Noel Fielding and Russell Brand joked about sex and used to meditate together - despite Bake Off host now claiming they only had 'a professional relationship'

Noel Fielding 'occasionally' meditated with Russell Brand and joked about having sex with 'underage insects', despite the Mighty Boosh co-creator insisting he only had a 'professional relationship' with the now-convicted rapist.The Bake Off presenter, 53, said he was 'horrified and deeply disturbed' after his former friend was sentenced to ten and a half years behind bars for rape and three counts of sexual assault.However, following the disgraced comedian's explosive four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court, Fielding maintained his relationship with Brand was 'professional rather than personal' and that he had been 'completely unaware of his crimes'.Yet despite the denial of his friendship with the former BBC Radio 2 host, videos have since emerged of Mr Fielding telling Lorraine Kelly that he was meditating with Brand – as well as other footage of the two bizarrely joking about sex with underage insects.Fielding, who regularly appeared on The Russell Brand Show, can be heard asking the sexual predator in reference to grasshoppers: 'So how do you even know if it's a child or an adult? You don't even care, do you?'As the pair continue to giggle, in the episode aired on October 13, 2007, Brand, with a wide grin, answers: 'It's a mistake I've made. I've had a lot of problems in the past because I have thought a grasshopper was above age.'Before I know it, I'm in it, right? I'm kissing it, I'm holding it, then it turns around at me, looks at me with like onyx eyes, and says I'm 12. I go it's a grasshopper. It's a grasshopper.'Fielding, who alongside Brand was dubbed 'The Goth Detectives' as a result of their similar aesthetic, apologised for the 'horrible and inappropriate' jokes he made with the rapist, saying that he 'had no contact with him for many years'.Despite insisting their relationship was 'professional', rather than personal, another clip from a Good Morning Britain interview sees Fielding reveal all about his meditation sessions with Brand during the Covid-19 pandemic. Noel Fielding maintained his relationship with Russell Brand (pictured in 2012) was professional rather than personal after the comedian's rape and sexual assault convictions However, new video clips have since emerged of Fielding and Brand joking about having sex with underage insectsWhen asked by presenter Lorraine about the meditation, he quipped that he and Brand 'occasionally meditate[d] together' but that he always laughed and struggled to 'take it seriously'.'Yeah, we do; we meditate together,' he said with a chuckle as he impersonated Brand telling him to take it 'very seriously' and to not start asking questions as they went into a 'deep' meditation because it would 'put [him off]'.The Mighty Boosh comic appeared to distance himself from his former co-worker, with whom he regularly collaborated on comedy shows and panels in the early 2000s and 2010s, amid mounting calls for him to speak on Brand's recent convictions.It comes as BBC and Channel 4 bosses face questions over Brand's conduct after he boasted that his BBC boss, Lesley Douglas, was 'incredibly tolerant' of his inappropriate sexual behaviour while he was a star presenter.Fielding told the Sun: 'I was horrified and deeply disturbed to learn of Russell Brand's crimes, which I was completely unaware of until they became public knowledge. My thoughts are with the women whose courage brought him to justice.'I appeared on TV, radio and live charity shows with him, and whilst we played it up for the cameras and in the media, I considered it a professional relationship, rather than a personal one. I have had no contact with him for many years.'Looking back at some of the jokes I made alongside him, I was appalled. They were horrible and inappropriate, and I very much regret them.'I have had no contact with him for many years,' he added.Clips of other uncomfortable jibes made by Fielding and Brand have also reemerged this week in the fallout of the trial, including a joke during Channel 4's Big Fat Quiz about the two being rapists in front of Lily Allen in 2007. And in another interview with Lorraine Kelly on Good Morning Britain, the Mighty Boosh co- creator said he had been 'occasionally' meditating with Brand during the Covid-19 lockdownIn 2023, the Madeleine singer described the moment to Grazia UK as 'really horrendous,' but said she had stayed silent because of the 'culture' at the time.Meanwhile, in 2016, Fielding hinted at Brand's promiscuity after being asked in an interview if he would go on tour with him.'I'm game if Russell is. I think a Goth Detectives tour could be fun. A sort of Agatha Christie whodunnit,' he said in the BBC interview.'Someone would get murdered (not for real), and then we would look for the murderer. I'd hunt for clues while Russell seduced the first four rows of the venue (he's trying to cut down).'A picture of the pair on Instagram was included with the interview – but has since been taken down.It comes as the clip of their time on Channel 4's Big Fat Quiz of the Year resurfaced alongside another video in which Brand joked about raping a woman.In the now-deleted clip from YouTube, Brand was speaking to Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast in 2013, where he claimed he was a 'mundane bloke... from a single-parent family' who became a 'pretty comprehensive show-off'.But Herring and the audience roared with laughter when the star broke the silence and said: 'Oh, I've raped someone once' and 'killed her after'.In the same video, he joked about the ancient Greeks having sex with children while creating mathematics, saying: 'They didn't mind it, did they? They were clever, weren't they.'He then mimicked having sex and said: 'I've done another triangle. I'm f***ing a little kid. This is great. F**k the kid with the triangle. No, that's too much.'He also joked about adults such as babysitters performing sex acts in front of children, including him.In the deleted YouTube interview with fellow comedian Herring, Brand, who also called himself a 'sex narcissist', says: 'Look at the women in this room. Even a bold estimate would be that I've slept with half of them. Currently.'It comes as Brand was convicted of raping a 21-year-old fan he picked out of the crowd after one of his Hammersmith Apollo gigs in 2009.Overawed by Brand's fame, the woman agreed to go to the star's £2.3million Hampstead mansion a few days later for sex.But she said the encounter started with Brand unnervingly forcing her to strip, shower and brush her teeth before they went to bed together.Brand, then 33, pushed the woman face down into a pillow on his 'enormous' bed and removed his condom while raping her, leaving her struggling to breathe. Russell Brand, 51, was found guilty of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others and was sentenced to ten and a half years behind barsWe speak to the detective who brought down Russell BrandHi, I'm Alex Matthews, Editor of The Crime Desk.Russell Brand has been found guilty of rape and three sexual assaults - and our reporters Caroline Cheetham and Liz Hull were in court every day to witness it all. They sat down with Detective Inspector Laura Nelson who revealed why the women who accused him in the infamous documentary were not involved in his rape trial. Subscribe to The Crime Desk to listen to the podcast. She was left bleeding and afterwards said Brand ordered her to 'clean up the mess you've made', before switching on the TV to watch the sci-fi series Quantum Leap.During the trial, Riel Karmy-Jones, prosecuting, said women were a 'disposable commodity' to the comedian, whom she dubbed 'a sexual predator'.'They didn't matter to him. He didn't even need to know their names. They were just a means to an end.'The woman recounted that she later told Brand: 'You treated me like an animal,' and that he replied: 'I'm sorry.'Brand's victims told the court how he forced them into sexual activity, sometimes within seconds of first meeting them, while exploiting his fame in pursuit of a goal of sleeping with 5,000 women.After an explosive four-week trial, and eight-and-a-half hours of deliberations, Brand was convicted of the 2009 rape as well as a sexual assault of an MTV worker at a party in Soho. But he was cleared of orally raping her in a toilet afterwards.The born-again Christian, who said he wore the 'full armour of God' in court, was also found guilty of sexually assaulting a Capital Radio worker after encountering her in a corridor in 2005.He was further convicted for sexually assaulting a Channel 4 employee during a forced massage in 2009. He was cleared of two charges of rape and one of attempted indecent assault.Brand now faces a fresh police probe after at least eight women accused him of sexual abuse and predatory behaviour following his conviction.The Daily Mail has approached Noel Fielding's representatives for comment.READ MORE: Russell Brand faces fresh police probe after at least EIGHT women accuse him of sexual abuse and predatory behaviourREAD MORE: How Russell Brand's arrogance has already disappeared inside HMP Wandsworth... as prison sources reveal his privacy request, abuse from fellow inmates and fears for his safetyREAD MORE: He used one to make him look 'cool'. The other dropped in for dinner all the time... as ALISON BOSHOFF asks just how close WAS Jonathan Ross to Brand and Walliams?