Celebrities are known to get lots of free stuff, not just in swag bags at events but generally they are sent things for free. The theory is that the celebrity will be seen wearing an item which will generate demand for the brand.

I’ve seen some clothes that I would love to have gracing my wardrobe, but I have never been so envious as I am of Hugh Laurie’s celebrity perk.

Laurie - a human being so lovely and bright that, in a troubled world, merely uttering his name feels like saying a prayer - has been displaying superlative, ground-level analysis of the swings-and-roundabouts nature of fame. “[Being famous means that] you can get a table in a restaurant,” he muses. “But then you’ve got to go past a line of people who can’t get a table - and that’s a bad feeling.” But he goes on inadvertently to blow the lid off what will, surely, become one of the big media talking-points of the year. “I’ve [been given] a Burger King Gold Card,” he said casually.

London Times

The Burger King Gold Card entitles you, says The Times, to free burgers for life.

I love Burger King. I hold them entirely responsible for my pregnancy weight gain, despite the fact that I was the one shoveling it into my mouth at the time. For once I am green with envy.

The Times comments that this will be the ‘new high water mark of celebrity and power’, and that they also mention that Jay Leno has one. I guess this would actually be something that we common folk could envy, because I think just about everyone has eaten fast food. The previous ‘item to have’ was the American Express black card, which was used frequently by Jessica Simpson on Newlyweds where she commented that they had a limit on how many people could have one.

This puts my McDonald’s drive thru sticker to shame.

Hugh Laurie is shown scruffy and making a cute face at the Prism awards on 4/24/08, thanks to WENN.

Hugh Laurie of fan favorite House was on Ellen yesterday. He said in his cute British accent that his family is visiting from England and that they’re traveling back and forth more to see him. He claimed he’s not quite ready to move them over and repeated the sentiment he’s shared before that he doesn’t trust his success and is waiting a little longer to be sure. Ellen said it’s been four years, and he quipped that he would wait ten because he’s such a pessimist. Laurie said his first year working on House he lived in a hotel and didn’t even unpack his suitcase.

On finding his dad’s Olympic gold medal in a sock drawer
Hugh: “My father was a phenomenally… modest man and he never told me. I found it by accident when I was a teenager… rummaging in a sock drawer. I can’t imagine was I was looking for in a sock drawer beyond socks. His stash perhaps - his stash of socks. I found it and I thought what the hell was this… He won a gold medal… for rowing.”

Ellen: “Had you seen him row before?”

Hugh: “I had seen him row… I remembered being in a boat going fishing with my father and mother and he was maneuvering the boat away from the jetty. I was a little bit doubtful, I was about 10 and I said to my mother ‘does he know how to row?’

You would have thought that would be a pretty good moment to drop it into the conversation that he was a world champion, but no it didn’t come up for another 10 years… it’s a bit mad actually.”

Ellen: “He probably just by himself looked at it all the time”

Hugh: “I like to think that he had a moment. He communed with it now and then. He put it on and [gets embarassed] yeah, that didn’t make any sense.”

Ellen [laughs]: “I’d like to know where you’re going with that, but I’m frightened so I will not.”

Hugh said he rowed as a sport until his early 20s, but he didn’t like facing the wrong way and that he “wanted to face forwards in life.” He joked that it was poetic of him to say that.

On a prop person freaking out about all the fake pills he’s taking on House
Ellen asked him what he’s taking on the show when his character has pills “because you’re swallowing something constantly.”

Lauried quipped “I honestly don’t know. I think it’s something to stop me from complaining. They told me at the beginning it’s some sort of lactose or lactase… whatever the word is. Then one of the prop men said ‘Oh my God, you’re not just swallowing those are you?’ and I said ‘Yes I am. I’ve probably swallowed about 400 of them in the last 3 months.’”

Then Hugh said the prop guy backtracked and said “‘Nothing! Oh you’re fine.’

But I seem to be alright.”

Ellen: “You’re swallowing a lot of things…”

Hugh: “I am a swallower.” [audience cheers]

I tried to figure out if you can OD on lactase, and there’s not much about it online. I think the worst that could happen is you might lose your natural ability to make the enzyme yourself and have difficulty digesting milk products without it.

Hugh and Ellen challenge each other with slang
After the break they played a game where Hugh and Ellen challenged each other with slang from their respective countries. Ellen’s didn’t seem fair to me, because I’m an American and I had no clue what most of them meant. Her first term was “flossing” and Hugh guessed “something close fitting?”

She said it means showing off, which is news to me.

Hugh’s first word was “Chin wag.” Ellen said “a blundering idiot,” but Hugh said it’s a verb which means “literally, to chat.”

Then Ellen’s word was “ba-donka-donk,” which again I’ve never heard of. She said “it’s an extremely curvaceous female behind.” Hugh said “We definitely don’t have those in England… that’s a fantastic word.”

Hugh’s last phrase was “Chuffed to bits,” which Ellen thought mean “exhausted” but really means “pleased” and Hugh joked “I would be chuffed to bits by your ba-donka-donk.”

Ellen’s final word was “shawty,” which she tried to explain by signing lines of songs. Hugh had no idea and she said it’s a “young kid or a woman.” I thought that was “shorty.”

I love Hugh Laurie and it’s great to see him interviewed and hear that he’s able to see his family more. He was having a hard time for a while being apart from them and it sounds like things are going well for him now. He’s a very down to earth charming guy and an incredible actor. He definitely deserves all his success and more.

Here are the links to the videos, but I’m sorry to say the sound is not syncing right for me. I tried to clip this myself but it was painfully slow and there may be problems with the service.

Hugh Laurie on Ellen, 5/12/08, Part 1
Hugh Laurie on Ellen, 5/12/08, Part 2

Hugh Laurie is shown at the PRISM Awards on 4/24/08, thanks to PRPhotos.

I find Hugh Laurie’s character on “House” arrogant and annoying, but my husband loves the guy and I don’t think he would be mortified if I told you that Laurie as Dr. House is his man crush. Laurie always comes off as candid and smart in his interviews, and when I heard him give his Golden Globe acceptance speech in that fancy British accent I realized what all the fuss was about.

Laurie, 48, gave a recent interview to the Radio Times in which he says that he thinks that he doesn’t have a lot of opportunities as an actor in his native England now that he’s experienced such success overseas. He also said that he feels self-conscious about his American accent and doesn’t like to watch his scenes. As his pill-popping character, he admits trying Vicodin to see what it was like, but it doesn’t sound like he’s taking it everyday.

On his American Accent for the show
“I don’t watch regularly. I avert my eyes when my children have it on. I hate seeing myself, but it’s even worse hearing my American accent … I had no idea I sound so retarded, a dull monotone, full of clunking mistakes.”

On Vicodin
“I wouldn’t recommend it — we have to be careful. But then again … if you’re not in pain it gives a floaty, pleasurable feeling.”

Laurie said that his family will move to the US if “House” continues to be a success, but that he never quite gets the feeling that things are settled in his life:
“I have this vague feeling that the moment I’m comfortable with my place in the world there’ll be retribution. That’s one reason I didn’t want my family to live here. The moment we put down roots the whole thing will be called off.” [Quotes from People.com]

He has previously spoken about the difficulty of being away from his wife and three children for extended periods of time, and has talked about experiencing bouts of depression and anxiety. In October of last year he said in an interview that he couldn’t relax because he was working 14 hour days and couldn’t stop thinking about work enough to sleep. He said that he would constantly worry if he did a scene right or would often think about whether his very successful show would be a failure.

Laurie has been married to Jo Green, who works as a theater administrator, since 1989. They have two sons and a daughter, all in their teens, and in 2005 Laurie said his children didn’t want to stay in Los Angeles when they were there for a month.

“They’ve just been out here for a month… My kids were pretty sniffy about Los Angeles. It’s not quite snobby, they just need to be convinced.

“My eldest son continues to be that way. He’s very English… My daughter’s up for it. She’s now decided Los Angeles is a good thing and my middle son, who’s 14, sort of could go either way.”

[From Contact Music]

Laurie’s family has since moved back to England and while the guy is a huge success over here he’s not able to enjoy it and has said he doesn’t like being apart from his loved ones.

In July, 2006 Hugh Laurie got a raise to what was thought to be $300,000 an episode. In the 2006-2007 season there were 24 episodes, and so far 12 episodes have run for the fourth season from 2007-2008. That means the guy has made $10.8 million working on “House” in the last two years. And if it’s a few less million than that, it’s still a lot of money. That sounds like success to me.

Hugh Laurie is shown at the airport on 3/9/08.

It’s admirable when celebrities talk about their struggles with emotional, physical, and mental illnesses. They’re problems that make most people feel completely isolated and judged, and talking about them lets the rest of us know that everyone has issues, and there’s no reason to be ashamed. I always appreciate people that are honest about their imperfections instead of acting lofty.

“House” actor Hugh Laurie made some headlines (yeah I can’t believe this made headlines either, but whatever) on Thursday when he jetted from the set of “House” to go home to England, saying he had to deal with some family issues. Apparently Laurie has been battling depression for years, and misses his family. It also sounds like he deals with some anxiety issues as well.

British actor Hugh Laurie returned to work Monday after taking a sudden trip home to his native England for undisclosed family issues. On October 25, Laurie, 48, told producers he had to leave the L.A. set, promptly hopping on an afternoon flight to London, where his wife, Jo, and their three children, Charlie, Bill and Rebecca, reside. At the time, a show rep said that “Hugh had family obligations in England to attend to, but production is continuing in his absence.”

But in a revealing interview in Sunday’s Sydney Daily Telegraph, the Emmy-nominated star — who recently became one of the highest paid actors on TV, earning more than $300,000 an episode — admitted he is battling “mild depression” and continues to see a therapist periodically.

Not only does he miss his family (Laurie maintains a home in L.A., while they live in London), but he also said he was “drained” by the show’s overnight success and the 14-hour, five-days-a-week demands of the job. “I’m always thinking about the show,” he told the paper. “I’m too neurotic and too anal and too convinced that we’re going to fail to relax. Every show we do, every scene we shoot, is a disaster, I’m convinced of it. “I go home at the end of the day and my head is full of all the mistakes I’ve made. “I beat myself up about what I’ve stuffed up the day before,” he added. “I’m looking for things to go wrong. I’m not rejoicing or lying back and enjoying it.”

[From Us Weekly]

That makes me really sad to hear, but I think it’s great that Laurie is honest in saying that he has some issues to deal with. Pretty much everyone battles some sort of depression at one point in their life. Taking the stigma off it can only be a good thing. Hugh also admitted to having an affair with actress Audrey Cooke in 1997, and said it was related to his depression. It’s a little unclear from his phrasing if he means he had an affair because he was depressed, or he became depressed due to guilt over having the affair. Either way, his home life seems fairly stable now, and he clearly loves and misses his family. Hopefully he’ll do what he needs to be well.

House is my husband’s favorite show, perhaps with the exception of The BBC’s fine car porn series, Top Gear. He told me that I absolutely had to watch Hugh Laurie’s Golden Globes acceptance speech, and he was right: It was quite entertaining and spontaneously humorous for an acceptance speech. I was also surprised to hear Laurie’s British accent, because I stupidly assumed he was a self-righteous American guy like his character on House.

In his acceptance speech, Laurie quipped that he should have received his acceptance speech from a sponsor, and that he had to thank his crew, but that not all crews must be as admirable as his.

Hugh Laurie is clearly different from his character on House, but he’s obviously thoughtful and thinks fast on his feet, much like his character on House. I’m all confused now.

Laurie is a well known comedic actor in his native England. He has been married to his wife, Jo, a theatre administrator, since 1989. They have three children: Charlie, 17, Bill, 15, and Rebecca, 12. (His children may technically be one year younger, as it was hard to find their exact birthdates.)

Laurie wrote a well-reviewed book in the late 90s about a goofy James Bond-type character called The Gun Seller.

Five years ago he spoke candidly to the British press about his battle with depression following a brief extramarital affair. Laurie recommended therapy as a means to work through depression, and said it helped him immensely. He seems down to earth and grateful for his success.

In terms of the other nominees in the category of best actor in a TV drama, let me say that my husband and I watched all 13 episodes of Dexter on demand through Time Warner while we were in the states this holiday. We got addicted to it and could not stop until we saw every episode. I also watched four episodes of Big Love on demand last summer until it was pulled from the digital cable offerings, probably to entice people to buy the DVD. That show is also excellent, and Bill Paxton deserved the nomination. I really miss American TV. (There is a remote TV viewing option called Slingbox that we wanted to try, but it would have required a too-long wire in my parent’s house, despite being easy to install.)

Pictures of Hugh at the Golden Globes found at Gossip Rocks.

Sacha Baron Cohen was going out for a drink with Hugh Laurie, the actor who plays House on the popular medical drama. The two were headed out together in NY after appearing on Saturday Night Live. Cohen got into his annoying Kazakh character Borat and starting accosting a man on the street. The New Yorker wasn’t having any of that and starting punching Cohen in the face repeatedly! Dr. House came to the rescue and pushed the guy away:

BORAT star Sacha Baron Cohen was beaten up by a passer-by after he tried to play a prank as his alter ego.

He approached the man and said: “I like your clothings. Are nice! Please may I buying? I want have sex with it.”

But the bystander didn’t see the joke. He took one look at Cohen and punched him in the face.

The funnyman — known for his Borat catchphrase “Jagshemash!” — yelled for help but was slugged again and again.

He was rescued by actor pal Hugh Laurie who had been on his way to a New York bar with Cohen.

Laurie rushed to help and pushed the man away as Cohen struggled to his feet. A pal of Cohen said: “Sacha couldn’t resist playing the fool as Borat, but picked on the wrong person.

“I guess this guy thought he was being attacked by someone unstable and lashed out. Sacha is very lucky he didn’t get a much worse beating.”

The incident took place after Laurie and Cohen appeared on the US TV show Saturday Night Live. The Brit comics were on their way to a late dinner when Laurie suggested they visit a bar in Manhattan.

Laurie, 47, told friends he feared Cohen was going to get badly beaten up. Luckily, 35-year-old Cohen did not receive any lasting scars.

While “Borat: Cultural Learnings” is still tops at the box office, not everyone is happy with the film. Frat boys are suing for their appearance in the film, saying that filmmakers plied them with alcohol and that they were told the film would only be shown overseas. The small impoverished Romanian village of Glod is also considering suing producers. Locals say they were barely paid for their part in the film, and were told it was a documentary. They are also angered by their portrayal as backwards yokels, and say that animals were dragged into their homes and silly props were used that do not reflect their way of life.