Brand quits after flap over prank calls

LONDON (AP) — Russell Brand, the wild-haired, motor-mouthed British comedian, is renowned for risque routines. He wrote a memoir recounting his drug and sex addiction and called President Bush “that retarded cowboy fellow” while hosting MTV’s Video Music Awards.

On Wednesday, Brand quit his BBC radio show after he and fellow performer Jonathan Ross were suspended indefinitely for leaving lewd messages on the voicemail of a 78-year-old actor. Also under threat is the reputation of Britain’s state-funded national broadcaster, which allowed Brand’s routine to make it to air.

The calls by Brand and Ross to actor Andrew Sachs — best known for playing Spanish waiter Manuel in the 1970s Britcom “Fawlty Towers” — have drawn more than 18,000 complaints. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the comments “inappropriate and unacceptable.”

In the ad-libbed messages, the pair claimed Brand had slept with Sachs’ granddaughter Georgina Baillie, and joked that Sachs might hang himself as a result of the news. Baillie, a 23-year-old burlesque performer, acknowledged she had a sexual relationship with Brand but said the calls to her grandfather were “cruel.”

The duo made further calls to Sachs in which they tried to apologize but continued to blurt out lewd messages. The calls were recorded Oct. 16 and aired on Brand’s radio show two days later.

Both Brand and Ross apologized.