Moment Russell Brand and old friend David Walliams joke about pretending to be gay as a 'smokescreen' on Channel 4 comedy show

Published: 04:10 EDT, 9 November 2026 | Updated: 04:17 EDT, 9 November 2026 Russell Brand and his friend David Walliams joked about pretending to be gay as a 'smokescreen' in a veiled reference to seducing women.The disgraced comedian, 51, invited fellow performer Walliams onto the first episode of his own TV programme on November 24, 2006 which aired on Channel 4.Called The Russell Brand Show, Brand and Walliams shared a kiss on the lips, before the host was presented with an antique top hat by his guest as a present.Fellow guest, actor Matt Lucas, joked: 'You are like the two gayest straight blokes there are.'Walliams said: 'Isn't it a wonderful smokescreen?'Brand, who was convicted of rape and sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court last week, agreed adding: 'It works wonderfully well.' The footage appears six minutes into the programme and comes after Walliams said Brand looked 'beautiful' in his hat. Only two days earlier, Brand had appeared on stage with Walliams to perform onstage during Little Britain's Big Night charity gala performance in aid of Comic Relief at the Hammersmith Apollo. Russell Brand and David Walliams on stage at Little Britain's Big Night, in aid of Comic Relief Brand and Walliams are joined on stage by the Little Britain actor and comic Matt LucasBrand and Walliams hugging at the after party for the British Comedy Awards 2006 in London Brand was supported by Walliams after he was sacked for verbally abusing the then 78-year-old former Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs on BBC Radio 2During the show Walliams was dressed up as a woman leaning across Brand on a couch. Walliams told guests on the Russell Brand Show that he initially 'hated' the comedian when he met him. He said: 'I hated you when I first met you on that boat. You were on heroin then.'To which Brand replied: 'Oh yes, I was a very different girl then.' Brand's self publicised history of drug use was not put before jurors at his trial. But they convicted him of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault on four women after a month-long trial. The Daily Mail revealed last week that Brand is now in HMP Wandsworth ahead of his sentencing hearing today before Justice Bennathan.Two years after appearing on Brand's television programme, Walliams was pictured leaving his friend's north London home. Walliams supported the comedian who was forced out of the BBC for abusing Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs. In pre-recorded calls which were broadcast on Radio 2, Brand said he had sex with Mr Sachs's granddaughter, Georgina Baillie.Along with Jonathan Ross who was also on the calls, Brand was forced to apologise to Mr Sachs, who played Manuel in the comedy, after fierce public backlash.