The Dalai Lama got the biggest laughs as he upstaged comedian Russell Brand at the start of the youth event “Stand Up and Be the Change” in Manchester, England, on June 16, 2012.
The Dalai Lama’s representatives chose Brand to introduce the Dalai Lama “because he had proved ‘the power of spirituality to effect change in his own life.'” according to BBC News.
The following short report of the event was published later that day on the Dalai Lama’s official website:
His Holiness began,
“I don’t like formality, so Russell Brand, who is also very informal, was a fitting person to introduce me; thank you. Birth takes place without formality, as does death. If I think of myself as a Buddhist monk or as a Tibetan, that sets up a sort of barrier between me and others. In fact, I am a human being like you, who wants happiness and doesn’t want to face suffering and problems. I speak to you as just one of the 7 billion human beings in the world today. Physically, mentally and emotionally we’re the same; and we have the same potential for good as well as for bad.”
You can watch the two of them joking around followed by the full exchange.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama Meets Russell Brand, from The Meridian Trust:
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