Russell Brand and his big mouth

Big Brother's Big Mouth, the hit E4 show where an impassioned and opinionated rabble argues about the goings on in the Big Brother house, requires careful handling by a responsible, sensible and calming influence, a disciplinarian and a cool head - much in the model of a headmaster, or Speaker of the House of Commons perhaps. So just how Russell Brand - a self-proclaimed anarchist who was once arrested for public nudity and has been beaten up by security staff... at his own gig - got the job is anyone's guess

Today, sat in a photography studio in implausibly bourgeois Fulham, he looks every inch the nutter. His black hair sticks out like he's been licking plug sockets, his Gothic/new romantic clothes and black beard adding a sinister air of vampirism. Most shockingly of all, though, he turns out to be charming, erudite, polite and warm, as he expounds on everything from the lunacy of live TV to his favourite Big Brother moments.

Have you been surprised how successful Big Brother's Big Mouth has become?

I'm happy it's done well - the last one for Celebrity Big Brother got more viewers than Channel 4 had at the same time. I didn't have any expectations, except that it would be a laugh and be good, and it's got better. It's got really good people working on it, so I think it's inevitable that it's become so good. I'm glad people like it though - that's brilliant.

Considering your politics, being a presenter on a Big Brother show isn't exactly an act of revolution, is it?

I like it because it's live, and it's talking to people about people. I think that's good, that is in keeping with what I believe. I don't feel at all compromised by doing Big Mouth. It's just people talking about humanity and people's behaviour towards each other. I'm always trotting out Desmond Morris, the anthropologist, who said: 'If you visited some indigenous Australian tribe, and you listened to their campfire mutterings of an evening, they wouldn't be talking about Gods and mythology, they'd be talking about the next tribe and who was doing what.' We're so atomised in society now, and Big Brother gives us common next-door neighbours. While it is on, we all live next door to that house. Of course you can look at it and say it's exploitative, it's sensational, it's salacious, but what's always amazed me about it is that humanity always emerges. Preston and Chantelle are in love for heaven's sake, what more do you want from life?

Did you enjoy Celebrity Big Brother this year?

I thought it was fantastic. I loved Dennis Rodman - he was like a great big bear who slowed his heart rate right down to exist in there when he realised he wasn't going to be having it off. I loved George Galloway, for how seriously he took it. I liked it that he thought Preston was a plutocrat. Preston ain't a plutocrat, he's just a bloke in the Ordinary Boys. It's a term that should be used to describe Idi Amin or Robert Mugabe, not Ian Curtis or Preston.

The audience on Big Mouth are very vocal, do you ply them with booze to make them so opinionated?

I personally lacquer jelly beans with a high resolution alcohol solution so that they're off their heads by the time they get into that studio. I take personal responsibility for that. In fact, I delight in it, I delight in seeing people vulnerable.

It can be completely chaotic on the show. Do you ever worry that things are getting out of hand?

No. I like it. I like it when things go mad. That's when I feel at home, whether it's someone getting up and walking out of the studio or someone starts going mental, that makes me excited. That's how I feel all the time.

Do you get a kick out of the fact that the show is live?

Yeah, I love it. Live television is much better. I do get really nervous, but that nervous energy facilitates an excitement. That's just your body getting you ready to have a right laugh.

What have been your favourite moments on Big Brother's Big Mouth?

I like doing things with Little Paul Scholes [his regular puppet guest], because I liked the development of that character and that relationship. I liked some of the returning fans, they can be a real laugh. I love the joke at the top of the show where we pick out a moment from the house and look at it again.

Have things ever gone really badly wrong on Big Mouth?

Yeah, loads of times. On the last show, the stuff that's meant to go directly into my ear was broadcast, so everybody heard '25 seconds to the competition'. Michael Barrymore heard that and looked all confused, so I had to say 'Don't worry Michael, we all heard that voice'.

Is this the longest that you've been without being fired from a job?

Yeah, definitely. Easily. By far and away. I've never done anything for that long. I was probably never even at a school for that long. It's a miracle that it's gone on as long as this. I don't want to get fired from this job. I want to leave with everyone saying 'well done, you've done great', not with someone standing near a window with broken glass, crying, and someone else nervously shaking with spit on their chin. I don't want that energy any more.