tonight on "nightline," x-ray vision. as anger over tsa patdowns reaches a boiling point, as scans are posted online and checkpoint videos go viral, we have the inside story of why airport security has gotten so extreme. sex, drugs and comedy. on the brink of super stardom, russell brand is trying to stay sane as arecovering addict. tonight, he tells how wife katy perry and a new disdain for fame keeps him healthy. and, farmville. millions of people go online every day to play games built by zynga. ands that they grow make believe vegetables, this little company makes real billions.

>> reporte >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city this is "nightline," november 17th, 2010. >> good evening. thanks for joining us tonight. some have dubbed it the freedom grope. others call it gate rape. but whatever the nickname, there is no denying that american passengers are in a huff over the new tsa patdown procedure. for a nation long weary of shoe removal and liquid limits, full body touching and revealing body scans have been a tough sell. but the tsa insists they are vital for ever shifting security demands. and tonight, neal karlinsky items us why. >> reporter: to hear the increasingly loud rallying cry, you would think america's airports have turned into a peep show, where passengers are being groped and molested. >> how is it the freest country in the history of the world is

now subjecting their citizens to panty patdowns? >> reporter: the field generals in this crew said against the tsa include a random passenger with a camera. a toddler. and a talk show host. john tiner, a would be flyer from san diego, is now know world wild as the "don't touch my junk" guy for this video that he recorded. >> we're going to be doing a groin check. that means i'm going to place my hand on your hip, other hand on your inner thigh. i'm going to do that two times in the front and two times in the back. >> all right. >> if you'd like a private screening, we can make that available for you also. >> we can do that out here, but if you touch my junk, i'm going to have you arrested. >> it was frightening. >> reporter: and there's meg mcclain, a radio talk show host who claims she was singled out and hand cupped by the tsa a moment captured on video, because she pushed back against the new security.

>> they use fingers. they feel around your breasts. and, it's just completely dehumanizing. >> reporter: and then, there's the 3-year-old. >> stop touching me! >> reporter: a youtube video of a 3-year-old, upset about having her teddy bear x-rayed while the tsa patted her down is for some, the perfect example of airport security run amuck. even though this isn't part of the new enhanced security. >> it is ridiculous that 100% of the people are being put through the measures when you know that 100% of the people are not risks. >> reporter: the outcry is over these full body scanners that can see through clothing. the government says people's identities are protected, but there have been problems already. >> bottom line is, i think there is some dignity that has to be involved in this. so, in my opinion, they need to find something a little better. >> reporter: and then, there is the question of radiation. the government says the scanners are safe.

pilots who have to pass through them on a daily basis aren't so sure. including the biggest hero pilot around, captain sully himself. >> i think it's unnecessary for the flight crews to go through them, first, and second, i think it's -- it poses some radiation risk. >> reporter: but opting out of the scanners only causes more problem now that enhanced patdown techniques give agents the right to field inside the leg. the front of a woman's bra, and more. >> you're going to be searched either way and going to be invaded either way. >> reporter: today, on call toll hill, the tsa's chief acknowledged the new patdowns are invasive. but he said they're necessary, because the government has been able to smuggle items through normal security in its own tests more than they'd like to admit. >> the intelligence coupled with the repeat ed covert testing le me to conclude that we needed to

be more thorough. >> reporter: and if a little privacy goes out the window, you're okay with that? >> yeah. it's not like we're being strip searched to get on a plane. >> reporter: digitally strip searched. >> it's not that extreme, so, i'm comfortable with it. >> reporter: a recent cbs news poll shows americans overwhelming support the use of full body x-rays. something hard to reconcile with the very vocal minority. >> if enough people opt out, these tsa abuses will come to a stand still. >> reporter: a growing grass roots campaign is encouraging people to opt out of the full body scanners next wednesday. the day before thanksgiving, and a slightly busy time in the nation's airports. the goal? to force the tsa to change its methods. >> raise holy hell. >> reporter: before the scanners, flyers were upset about taking off their shoes and leaving lick wilds behind. so, how to balance security and privacy? >> you have to man up.

>> reporter: this comedian wrote an article. >> you have the option. if you are going to be seen naked or being touched by -- it's not like a drunken frat boy. everybody is so afraid. you have professionally trained people who have to touch you appropriately. >> reporter: the drama has reached the point of being spoof wort worthy, seen here in this animation produced in taiwan. but the issue behind all the outrage is no joke, and passengers hoping to force change through protests next week will likely find themselves in a very long line. i'm neal karlinsky for "nightline" in seattle. >> one more reason to drive to grandma's for turkey. when we come back, a comedic force of nature, russell brand joins us to talk about his playboy days and his ongoing quest for super stardom.

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russell brand, no longer consumes more drugs, bepds more women and insults more beloved public figures than any living englishman, but long before quitting all of that, it brought him all what he always wanted. that is fame. and after marrying pop star katy perry, starring in a slate of new movies and writing another likely best seller, that fame and its banquet of temptations will only grow. to see how he's managing, i spent a little time with russell, for our series, "seriously funny." >> get in, bill. get into a bath with me. >> reporter: i don't general little climb into bathtubs with men i just met, but such is the charm of russell brand. so, at the end of the day, you just lounge, nice -- >> i just sleep. >> reporter: bubble bath? >> i have a lovely bubble bath on set and all the female members of cast and crew just stand around me and do like a

song of "the moon in new york city" and they sing that while i aggressively soap myself. >> reporter: we're on the set of "arthur." >> arthur is a playboy. that was the element of his character for which i have to work hardest. >> reporter: the role that turned another hilarious and tortured brit -- >> stay with me a minute. you know i hate to be alone. >> reporter: into an american star. the idea for a remark was floating around hollywood for years. until brand's portrayal of elvis snow in two hit comedies made him the obvious choice to play another self-destructive here donnist. how is arthur different? >> because he's a dark man. he's a man suffering from addiction. arthur is like a kid, like in a -- snow is drinking and taking drugs because, oh, the world is so awful, tortured, like me, but arthur, just, say you didn't have to go to work and you had loads and loads of money, why

don't i drink a martini for breakfast? >> reporter: to play a drunk or a one key, most actors draw on the sense memory of binges past. and russell brand has a lot of that memory. after a childhood filled with self-loathing, bulimia and cutting, much of his early work was performed while stoned out of his gourd. >> i don't believe i just did that. that was me having a mental breakdown on heroin so, some of the things i did, having a bath with a homeless man, stimulating a man to the point of orgasm in a toilet, fighting my own dad in a boxing ring, these were the man if i fesations of a mad mind. >> reporter: when did it bottom out? >> i lost my job at mtv because of some inappropriate cracking juiced on-screen lunacy -- >> what's wrong with me? >> reporter: yes, the day after 9/11, he showed up for work dressed as osama bin laden with his crack dealer in tow. >> they said if you continue taking drugs at the rate you

are, within six months you'll be dead, in prison or a lunatic asylum. i considered all three options, i thought, the asylum, that's horrible. death, no one knows yet what that entails and prison -- not -- with these eyebrows, i don't think so. so i thought, get off the drugs. >> reporter: was it difficult? >> it was the hardest thing i've ever done. >> reporter: after rehab, brand found another field-good addiction. as he describes in "bookie woo k2," an affair with kate moss launched him into the sexual stratosphere. we have a chef on "nightline," we ask them to cook a little something, so, i would be remiss if i did not ask you to display for us how you would approach a strange, attractive women. >> well, that's my defining quality? you realize i'm actually a come median, not --

>> reporter: after a bit of mild protest, he agrees to display his moves on sara, "nightline" producer. >> remember, i am now married. that's the ring, okay? this is merely an experiment, bill, so, you do something along these lines, bill. sara, these rose is perhaps one of nature's most delicate and beautiful creations. but this humble rose's beauty is undermined by you, because you're so effortlessly pretty. now, i can only say words to you because that's the only utensils that i have. take this rose as an emblem of the way i feel and may its beauty remind you every moment that you doubt yourself, because i know you doubt yourself, impossible though that may seem to me, a witness of your magnificent, let us envelope each other in flesh, make a symphony offer gaz mick cries. sara, be mine. >> reporter: and then, it's off

to the races. >> and then, she's yours. remember, i'm married. >> reporter: i always wanted to see mickey mantle take batting practice. but this will suffice. believe it or not, those skills have been retired, since the 2008 video music awards. he was the host. and after mocking president bush -- >> would you have let that retarlded cowboy presidebe pres for eight years? >> reporter: received threat deaths. he was too smitten with katy perry to care. the two wed last month. what was it about katy that touched you? >> i think i was growing up anyway, bill. i wanted a companion, a friend. i was starting more and more to think, all these girls, it is fun, all the different shapes and wonderful tastes and smells, lovely, but -- it's -- where is the journey within? the most normal relationship i've ever had. seriously, the other day, we're

getting ready to go out, and she goes, oh, you're wearing that shirt, are you? i went, yeah. bill, i did not wear that shirt. >> reporter: welcome to marriage, my brother. >> thank you, thanks for having me. >> reporter: and as another sign of his transformation, he was arrested for shoving a paparazzi recently. >> it's very hard to have a relationship with the tabloids because they are consistently want to reduce you to an icon of the worst aspects of yourself. they want us to be -- you're too fat, you're too thin, look at her kid, look at his kid, they've split up, they're having sex. it's all about the uglier aspects. we are part animal, but we are part divine. thankfully, i have my prior mare muse, comedy, because now that i'm no longer inattafactuated w celebrity, it's like, i don't know, you inhale laughing gas or helium and those things make you

sound stupid and rot your brain. >> reporter: when did you come to this conclusion? >> this morning. forgive me if i have the zeal of the newly converted, bill. >> reporter: if he's done with fame, fame is not done with him. he's just shot a documentary on happiness and is in the new version of shakespeare's "the tempest." >> things are going right. >> reporter: his recipe for keeping it together, mon nothing my, sobriety, yoga, meditation and comedy. his next goal, to fill stadiums with only his mind and his microphone. >> i want people to come and see me do standup. i want people to come so i can make them laugh about stuff that i think and feel. >> reporter: that hasn't changed? >> no, that's the same. that's good. it's the basic template. >> "the tempest" opens next month and "bookie wook two" is in stores now. up next, farmville and other

online games by a company called zynga are free to play, so how did zynga get to be worth and estimated $5 billion? pickles. one policy, please. our service is top-notch. we'll take care of you, your family, even this little guy. great. ta-da! thank you. what else can he do? ring him up, boy! he's on break. [ chuckles ] caring for you and your loved ones. [ pickles barks ] now, that's progressive. call or click today. hd 3 first has an 8-megapixel hd camera and can stream live video to the web. first has an hdmi out. ♪ first shares wi-fi with 8 devices at once. first is not stephen furst,

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> unless you are among them, it is tough to understand why people who play online games are willing to spend real money on pretend stuff. a virtual cow in farmville or a make believe trip to havana in mafia wars. but from the start, mark pinkus knew they would, and that's why

he owns a $5 million company now. tonight, david wright takes us inside. >> reporter: farmville, fishville, frontierville. cafe world. mafia wars. all of those games people play on facebook. it's a virtual world i, for one, have refused to enter. mafia wars i get. >> you played that -- >> reporter: no, i haven't. to be honest, i haven't played any of them. and we'll get to that. >> okay. hopefully we change that. >> reporter: but zynga, the company that makes the games and more, is not exactly hurting for players. the company is raking in the cash. and it ain't monopoly money. i've seen $500 million. is that -- >> won't confirm or deny the presence of revenues at our company. the numbers aren't off. you're in the ballpark. >> reporter: the internet startup, mark pinkus, named for his dog, is not yet a public company.

they don't have to disclose how much their make. but it is estimated to be worth more than $5.5 million. that's billion with a b. can't imagine that pitch meeting where you go in and say, okay, i've got this idea for a farming game and we're going to put it on facebook and we're going to make hundreds of millions of dollars. >> the pitch for zynga was even more fundamental and basic than that. it was, why isn't there a website on the internet that stands for fun? >> reporter: who knew that people's idea of fun would be planting virtual strawberries and pumpkins and watching them grow? mark, obviously. >> the key to these games is that your mother and your nephew and your college friend all find that game accessible to them. and so it has to have rules that everyone understands. no one has to tell you the rules of farming, right? good. >> reporter: you plant it, you water it, it grows. >> and you plant more. or it dies.

right. >> reporter: every month, some 60 million people play farmville. mostly on facebook. that's more farmville players than there are actual farmers in the u.s. and if you factor in all the company's games, the number of players each month tops 200 million people. this week, zynga launches citiville. it's basically farmville for folks who prefer to tinker in a more urban environment. zynga allowed "nightline" a sneak preview. >> we have a barbershop. an indian place. >> reporter: what's the goal? >> the goal is just to build basically, the city of your dreams. >> reporter: a virtual lego kit. lincoln logs for the digital generation. that makes sense. like an old fashioned train set, it bustles and grows the more time you spend with it. but it is intangible. it's a world of av tars and imagination. >> a game like this, ten years

ago, was $29 and best buy and now you are getting this for free and you're playing with other people. >> reporter: zynga doesn't charge people to play the games. the company makes most of its money through virtual goods. some users are willing to pay extra for bells and whistles it would take them a long time to accumulate for free. it's baffulling that in a recession, people are using real money to buyage their stuff. >> right. i think that virtual goods is a very affordable past time and form of entertainment, much less money than taking your family to a movie. so, i'm not surprised that it has grown into a real industry and i do think you're going to see it continue to grow world wide. >> reporter: the place where you can see the real impact of all that virtual spending is at zynga's headquarters itself. >> this is our zen room. and things happen in here,

massage, we offer hair cuts in another studio. >> reporter: as funky as anything they had in the first dot com boom of the 1990s, so many employees tending these virtual games, zynga goes through seven tons of food in a week. >> you're going to come back to why you don't play. >> reporter: and maybe now is the time to do that. one of the reasons i don't play is because i don't trust them. i've seen all of the nasty stories about facebook taking your data. so, while people are out there tending their farms, are you quietly harvesting their personal information? >> no. we have never been in the business of selling any users information. and in fact, we need to make social games a comfortable place for you to come and play and share with your friends. >> reporter: when zynga does go public, mark pinkus is poised to become the next silicon valley billionaire. the bill gates of online games. you're 44 years old, right? >> yeah. >> reporter: a bit long in the

tooth for silicone valley billionaire. >> thanks. >> reporter: and you want to be a tycoon. >> i'm more ambitious than that. i want to create something that will matter in 100 years. we have an opportunity to build the digital skyscrapers. this is like 1910, and we have a chance to build the services that will matter in people's lives in 20 years. >> reporter: will it matter? that's debatable. but at a time when much of the economy seems to be retrenching, zynga is on a growth spree. this make believe economy complete with virtual farms and skyscrapers, seems a lot stronger than the real one the rest of us actually live in. i'm david wright for "nightline" in san francisco. >> our thanks to the real david wright who still insists being paid real money. when we come back, more on extreme security, but here's what's next with "jimmy kimmel live." >> thanks, bill. bill show tonight with patrick dempsey, armie hammer, music from nelly and celebrity surprises agalore.

is that a world? national unfriend day is tonight. "jimmy kimmel live" is next.çpçñ