Kewpie sends the link (via Morrissey reddit), originally posted by Dimstar in the forums (original post):

Russell Brand's Guide to Threesomes, Pissing Off Christians and Breaking Up Oasis - Rolling Stone

Excerpt:

...But a lot of my heroes are like Morrissey, guys who soberly and gingerly retire to a room and roll their eyes at the TV set.



But that's the exact opposite of what you became...

Yeah, I know, that's extraordinary isn't it? The reason I love Morrissey is because he's the beautification of nerdy incompetence. "If I don't leave my room what will people say? What will they think of me?" Morrissey became the apotheosis of that, bursting out of that bedroom a hero.

...

Was there a moment in your career where you just said, "Fuck it, I'm going to go with this over-the-top persona''?

To be honest, we have to return to the Morrissey point of earlier. There's a message I'd like to convey to misfit kids everywhere: There comes a point where not fitting in and being odd and peculiar suddenly turns to your advantage. The whole burden of it is almost mythological, when you are saying, "Oh, I just want to be like everyone else, I just want everyone to like me, I just want to be normal." But then, in time, your curse becomes your blessing. To quote a movie: It's a matter of releasing the kraken! Don't conceal the kraken! It's your greatest weapon.