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Why does Derren Brown swear?

AgeGap

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When he does his routines there is a certain flow that he sometimes interrupts with a swear word. I feel that this is done to cause shift in the audiences thoughts.
In Tricks of the Mind the first paragraph in the Memory chapter is a case in point. He starts off with childish and flowery language and then, bang, he throws in the sweariest of swear words. I am not against swearing but it seems an unnatural pause in the smoothness of the flow.

My theories include;-It is done as some form of punchline, it is a method of keeping the audiences interest high, misdirection or me finding something that exists only in my own mind.

This is bugging me because DB does not appear to be a natural at swearing. I find it akin to driving along a smooth road and hitting a pot hole.
Any thoughts?
 
I don't recall it in his routines, but he pulls no punches in his books. I found nothing untoward, unsettling, or out-of-place in the books when he used what is normally considered foul language. I knew little about him when I purchased Absolute Magic and Pure Effect, so when I came across the unfiltered language there, I found it refreshing and an indication that the author was a grown-up, with grown-up sensibilities, and an expectation that his audience was also grown-up. I found nothing gratuitous or off-putting.
 
I'm currently reading Tricks Of The Mind and found the use of strong language there to have the same effect as on the TV broadcasts - humour, plain and simple.
 
I know exactly what you mean, and I think it's just because he sounds posh. Swearing, especially the "F" and "C" words, to which Derren is no stranger (read his book!), always sounds jarring coming out of posh people's mouths.

Which reminds me of a Dog Soldiers quote; "I love it when a posh bird talks dirty".
 
It's the sense of humour I think. It's in your 'form of punchline' category. It seems very obvious to me, but that's maybe because I share his British sense of humour?
 
I need glasses. I could have sworn the title of this thread was, "What does Derren Brown wear?"
 
Just out of interest AgeGap, are you American?

The reason that I ask is that, in my experience, Americans often seem to notice swearing in situations where British people (of most backgrounds) would ******** swear, almost as ****** punctuation. (Actually that ****** pucctuation, where almost every other ****** word is a ******* swearword, only *** tends to ** occur with **** squaddies, if you *** see what I ** mean? ).

I didn't even notice it in the Derren Brown shows, and wouldn't consider myself particlarly fowl mouthed (cluck, I have a weakness for bad puns).

I think it is possibly in less informal situations, or with strangers.

My coxswain at university was American, and when yelling at members of the public to get out of the way, was far more polite than virtually any Brit would have been. "Sir, the rules of the river are that you keep to the ...." And without sarcasm.

There was also a news report during the invasion of Iraq, when a (USMC?) unit came under fire and an NCO politly (but firmly) told the embedded journalist to take cover. I am sure that in different situations NCOs especially could turn the air blue, but I noticed the absense of swearing, in that situation compared to what would be considered normal in the UK...

And as for antipodeans... NSFW (in case you couldn't __ guess)..
Arj Barker on Australian Swearing youtube
 
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No I am English. It is just that DB does it in a manner that does not mark him out as a natural. I am no stranger to swearing. He does a sort of syncopated swearing. I suppose it would be the same if Richard Dawkins or the Arch Bishop of Canterbury came out with the beef.
 
jimbob said:
My coxswain at university was American, and when yelling at members of the public to get out of the way, was far more polite than virtually any Brit would have been. "Sir, the rules of the river are that you keep to the ...." And without sarcasm.
Click to expand...
Most UK coxes wouldn't swear - it's not generally tolerated in competition (although there's a reason whoever is showing the boat race on TV usually regrets it if they play sound from the boat without some emergency mute in place!) and wouldn't be in training either, exception maybe being if noone else was around. Reflects rather badly on the club if the public hear you doing that kind of thing. That level of politeness however ('Sir...') would be unusual though.
 
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That was the point edd, the "Sir" was natural. I was impressed.
 
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