the external coordinates, in which case you're just mimicking-

Jay Shetty 17:11 Mm

Russell Brand 17:11 ... and you won't engage your own essence.

Jay Shetty 17:13 Yeah, and I'm glad you touched on that. Like what is that difference in your mind on imitation versus emulation? Like that mimicking versus actually finding yourself through that process? Because I, I couldn't agree with you more. I, I genuinely feel that we live in a society whereby the pinnacle of success becomes our validational metric of how we measure ourselves.

Russell Brand 17:34 Mm.

Jay Shetty 17:34 So right now, for example, you know, Kylie Jenner's just become the youngest billionaire in the world at 21.

Russell Brand 17:40 Mm.

Jay Shetty 17:40 Every 21-year-old's going, "Oh, God, I'm not a billionaire," you know? And it becomes the new pressure. So it becomes the imitation, or you see someone who's popular on social media by doing a particular activity, you think, "Oh, I need to imitate that to get that result." What is that difference between it being a search for self-

Russell Brand 17:57 Mm

Jay Shetty 17:57 ... versus a sabotage of self?

Russell Brand 17:59 Maharishi Mahesh said discernment is the most important thing. Discernment. And then I spoke to, uh, Jordan Peterson, and he said-

Jay Shetty 18:07 Mm

Russell Brand 18:07 ... judgment. So in a... It's interesting, isn't it, that someone like the Maharishi would not say kindness, love, compassion-

Jay Shetty 18:13 Mm. Mm

Russell Brand 18:13 ... but would say discernment, knowing what path to follow. In terms of mentorship and emulation, I would say in our connection it's very difficult not to want to mimic s- stars or billionaires, but I would say we must become attuned to what is timeless. And economic success ... is emulating social power. It's the idea of, oh g- like what, what can we infer from the wealth of Kylie Jenner, is it?

Jay Shetty 18:45 Kylie, yeah.

Russell Brand 18:45 Kylie Jenner. Like, is the, Oh, she's powerful, she can do what she wants. She's made something of her life. She's glamorous, she's potent, she's powerful. Like, so the timeless in that is, I suppose, power. The temporal in that is economic success. All... it's gonna die.

Jay Shetty 19:01 Mm.

Russell Brand 19:01 It's gonna go. Kylie Jenner, like all of us, will die. The money will die. The globe itself, the entire planet, will die. So if you've spent your time festooning and ornamenting your temporary vehicle instead of the timeless, which is con- in continual dialogue with the temporal and external, then you have missed the point. So if I sort of say, "I like Bill Hicks because Bill Hicks speaks the truth," right? And I, so I will speak my truth, rather than, "I'm gonna wear these clothes and put on this accent," then I've... You don't learn the wrong lesson.

Jay Shetty 19:37 Mm. Mm.

Russell Brand 19:38 You know, and like a lot of times in my own life, I learn the wrong lesson. I learn, oh, you know, like Hollywood stars, they seem to be above problems and above the filth that I feel contaminated by. I'll become a Hollywood s-... Oh, no, the filth has come with me.

Jay Shetty 19:52 Mm.

Russell Brand 19:52 You know, because I learned the wrong lesson. The real lesson, the real work is done inwardly. I suppose how to make this evaluation, Jay, would be to... This is why I've good mentors, 'cause you can't always trust yourself.

Jay Shetty 20:05 Mm.

Russell Brand 20:05 I can't always trust myself. I'm s- I still am capable of making dumb decisions. I still might go-

Jay Shetty 20:11 Me too

Russell Brand 20:11 ... I, like you say, with your seed and weed technique, which I adore, I, like, that I might sort of try and convince myself, "That's a seed."

Jay Shetty 20:18 Yeah, me too.

Russell Brand 20:19 And I might need someone else to go-

Jay Shetty 20:20 It's the ego

Russell Brand 20:20 ... "That's a weed."

Jay Shetty 20:21 Yeah.

Russell Brand 20:21 "You idiot, how can you try and sell that as a seed?" Oh, no, it could be a seed. 'Cause really what you wanna do, you know, the, the power, prestige, privilege, these things all, I like them.

Jay Shetty 20:30 It's... We all do

Russell Brand 20:30 Part of me wants it. I want the glory, the adornment, to be garlanded in wonder, to be kissed and loved and licked. But I've been there now, and it, it's very temporary. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 20:40 [laughs] And yeah, it's that confirmation bias, right? We're always trying to find the information that justifies our belief.

Russell Brand 20:46 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 20:46 So if we wanna switch and make ourselves feel, "Oh, no, I am happy doing this because he or she's happy doing it," we find a way.

Russell Brand 20:52 Yes.

Jay Shetty 20:53 We find a way. But what's fascinating about what you've done, and this has genuinely been... I think I've wanted to ask you this since we've been friends and known each other, and I'm glad I get to ask it to you today, because I think it's probably one of the hardest things to do, genuinely. I feel like you're someone who has multiple times reinvented themselves, and not reinvented for the sake of branding or marketing, but in bringing out your truth in different ways.

Russell Brand 21:18 Ooh, thanks. That's a good compliment.

Jay Shetty 21:20 Right. And I, and I mean it. No, I'm saying, I'm genuinely saying it. Like, I don't think it's been a marketing or branding attempt. I believe it's been an attempt to, to be authentic and genuine at every moment in the way that I've seen it.

Russell Brand 21:30 Yes.

Jay Shetty 21:30 But you, you, you started off, and we were talking about it earlier, you started it off, you were, you were, you know, you were the host at Big Brother, the digital edition, et cetera. And then everyone knew you as this ex- you know, eccentric, crazy, wacky individual, you know, charismatic, captivating. And, and I've heard people who, who worked with you behind the scenes say he was extremely charming behind the scenes, too. And so it's, and y- and there are parts of that which you've kept, and there's parts of that which you let go. And then we saw Russell Brand, of course, the actor, and then you moved into acting in Hollywood. And I know everyone that I speak to in America about you absolutely adores you and loves you for the movies that you made. And then we have you coming back and playing a more activist role, and then even in politics, and now spirituality and philosophy and culture and society. And I feel like that must have been so difficult, because I don't think... And you may see it differently, but from my pers- my point of view, I never really saw you completely step away to come back. I never really s- I see a lot of people, especially celebrities or people who are trying to find their truth and find their why, they kind of go away into hiding, and then sometimes emerge in an interview and n- don't always make complete sense-

Russell Brand 22:37 Mm

Jay Shetty 22:37 ... because they're still trying to make sense of what they're finding. But you almost have kept your personality and who you are, but then engaged and explored all these fascinating things.

Russell Brand 22:46 This has been fortunate, this, Jay-

Jay Shetty 22:48 Yeah

Russell Brand 22:48 ... when you put it like that. In a sense, we all have our game, don't we, and our strategies. Some of us are attracted to the more high-stakes game where you could be humiliated, exposed or attacked or killed. And I think what happened is that even though I, in various periods of my life, have taken on the tools and ephemera of the culture, i.e., I wanna be on the TV and dress up and be all famous, or I wanna go to Hollywood or whatever, something in me always knew that these things would pass and are not real, and I've kept a healthy dialogue with that, perhaps 'cause I'm an addict and the, an addict has to be aware of pain continually, and otherwise the pain will end in self-destruction. So it wasn't, um, a conscious, "Right, I better reinvent myself." It was in each case a sort of crisis that felt beyond my control. Like, just, "Oh, well, this isn't working anymore. Can't do that no more. That's doesn't seem real anymore." Not even really cognitive. I moved back from America when I fell in love with somebody in England. I got... Like, the thing with politics, for example, was I, I remember, I feel like I asked myself the question, and my mate Gareth, that I was working with a lot at the time then, what would happen if I just start saying what I actually think about politics and then put it on the internet? What will happen? And then I watched what happened, and it felt like I'd always felt that. Like for a... take the very obvious example of I said there's no point voting because the offer-

Jay Shetty 24:23 Mm

Russell Brand 24:23 ... or the of- opportunities for change are minimal and ultimately meaningless. [laughs] I had always felt that, and that's why I hadn't ever voted. And pretty much everyone I knew felt like that. I didn't belong to groups of people that were like, "Well, I'm a-" ... Democrat or I'm a Conservative. Everyone's just like, "Well, that's just that thing where everyone-

Jay Shetty 24:41 Mm

Russell Brand 24:41 ... pretends that ordinary people can have power while these institutions protect their own interests." Everyone sort of knew that, whether intellectually or just more viscerally. So I started talking about it in the same way of through performance, through comedy. 'Cause the point of comedy, in a sense, is revelation.

Jay Shetty 24:57 Mm.

Russell Brand 24:57 Revelation of what is previously been concealed. That's what is exciting about comedy, is that it puts you in touch with an ulterior reality. Like, that, you know, we know, we suspect, we pray and meditate on, that whilst we accept the conditions of this conversation that you're embodying that conscious entity and I'm embodying this conscious entity, we both know that they're gonna die. We wonder what is the energy that's behind it, where will that energy go? Of what is that energy comprised? How did we end up speaking this language? All of these questions fizz invisibly through the air. All of these connections are continually being made. And I feel that you can apply this metric, this tool, this a- a- analytical device to anything. You can start saying, "Well, what is politics? Who does it serve? How is it constructed? What... Why is this, this system still in place? Why is it not progressed when clearly the technology to change it ha- ha- has or evolved? Whose interests are being protected? Why are these conversations not had? Why is this information not conveyed? Why is that..." You know, and if you start asking those questions, things start just peeling away and peeling away.

Jay Shetty 25:53 Mm.

Russell Brand 25:53 You can ask it of yourself. You can ask it of someone you love, which is a cruel thing to do, in a way.

Jay Shetty 25:56 [laughs]

Russell Brand 25:57 But or you can ask it of the institutions that are around you. So in a sense, the thing that's... You know, you shed your skin, like a serpent, you know, and you sort of go on. But, like, behind it, the energy is the same. My belief is while there might be an essential distinction between you and I, that you are some very particular expression of the whole and the divine as e- everyone is, that we are all somehow in continual communion with something that's bigger than us, bigger than this. How could it not be? How could our little minds understand all reality? How could this be all that there is?

Jay Shetty 26:33 And how did you get into that? Like, how did that journey start? So we're talking about all these reinventions, but that particular-

Russell Brand 26:38 What, spiritual curiosity?

Jay Shetty 26:39 Yeah. Where did that come from? Like, why did they just-

Russell Brand 26:41 Drugs.

Jay Shetty 26:42 Right.

Russell Brand 26:42 Because I think if you start taking drugs-

Jay Shetty 26:44 Yeah, I agree

Russell Brand 26:44 ... you start thinking, "I'm trying to kill this thing."

Jay Shetty 26:47 Mm.

Russell Brand 26:47 Like, "It's not, uh, working for me." And if you take things like hallucinogens, the hallucinogens will-

Jay Shetty 26:51 Yes

Russell Brand 26:52 ... make you physically experience, "Oh, no, I'm not me." I remember that feeling, being quite young, sort of 16.

Jay Shetty 26:59 Wow.

Russell Brand 26:59 Taking acid, and the sort of, the horror, actually. The horror, uh, because I was not... You know, I used to do it with other lads. I wasn't around bloody gurus.

Jay Shetty 27:09 Yeah.

Russell Brand 27:09 You know, like, so of just thinking, "Oh, no, I'm not me. I'm not me. This is not good. Who am I then?" You know, and there's no one there to go, "That's really beautiful, isn't it?"

Jay Shetty 27:17 Mm.

Russell Brand 27:17 "That you're not you, because it means that you are everyone and you are everything, and all those things you've told yourself, and your language, and your culture, and your gender, and your identity are all just biological or s- social programs that you are exhibiting." I just thought, "Bloody hell, whose hands are these?" And it was scary. So but I suppose, as I am getting older, I'm becoming... I, like, you know, in it, like, at the end of... Is it, am I right in saying that at the end of the Gita, like, Arjuna is like, "I remember"? Like, in a sense, we know. We know that the-

Jay Shetty 27:47 There's a reawakening.

Russell Brand 27:48 Huh.

Jay Shetty 27:48 Yeah, reawakening. Sorry, continue. Continue. I just-

Russell Brand 27:51 Well, like-

Jay Shetty 27:51 There's a really-

Russell Brand 27:51 ... I feel like it unfolds for you. It unfolds for you.

Jay Shetty 27:54 Mm.

Russell Brand 27:54 And there are moments in life where your, your j- the trauma, the rupture, the pain of being alive al- always will become an opportunity for learning if you're able to do it, if you're able to see it in that way. And sometimes ins- in our pain based mentality, it's quite difficult to work that trick.

Jay Shetty 28:14 Mm.

Russell Brand 28:14 It's quite difficult to go, "Now, what am I supposed to learn here? What am I... How am I supposed to evolve here?"

Jay Shetty 28:19 Mm. Now, one thing I like doing on the podcast is making it really... Trying to extrapolate from incredible people's lives like yourself, some, some practical lessons in that sphere. Because I feel either, if you're wat- watching this or listening to this, you're either on drugs and you've had the same experience. I know plenty of people who feel that way. So definitely there's that group of individuals. And then there's a group of people that just kind of feel that way just because.

Russell Brand 28:42 Mm.

Jay Shetty 28:42 They've, they've realized, "Well, I don't want to be this. This can't be all there is." And then there's a group of people who are just like, "Oh, well, actually, that's too far for me to even think about. I'm not even there yet."

Russell Brand 28:51 Mm.

Jay Shetty 28:51 You know, but when you do make that step and you start having... Originally, like you said, you don't have a guru or sage to tell you, "Oh, that's a good feeling."

Russell Brand 28:58 Mm.

Jay Shetty 28:58 You started having these feelings. What's the next thing you do? Like, what, what do you do from there? Where do you go?

Russell Brand 29:03 Start with the possibility of happiness, I feel. I don't agree with-

Jay Shetty 29:09 Mm

Russell Brand 29:09 ... whilst you and I have talked before about asceticism-

Jay Shetty 29:12 Mm

Russell Brand 29:13 ... you know, and denial of pleasure, I feel like the possibility that you can be happy is an interesting thing to invite. 'Cause I think a lot of people just think, "Well, this is life. Life is miserable."

Jay Shetty 29:22 Mm.

Russell Brand 29:22 "My mom was beat up by my dad." This isn't me personally, I'm just making this whole example up. Uh, you know, like, like, "I've only ever known misery." This, like, you have to overcome that idea. The, even the fact that the possibility of happiness exists conceptually in your consciousness is the possibility of its realization. Then I feel-

Jay Shetty 29:38 Mm

Russell Brand 29:38 ... like you have to s- accept that you have a problem, i.e. something that you want to alter and change. Then you have to accept that there is a way of doing it. This is where a mentor is useful-

Jay Shetty 29:52 Mm

Russell Brand 29:52 ... in hope, in the hope that change is possible. Then you have to be willing to accept help. And I think that can work with any situation. Something as evident, chronic and severe as drugs or s- serious eating disorder, or something like, "Oh, I don't like my job anymore," or don't want to say those kind of things. Say me, if I like, you know, if I think, "Well, maybe I agree with Jay that I don't want to swear. Maybe I think it's bad." You know? Now I know you don't do it, so I think, "Hm, is it working for Jay? I'll try that." You know, so that's an example of how, uh, something that's a potential for improvement, it could be deployed in my life, and I'll maybe try it out, and I'll be aware of it and see if it works for me, you know?

Jay Shetty 30:32 Mm.

Russell Brand 30:32 So in a sense, like I'm not too m- m- uh... Don't be married to the negative aspects of your self-belief. You know, if you-

Jay Shetty 30:39 Mm

Russell Brand 30:39 ... some don't like something, you can't... Then you find you talk to people sometimes, and they go, "Yeah, but I can't change. I'm always like this. Life's like this."

Jay Shetty 30:45 Yeah.

Russell Brand 30:46 You know? And like or someone I spoke to and I go, he goes, "Um, yeah, but I don't believe in God in that way. I believe God's in relationships." I go, "Yeah, but you're not happy, so fuck your beliefs." Excuse my language. [laughs]

Jay Shetty 30:56 [laughs]

Russell Brand 30:57 You know, if your belief's not working for you, let's try something else.

Jay Shetty 31:00 Yeah.

Russell Brand 31:00 Let's try something else.

Jay Shetty 31:02 Yeah.

Russell Brand 31:02 If it's working, then crack on.

Jay Shetty 31:05 I love that point about the openness to happiness. And, and funnily enough, my journey into being a monk and that part of denial was because I believed it would make me more happy. So even then-

Russell Brand 31:16 Mm

Jay Shetty 31:16 ... that was still the seed. That was still the focus, the focal point, that service was linked to happiness.

Russell Brand 31:23 Yes.

Jay Shetty 31:23 That selflessness was linked to happiness.

Russell Brand 31:25 I think about this, Jay. You know, when people say, "I want to be enlightened," is... What they're really saying is, "I want to be happy-

Jay Shetty 31:31 Totally

Russell Brand 31:32 ... and I want pleasure, and I want to not feel pain." And maybe it's not, you know, awful to not want to suffer, but I feel that if you mask the sincerity of your intentions, then you're less likely to achieve them.

Jay Shetty 31:48 Totally.

Russell Brand 31:49 And also, the way that we avoid the likelihood that our, that our journey to happiness or connection or enlightenment, or call it what you will, will not be doing what we think is right.

Jay Shetty 32:04 Mm.

Russell Brand 32:04 It's not gonna be what we came up with. Whilst, of course, all of us, I feel, carry a kind of barometer that says... Like you with the not swearing, something in you told you, "I don't wanna do that," and you listened to that voice.

Jay Shetty 32:15 Mm-hmm.

Russell Brand 32:15 And something in me says, "Yeah, don't look at porn, Russ," you know. Like, it's sort of... It's not like I'm not responding to some external puritanical-

Jay Shetty 32:23 Yeah

Russell Brand 32:23 ... force that's saying, "Don't do it," although there are enough people that have written down, "Do not objectify sex. It will mess you up," you know.

Jay Shetty 32:29 Yeah.

Russell Brand 32:29 People have obviously discovered that for thousands of years, written it down, and I've ignored it.

Jay Shetty 32:34 [laughs]

Russell Brand 32:34 You know, like, and like, um... But, like, uh, when your inner voice aligns with something like that, then you cover possibility-

Jay Shetty 32:41 Yes

Russell Brand 32:41 ... of sort of making a meaningful connection.

Jay Shetty 32:43 Yeah, I love that. I've seen you say that in a video that I saw on your Instagram page recently, where you were talking about how, how do you feel after you've just done the act?

Russell Brand 32:50 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 32:50 Like, that's kind of a great reflection process of like, for example, masturbation. It's like how you feel after-

Russell Brand 32:56 Mm

Jay Shetty 32:56 ... is a great judge of whether you want it in your life or not.

Russell Brand 33:00 Yeah, if you feel great.

Jay Shetty 33:00 That was-

Russell Brand 33:01 Maybe there's some people that feel like, "Yeah-

Jay Shetty 33:02 Yeah

Russell Brand 33:02 ... no, I like it," and, oh, carry on then.

Jay Shetty 33:04 Yeah.

Russell Brand 33:04 But although, you know, there is obviously such a thing as mental illness. There are obviously some people that go around doing the most unbelievable things, and it sort of works for them. But I feel like as an optimist, I have to believe that if we were to approach those people with the light, that they would not wanna do it, you know?

Jay Shetty 33:19 Definitely.

Russell Brand 33:19 I don't feel that people would wanna cling on to the murder, the pedophilia-

Jay Shetty 33:23 No

Russell Brand 33:23 ... if they had a connection to God.

Jay Shetty 33:25 100%. I think people are ready to give up lesser things in any fashion, material or spiritual or energy, for higher energy.

Russell Brand 33:32 Me too.

Jay Shetty 33:33 Yeah. I think-

Russell Brand 33:33 What do you think about the thing that Gandhi said ages ago, obviously, quite like, uh, like the, you know, the there's no point in India getting rid of the British, then emulating what the British w- were doing anyway, just with Indians in the roles of power. He said we've got to break down our country into like its 70,000 villages. They should all be autonomous, and we've got to let go-

Jay Shetty 33:52 Mm

Russell Brand 33:52 ... of our love of gadgets and stuff. And he was saying this before we were, you know, spending our whole life staring at screens. You know, like he's saying, we, we... At some point, you've got to let go of those low, lower pressures, those low-

Jay Shetty 34:03 Yeah

Russell Brand 34:03 ... those low vibrational pleasures.

Jay Shetty 34:05 And that's what I think it is. Because people haven't been exposed to higher energy-

Russell Brand 34:08 Mm

Jay Shetty 34:09 ... most of all in their life, and I see it everywhere I go. I'm just... I look back and I'm like, I'm so fortunate that I met someone of really high energy really early in my life.

Russell Brand 34:17 Right.

Jay Shetty 34:18 And that's kind of what I feel like what I'm trying to do is, is just how can I expose people to great energy early in their life? Because then they at least know it exists. It's almost like I was, I was... And this is a totally different context. But I was speaking to a big media company recently, and they were saying how they know that when they make celebrity gossip, et cetera, it gets big views and big likes and big shares. But one of them is a bit more conscious and intentional and pushed a very important piece around mental health and reform and recovery, and when they did that, the views went even higher. And she was just saying that actually, taking a more highbrow attempt at media, taking a stance, having an opinion that wasn't necessarily diving into our lower desires to just learn about gossip and sex and all the issues actually brought people into it. And so it's interesting how we sell people short through what we create.

Russell Brand 35:07 That's a cool point. I mean, like our sort of love of God or truth or purity or whatever you wanna call it, it shouldn't just be like supporting a football team. If it's, oh, I like this one. This is the one I've happened upon. It's because it actually will work.

Jay Shetty 35:19 Mm.

Russell Brand 35:19 You know, you have to actually believe. Like, like I understand empirically with drugs, no, Russell, don't take drugs. It won't do what you think it's gonna do.

Jay Shetty 35:28 Yeah.

Russell Brand 35:28 It will temporarily distract you from pain, and then the pain will be even worse. I... It's a harder lesson to learn around sex. It's harder to go, no, don't have sex. You will feel worse afterwards, except obviously with in, in my case, in a happy, uh, monogamous relationship. But so, but i- and then even more hard to learn, oh, don't go out and try and adorn yourself with sort of glory and, you know, expensive garb or care too much about what people say. You sort of keep thinking it will work. And obviously, as that, uh, example suggests, people do think, no, looking at this, you know, video that says we might catch a glimpse up someone's skirt or hear some scintillating bit of tittle-tattle, you know, it still kind of works. And it's but, but we are right. We are right. Like, uh, you can't get past hate with more hate. You can't get past lust with more lust. But within love, within some pure consciousness, it must be housing all of it, that, that, um, time is resting on timelessness, that if you can somehow get by it, if you can get by it, it will be more powerful. That's, I suppose, what faith is.

Jay Shetty 36:34 Mm. Well said.

Russell Brand 36:36 Thanks.

Jay Shetty 36:36 Yeah.

Russell Brand 36:36 Thanks.

Jay Shetty 36:36 Really well said.

Russell Brand 36:37 Thanks.

Jay Shetty 36:37 So I'm gonna go into, we've got five minutes, I'm going to get into the final five questions that I always do-

Russell Brand 36:41 Oh, that's what you do

Jay Shetty 36:41 ... in the last five minutes.

Russell Brand 36:42 Good formatting. Nick that.

Jay Shetty 36:43 [laughs]

Russell Brand 36:45 The final five.

Jay Shetty 36:46 The final five.

Russell Brand 36:46 And now it's time for the terminal 20.

Jay Shetty 36:48 [laughs]

Russell Brand 36:49 Our unique item on Under The Skin.

Jay Shetty 36:51 Yeah. So I'm gonna go into these five questions. So I actually, for this segment, I went, went to Google Because I love seeing what-

Russell Brand 36:57 Do you really trust Google?

Jay Shetty 36:59 I don't trust Google.

Russell Brand 37:00 [laughs]

Jay Shetty 37:00 I like know- I like, I like knowing what, I like knowing what the masses are thinking about.

Russell Brand 37:04 Right.

Jay Shetty 37:04 And if that's-

Russell Brand 37:05 It's a t- temperature taking device

Jay Shetty 37:06 ... it's, yeah, it, it helps me really understand-

Russell Brand 37:08 Do you think they're listening to us?

Jay Shetty 37:10 N- they-

Russell Brand 37:10 Google

Jay Shetty 37:10 ... probably. They better be.

Russell Brand 37:12 Eh. I mean.

Jay Shetty 37:13 [laughs]

Russell Brand 37:14 Otherwise, what are we doing?

Jay Shetty 37:14 They better... Yeah, there's... Why are we wasting our life?

Russell Brand 37:16 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 37:16 [laughs] Okay. So the, the question was... Oh, we've, we've answered this one. We're gonna skip this one. So this one is, is Russell Brand married? That's one of the most Googled things.

Russell Brand 37:24 Yes.

Jay Shetty 37:25 Yes.

Russell Brand 37:25 To my wife, Laura Brand-

Jay Shetty 37:27 Yeah

Russell Brand 37:27 ... by coincidence.

Jay Shetty 37:28 [laughs] Uh, this is another. What is Russell Brand's IQ?

Russell Brand 37:31 Well, I th- I like to think I'm quite clever.

Jay Shetty 37:33 I know. I think people do too. That's a question that people-

Russell Brand 37:35 But like that, if you've done an IQ test, it's mostly to do with triangles, isn't it?

Jay Shetty 37:39 Mm-hmm. [laughs]

Russell Brand 37:39 Put this triangle over there. Now what? Hmm? Did they? Was it... What happened on the Tuesday? So I like to think I've got a high IQ, but there's quite a lot of daily demonstrations of stupidity.

Jay Shetty 37:51 [laughs]

Russell Brand 37:51 I'd have to be honest.

Jay Shetty 37:52 Well, I remember when The Guardian put you in as the fourth most-

Russell Brand 37:56 Oh, yeah, no, clever person-

Jay Shetty 37:57 Clever person

Russell Brand 37:57 ... influential thinker

Jay Shetty 37:58 ... yeah, thinking, in the world. Influential thinker in the world.

Russell Brand 38:00 Oh, that was good news, wasn't it?

Jay Shetty 38:01 Yeah, that was good, wasn't it?

Russell Brand 38:01 'Cause the people's like Thomas Piketty, Naomi Klein, probably like Yanis Varoufakis, like proper like political leaders-

Jay Shetty 38:07 Yeah

Russell Brand 38:07 ... ecologists.

Jay Shetty 38:09 And you're number four.

Russell Brand 38:09 Russ.

Jay Shetty 38:10 Yeah, it was amazing.

Russell Brand 38:11 Quite right.

Jay Shetty 38:11 I love that.

Russell Brand 38:12 Why am I not number one?

Jay Shetty 38:13 Yeah, exactly.

Russell Brand 38:14 'Cause I thought at the time.

Jay Shetty 38:14 [laughs] I love it. Okay. Uh, that was, yeah, that was the, the Russell Brand, uh, IQ question.

Russell Brand 38:20 I l- love this bit of the show, by the way.

Jay Shetty 38:22 Oh, good. Well, thank you.

Russell Brand 38:23 This is really t- t- really tapping into my ego.

Jay Shetty 38:26 Thank you. Is Russell Brand vegan?

Russell Brand 38:28 He tries, but he's a nice guy.

Jay Shetty 38:30 Yeah. [laughs]

Russell Brand 38:30 Uh, like, I mean, like what happens with me is, uh, eggs, like, you know, but like I try to take them in the kindest way.

Jay Shetty 38:38 Yeah.

Russell Brand 38:38 Uh, I, what I do is I reach into the chicken-

Jay Shetty 38:40 Mm-hmm

Russell Brand 38:40 ... just before it's ready. No, I don't do that.

Jay Shetty 38:42 [laughs]

Russell Brand 38:43 And like, uh, and like, and like eg- I sometimes like, you know, I sometimes like a little buttery snack. I'm so sorry. I've... Vegans are definitely right. I'm not arguing that they're... I'm not saying, "What's the point of being vegan?"

Jay Shetty 38:53 Yeah.

Russell Brand 38:53 Vegans are correct. Are you vegan?

Jay Shetty 38:55 I am, yes.

Russell Brand 38:55 Of course you are. Look at your eyes.

Jay Shetty 38:56 Yeah.

Russell Brand 38:57 You're disgusting.

Jay Shetty 38:57 I remember when you interviewed the happy pair, too.

Russell Brand 38:59 No, I love those-

Jay Shetty 39:00 You know them, yeah

Russell Brand 39:00 ... people. Those men are beautiful, man.

Jay Shetty 39:01 Yeah.

Russell Brand 39:01 You've gotta be vegan. You can't argue with whether or not you should be vegan. You know, like people do. No, you've gotta eat, just eat... Like, some people have taken it to extremes. I only eat meat now.

Jay Shetty 39:09 [laughs]

Russell Brand 39:10 What? I won't even have salad with it. No way. But like for me, you've gotta be vegan for the planet, for yourself, for every reason. The trouble is, you know, eggs.

Jay Shetty 39:18 Yeah. Totally.

Russell Brand 39:19 And cakes.

Jay Shetty 39:20 Yeah.

Russell Brand 39:20 Weakness, general weakness. But I'm heading that way. Perfect me will be vegan.

Jay Shetty 39:24 Fine. And, and the last one is what is Russell Brand up to now?

Russell Brand 39:27 Gosh, what is he doing? Well, I am, uh, what I'm doing at the moment is being a father to my daughters-

Jay Shetty 39:34 That's good

Russell Brand 39:35 ... a husband to my wife, and work has become of secondary importance to me. But I do... The thing that was there in the first place that got me into all that trouble and all of those adventures is still there. It's not gone anywhere. It will s- need to at some point manifest itself, and I'm just trying to prepare myself so that when next time it does it, it doesn't lead to me sort of being destroyed in some way or causing suffering. I want it to realize itself benevolently, and I feel that the only way to do that is to try to avoid making the decision or allowing it to migrate towards the ego, even things I start with the best intentions, i.e. true. Sometimes the ego gets hold of it. It's very crafty, the ego-

Jay Shetty 40:17 Mm

Russell Brand 40:17 ... isn't it?

Jay Shetty 40:18 But that's, but that's the best thing that we have to try because otherwise we don't even see it.

Russell Brand 40:23 Mm.

Jay Shetty 40:24 And then we would often talk about in the monastery that when you're not doing anything out of the ordinary, it's easy to think you're humble.

Russell Brand 40:30 Oh.

Jay Shetty 40:31 But when you're not actually pushing the boundary... Like, if you sit alone all day, everyone will think they're humble. But it's when you go out there and you do something like, "Oh, wow, I've got a big ego, I need to work on that."

Russell Brand 40:39 Right.

Jay Shetty 40:39 So it's like if you don't activate, it's easy to start getting comfortable and think, "Oh, I'm quite enlightened, aren't I? I'm quite realized."

Russell Brand 40:44 But you're actually just neutralized-

Jay Shetty 40:46 Yeah

Russell Brand 40:46 ... 'cause you're not engaged with the worldly things.

Jay Shetty 40:48 Yeah. Yeah.

Russell Brand 40:49 I like that. Thanks.

Jay Shetty 40:49 Anyway. Awesome. Thank you, Russell. And I want people to go and, of course, buy the book Mentors, which I'm fascinated to read. Can't wait to read it.

Russell Brand 40:55 I'd like them to, yeah.

Jay Shetty 40:56 Anything you'd like to mention on Mentors?

Russell Brand 40:58 Just, uh, no. You can do what you want with that.

Jay Shetty 41:00 Just, just-

Russell Brand 41:00 And like buy it and read it.

Jay Shetty 41:01 Yeah.

Russell Brand 41:01 And get mentors. You don't even need to buy it or read it.

Jay Shetty 41:03 Yeah.

Russell Brand 41:03 You could nick it, or you could get the information and just get a mentor. Uh, and that Netflix thing.

Jay Shetty 41:08 Yes, absolutely.

Russell Brand 41:09 But by now, that's been and gone.

Jay Shetty 41:10 Totally.

Russell Brand 41:11 It's February.

Jay Shetty 41:11 But I'm gonna push that early anyway.

Russell Brand 41:12 Oh, yeah.

Jay Shetty 41:13 Yeah. I want people to-

Russell Brand 41:13 Just push it one... Oh, and listen to-

Jay Shetty 41:14 Fourth

Russell Brand 41:15 ... our podcast-

Jay Shetty 41:15 Yeah

Russell Brand 41:15 ... Under the Skin.

Jay Shetty 41:16 Yeah.

Russell Brand 41:16 And see how we gracefully steal that last bit-

Jay Shetty 41:19 [laughs]

Russell Brand 41:19 ... when I go, "Okay, now it's the ti- final five questions. I just, I don't know, I just like to go on Google, I guess."

Jay Shetty 41:24 [laughs]

Russell Brand 41:25 "I've always liked it. So these are the top five, uh, Yahoo'd suggestion." [laughs]

Jay Shetty 41:30 [laughs] Sponsored by Yahoo.

Russell Brand 41:33 Yeah.

Jay Shetty 41:33 Yeah. No, I love it. Thank you, Russell. I'm so grateful.

Russell Brand 41:35 Jay Shetty. Thank you, mate.

Jay Shetty 41:36 Thank you for sharing your stories.

Russell Brand 41:37 Cheers, man.

Jay Shetty 41:38 Appreciate it.

Russell Brand 41:38 Thank you for asking.

Jay Shetty 41:38 Thank you. If you want even more videos just like this one, click on the boxes over here. And if you want to continue seeing these kinds of stories, you can subscribe by clicking the link right here.