Russell Brand nabs Variety’s Power of Comedy award

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Being funny is its own reward, but Russell Brand certainly enjoyed a perk on Saturday night -- the actor picked up Variety’s first Power of Comedy award in downtown Los Angeles.

With new wife Katy Perry in tow, Brand turned up at Club Nokia for a program that featured performances by several of his heavyweight comic colleagues. Tickets were open to the public, with all proceeds benefiting the Noreen Fraser Foundation, a cancer-research nonprofit.

Aziz Ansari, B.J. Novak, Bob Saget, Patton Oswalt, Brandon T. Jackson and Garry Shandling were among those doing a few minutes for the good cause and for their pal Brand, with actor Justin Long serving as host.

‘I think he’s trying to cut the circulation off ... so he’ll be faithful,’ Shandling said of Brand’s trademark tight pants.

Perry took the joke in stride, sitting at a table front and center with a girlfriend.

Above Club Nokia’s black-box stage, a VIP pre-reception hosted by the Sims 3 and Bing was attended by the likes of Brand’s ‘The Tempest’ costar Dame Helen Mirren, actress Lake Bell, the cast of ‘Outsourced,’ Sarah Silverman and ‘Little Britain’ mastermind Matt Lucas. Click the Bing Twitpic of Mirren with comedian Brandon T. Jackson, above, to see more photos from the red carpet.

Mirren presented the prize to Brand, introducing him as ‘the newly married, newly arrested Russell Brand.’ Mirren also applauded his duality in pulling off a Shakespearean role and penning a biography called ‘My Booky Wook.’ Brand himself was self-deprecating, natch, saying he thought the trophy was ‘the dangerous narcissist told he’s a nice man.’

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-- Matt Donnelly
twitter.com/MattDonnelly

Photos, from top: Russell Brand arrives at Variety’s Power of Comedy at Club Nokia in L.A. on Dec. 4, 2010. Credit: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images. Comedian Brandon T. Jackson has a sultry moment with Helen Mirren. Credit: twitpic.com/photos/bing