BBC Comedian's Joke Falls Flat

LONDON, Oct. 29, 2008— -- British comedian and "enfant terrible" Russell Brand this evening resigned from his radio job after his employer, the British Broadcasting Corp., received thousands of complaints about a lewd broadcast he presented.

The scandal, emanating from a schoolboy-style prank, has gripped the nation and hogged newspaper front pages and television airways for much of the week.

The BBC Radio 2 radio personalities Brand and Jonathan Ross, who was suspended, left vulgar messages on the answering machine of a 78-year-old actor, Andrew Sachs.

Sachs rose to fame as Spanish waiter Manuel in 1970s British sitcom "Fawlty Towers," created by John Cleese.

Brand's resume includes radio and television, acting, and a stint as a newspaper columnist. His rocker-cum-goth appearance, well-known in the United Kingdom, reached the United States this year when he played a sex-obsessed rock star in the movie "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."

Always a figure of controversy, Brand has incredible longevity. Despite being sacked from MTV in 2006 for dressing as Osama bin Laden, he hosted MTV's Video Music Awards in Los Angeles last month.

Brand also hit the spotlight over involvement with model Kate Moss and, in an uncanny parallel with his role in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," for being a recovered drug and sex addict.

Ross, meanwhile, is the BBCs highest-paid talk-show host, earning $30 million for a three-year contract.

Using explicit language, and laughing like a pair of hyenas, Ross said in an Oct. 18 broadcast that Brand had slept with Sach's granddaughter, Georgina Baillie.

Brand continued to joke that Sachs might kill himself on hearing the news.

The following week, on Oct. 25, Brand sang a light-hearted apology to Sachs on his radio show. But the comedian's sincerity was questionable, as he added that the prank "was quite funny" before replaying some of the calls.

On Sunday, Oct. 26, the incident made the news.

Few are denying the poor taste of the prank but, at the same time, not many expected a nationwide furor.

The prime minister has expressed his disapproval. Describing Ross and Brand's "clearly inappropriate and unacceptable behavior," Gordon Brown said that the BBC and regulators will have to decide what action to take.

But it was the opposition leader, conservative David Cameron, who raised the crux of the issue, asking why the BBC allowed the program to be broadcast, given that it was prerecorded.