Russell Brand in kinky sex shocker? Nothing new there then, except that this is slightly different. Footage has reportedly emerged on the net of Brand allegedly inserting a toy doll up his bottom during an early gig. Now I don't know whether the footage is authentic. It may or may not be. The credit crunch combined with a sense of decorum means I'm not really prepared to shell out the 99p to download it and although I can apparently watch it for free I'm a bit wary about registering on new websites.

Then again, we've all got our skeletons in the closet. It's just that Brand's pre-fame antics sometimes aren't the kind that would appear on an edition of Before They Were Famous. But you name a celebrity and chances are they've done something embarrassing in their past. Brand's chum Jonathan Ross advertised household products as a child, Michael Portillo plugged Ribena before he had a vote. OK, not in the same league as Brand, but you get my drift.

We've all done things for money when we've been a little short of cash but not short of ambition. The list of female stars who have appeared nude in films during their years of struggle would be a pretty big one. Brand's early work certainly had more validity than those outings, laying the groundwork for his skilful stand-up performances today.

Of course, some people do things for money, in Brand's case he probably did it for art. Pushing back the boundaries and all that, which I'm all in favour of. Though given his past, drugs may have been involved too. He is totally clean now, of course, so we can console ourselves with the fact that he won't be getting up to this sort of thing ever again. Though personally on reflection I think I'd rather pay 99p to see Brand's early act than his appearance in the new film Bedtime Stories.