Russell Brand thinks Morrissey is rude

He said: "There was a time after he saw me do a show at Hammersmith Apollo. He came with Victoria Wood, God rest her soul, and Chrissie Hynde, and I was with Alain de Botton, the philosopher bloke.

"He really liked me, Alain de Botton. He was saying, 'Russell is the most important social commentator of our age, that's the thing. If he wasn't a comedian, people would be saying he's the most significant philosopher of our time. But he is a comedian, there's no box you can put him in.' And Morrissey went, 'How about a coffin?' He's rude.

"He's got these weird puns. He never fails to call Bryan Ferry 'Bryan Ferret'."

But Russell is baffled by how much even bigger stars than the 'This Charming Man' hitmaker are "properly affected" by the 58-year-old singer.

He told Q magazine: "He's hard work. Everyone that knows him, even the people you think are as famous as him, really kowtow to him.

"I was once at a very fancy party in America on Oscars night. Ari Emanuel, the biggest agent in the world, had a do round his house.

There was Robert Downey Jr. and proper stars.

"He'd done something where he'd converted his house and there were marquees coming off it, so you couldn't tell what the house would have been like normally. But there was one room on the way in that was clearly just a front room. Morrissey was just sat in an armchair in there, with a cup of tea and a saucer.

"People elsewhere throughout the party were working up the confidence to go and talk to him.

"People would come in for a bit, Morrissey would grant them an audience for a moment and be all sarcastic to them and stuff.

"I thought, 'How's he got himself a little throne room?' He's got some sort of gravitas. People are properly affected by him."