tonight on "nightline," done deal. democrats and republicans finally reach an 11th hour budget agreement. a government shutdown is averted and both sides declare victory. we look at the epic tug of war between two americas and who ended up winning this round. sex, drugs and comedy. on the brink of super stardom, russell brand is trying to stay sane as a recovers playboy and addict. >> i can't believe i just did that. >> tonight, he tells how wife katy perry and a new disdain for fame have helped him. and, pie for everyone. what is the sweetest new item in the restaurant dessert case in hot or cold, it is the timeless american classic whose time has

come again. pie. we go in for a closeup. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city this is "nightline," april 8th, 2011. >> good evening. we begin with breaking news, and within minutes of the first wartime government shutdown in american history, democrats and republicans announced a last minute deal on this year's federal budget which must bring great relief to the 800,000 federal workers and millions of military families around the world whose paychecks were hanging in the balance. the two sides reportedly agreed on a $38.5 billion spending cut for the rest of this year. but still, a tiny sliver of the total budget. it was a day of fraught negotiation, with plenty of blame flinging thrown in. but in the end, a stop gap measure was passed before midnight deadline and we heard

this from the key players in this fight. >> i'm pleased that senator reid and i and the white house have been able to come to an agreement that will, in fact, cut spending and keep our government open. and i expect that the house will vote tonight on a short-term continuing resolution into next week to allow for time for this agreement to be put together in legislative form and brought to the floor of the house and senate for a vote. >> we've agreed to a historic amount of cuts for the remainder of this fiscal year, as well as short-term ways to avoid a shutdown. >> today, americans of different beliefs came together again. in the final hours before our government would have been forced to shut down, leaders in both parties reached and agreement that will allow our small businesses to get the

loans they need, our families to get the mortgages they applied for and hundreds of thousands of americans to show up at work and take home their paychecks on time. including our brave men and women in uniform. some of the cuts we agreed to will be painful. programs people rely on will be cut back. needed infrastructure projects will be delayed. and i would not have made these cuts in better circumstances. but beginning to live within our means is the only way to protect those investments that will help america compete for new jobs. investments in our kid's education and student loans. and clean energy and life-saving medical research. we protected the investments we need to win the future. >> we'll take you to capitol hill where the voice votes are going on at this hour, but we want to start with our chief white house correspondent jake tapper, long night, maybe i'm projecting, i thought i saw some exhaustion on the faces of the three men there. what was the president's involvement?

we saw the meetings yesterday, into the evening with the two leaders. how was he engaged tonight? >> reporter: well, he was engaged the way he's been eng e engaged throughout much of this process, letting the people who are in charge of the negotiations do the work and then stepping in when he needed to. he had two meetings with the congressional leaders on thursday, two on wednesday and then today, there was an issue of speaker boehner trying to get more, trying to push the white house as much as he could. president obama pushing back on him, saying, this is as far as we can go. $38.5 billion in new cuts. that's $78.5 billion in cuts compared to what president obama proposed in his budget a year ago. it's quite a bit. president obama also drawing the line, refusing to allow this rider, this controversial policy provision, bank all funding for planned parenthood, that is not part of this deal, though there

are some other provisions deeming with abortion and planned parenthood going forward. >> politically, does he take any victory in this tonight? does either sidewalk away with this feeling, dominant? >> reporter: i don't think it's a matter of dominance as it is an avoidance of looking weak. i don't think anybody is really going to look, though, i should say, anybody here at the white house is going to look as though they were really strong in this but the flip side of it, which would have been much, much worse, it would have been president obama unable to make washington work and it would have been a government shutdown that he would have taken some of the heat for, as well. i do think that speaker boehner, when the smoke has cleared, he did, the republicans, did get a lot out of this deal. $78.5 billion in spending cuts compared to president obama's original budget, $38.5 billion, compared to house spending right

now. that is a lot. there is a rider that would ban taxpayer funding of abortions in washington, d.c. and there will be votes on repealing the health care law and on cutting off funding for planned parenthood. those are big achievements from the republicans. >> okay, jake. let's go now to your colleague and mine, jon karl, our man con capitol hill. the votes are still going on. let's talk about this planned parenthood rider. how much of a sticking point was that? was that the republicans playing tough poker or were they really committed to getting that through? >> reporter: well, it's a big priority for republicans. republicans hate the idea that planned parenthood gets more than $300 million a year in federal money. even though none of that money actually goes to abortion. they don't like the fact that it goes to an organization that provides abortion and they don't trust that the money is not fungible. so, it is a big issue. but about this, speaker boehner said, bill, over and over again, publicly and i am told priva

privately, that this was all about the money, about the spending. he wanted to push this as far as he could to get the biggest number he could get. and he got a pretty big number. he certainly got a lot more than the democrats were orj nally offering. >> and what does it say that we came within minutes of a federal shutdown, which is .2% of the total national debt. especially for the big debates going forward. >> reporter: we're in for a big mess, bill. this is nothing compared to the battles we have coming ahead. we saw paul ryan come out with a budget, the republican budget chairman in the house, he came out with a budget for 2012 and beyond looking at cuts in the trillions. so, stay tuned. >> all right, jon karl, jake tapper, our thanks to both of you, after a long day's work. when we come back, we will shift gears considerably. a cod immediatic force of nature, russell brand joins us to talk about his playboy days and ongoing quest for zen.

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20% daily value of fiber bursting with the delicious taste of cinnamon. new cinnamon burst cheerios. prepare your taste buds. >> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> russell brand no longer consumes more drugs, bechlds more women and insults more beloved public figures than any englishman. but before quitting, that life brought him what he always wanted. fame. and after starring in a slate of new movies and hardrying pop star katy perry, that fame and its banquet of temptations will only grow. see how he's managing his caged demons, i spent a little time with russell for our series, "seriously funny." >> get in, bill. get into a path wibath with me. >> reporter: i don't generally

do this, but such is the charm of russell brand. so, at the end of the day shooting, you just -- >> i just sleep. >> reporter: bubble bath? >> yeah, i have a lovely bath on set and all the female members of cast and crew do a song of "the mood in new york city" which scored the original. they sing that while i aggressively soap myself. >> reporter: we're on the set of "arthur." >> this arthur is a playboy. >> 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 floated around hollywood for years. until brand's portrayal of elvis snow -- >> i'm a motorist. >> reporter: in two hit come dips made him the obvious choice to play another self-destructive here donnist. how is arthur different from snow? >> snow a dark man. he's a man suffering from

addiction. arthur is just like a kid. like, like, snow is drinking and taking drugs because, oh, gold, the world is so awful, tortured, like me. but arthur is just, so, you didn't have to go to work and you had loads and loads of money, why not drink a martini for breakfast. >> reporter: to play a drunk or a june can i, most actors draw on the sense memory of binges past. and russell brand has a lot of sense memory. after a childhood filled with receive loathing, bulimia and cutting, much of his early work was performed while stoned out of his gourd. >> i don't [ bleep ] believe i just did that. that was me having a mental breakdown on heroin. >> reporter: when did you realize you haud to make a change? >> i lost my job at mtv because of some inappropriate crack-induced on-screen lunacy. >> reporter: je, 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, within six months, you'll be dead, in prison or in a lunatic asylum. i considered all three options and i thought, lunatic asylum, that will probably be horrible. death, well, no one knows yet. and prison -- not for me. 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 done. >> reporter: after rehab, brand found another feel good addition. an affair with kate moss launched him into a sexual stratosphere. and his thousands of conquests earned him the title of shagger of the year. when we have a chef on "nightline," we ask him 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 woman. >> well, that's my defining quality? you realize i'm actually a comedian, not, in fact, a professional --

>> reporter: after a bit of protests, he agrees to show us on our "nightline" producer. >> remember, i'm a married man. but bill, you do something like this. sara, this 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 the way i feel and may its beauty every moment that you doubt yourself, because i know you doubt yourself, impossible though that may seem to me, a weakness -- like us unify, make a symphony of or g asmic skies. oh, sara, be mine! >> reporter: and then -- >> closed, that's it, she's

yours. pregnant, pregnant, pregnant. remember, i'm married, very happily 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 2008 when he met his bride of six months, katy perry. what was it about katy that touched you? >> i think i was growing up anyway, bill. i wanted a companion, a friend. it's the most normal relationship the other day. yesterday, 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. >> reporter: "arthur" opens just as his animated turn as the easter bunny is number one at the box office. >> that lady wrote harry potter in a ditch. >> reporter: he'll be in the movie version of "rock of ages" and has plans for a stadium tour. so, after a lifetime craving

fame, russell brand final lip has it. then, after discovering it all, he says the craving is gone. >> thankfully i have my primary muse, comedy, because now that i'm no longer infatuated with fame, now i realize, stimulating though it is, it's like, i don't know, you inhaled sort of 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. >> reporter: this morning? >> not that long. forgive me if i have the zeal of the newly converted. >> reporter: several hours sober there. our thanks to russell brand. and "arthur" is in theaters now. coming up what is round and makes people happy? no, not mario batali. we look at america's renewed love affair with pie.

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we hold these truths to be self-evident. pie is delicious. and a slice of it is the perfect compliment to any meal and, according to the crack dessert trend watchers on the "nightline" staff, a growing number of americans are rediscovering those truths with pie making a huge comeback on men europes everywhere. and for jeremy hubbard, that's not only yummy news, it's a "sign of the times." >> reporter: rest in peace beloved trendy cup cake. your sweet days are over. >> who will survive today's cup cake war? >> reporter: they may be fighting over you on the food network, but around the country, a new treat is angling for a piece of the trendy dessert pie. pie. even the most upper crust of domestic divas, martha stewart, has jumped on the pie bandwagon, when her new cookbook was

launched last month, dessert lovers lined up at this pie popup store and pie lovers couldn't find the words for their joy. imagine a pie happy hour. that's what they're serving up every afternoon here, where they are receiving 2,000 peoples a week, in flavors like whiskey butter milk. big pies, pies they even mix into milk shakes. why this pie resurgence? >> well, i think there's probably something in the scythe coming off the recession, looking for comfort food. >> reporter: americans ordered 722 million pieces of pie last year at restaurants. 12 million more than the year before. in fact, pies have been called the top restaurant trend of 2011. >> this is a little bit of toasted coconut. >> reporter: a pastry menu devoted to the dessert may seem like a pie in the sky idea, but not to kieran baldwin.

>> everybody knows pie, everybody loves it. >> reporter: she's the pastry chef at the dutch in new york city, where the pie-centric dessert menu will offer a new take on old classics. >> i love it because it's a trust and you can do anything you want with it. >> reporter: she let us sample her unique twist on the coconut cream pie. not exactly what grandma used to whip up. that is really spectacular. that's the best i've ever had. >> thank you. >> reporter: the pie trend is now even threatening to slice into the wedding cake market. believe it or not, couples are opting for pies at their reception. the wedding cake, another discarded dessert, at least the cupcake is in good company, replaced by a treat that's as american as, well, you know. i'm jeremy hubbard for "nightline" in new york. yeah. it's good. >> now i see why we did that story. thank you, jeremy hubbard. and thank you for watching abc news. we hope you check into "good morning amera.