Since the Russell Brand Dispatches, on Channel 4, came out last week, many people have been expecting them to also talk about Brand’s friend and fellow comedian and comical actor, Noel Fielding.
Noel Fielding is famous for hit shows, such as The Mighty Bush, alongside co-star Julien Barrat in the 2000s, well-known for its abstract, surrealistic comedy that had not been touched upon since in The Monty Python decades before. Fielding also found fans when he appeared alongside Chris O’Dowd, Richard Ayaode, and Katharine Parkinson in the IT Crowd from 2006 to 2013 as Richmond Avenal - the hidden away goth employee. More recently, he has been a quirky host for The British Bake Off since the switch to Channel 4 in 2016, where he became one of the hosts in 2017 (IMDB, 2023).
However, why are people bringing him up with Russel Brand? Well, the British comedy scene is finally getting a proper squint, with some issues being brought up that had been swept under the rug before.
Well, the two aren’t all that dissimilar. The pair famously appeared together as a team on The Big Fat Quiz of the Year named ‘The Goth Detectives’ in 2006 and 2007 (Metro, December 2021). Since Russell Brand’s alleged victims have come forward, many fans have pointed out that Noel Fielding also dated a 16-year-old when he was 33; Bob Geldof’s daughter Pixie. The relationship went on for 2 years before Pixie Geldof broke the relationship off in 2009, allegedly after Pixie had heard rumours of Fielding flirting with fans during his US tour (Evening Standard, August 2009). Fielding was known to be a drug-addled ladies’ man during the 2000s, often found hanging around The Hawley Arms with celebrities like Amy Winehouse. Fielding also made the papers for dating Kurt Cobain’s widow, and Hole singer, Courtney Love around the same time as Pixie Geldof was seen on his arm (The Sun, March 2017).
Yet, like Brand, Fielding is not just an innocent bystander to the ill-humour of the 2000s. At 33, he was dating Pixie Geldoff when she was just 16, and still in year 11 at secondary school. The model, now 33 and married to George Barnett, 35, gave birth to their first child in 2021, while Fielding is currently set to return to our screens with The Great British Bake Off season 14 (Tatler, August 2021). Now with new co-star Alison Hammond since Matt Lucas stepped back from the role as co-host last season (The Independent, September 2023).
At the time, the media even knew about the inappropriate age gap, The DailyMail, in 2007, even wrote:
“The pretty GCSE student was spotted at a private party at the Proud Gallery in Camden, North London, on Thursday night, canoodling with bad boy Mighty Boosh comedian Noel Fielding, 33” about the relationship when it first began (The Daily Mail, April 2007).
An open secret of the 2000s, that, now in hindsight, has many people raising their eyebrows at how inappropriate this union was.
Even more eerily similar, Brand was also alleged to have dated Bob Geldof’s other daughter, Peaches, when she was also 16 and he was 29 at the time. Bob Geldof went on to call Brand a “c*nt” on stage in 2006 at the NME Awards (The Tab, September 2023).
Brand and Fielding have yet to comment on the latest scandal concerning the Geldofs.
Edited by: Anwen Venn
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