Matt Lucas

David Walliams and Russell Brand once joked about pretending to be gay to throw people off ... and the 20-year-old clip is resurfacing now that both comedians are at the center of major sex scandals. The footage comes from the 2006 debut of "The Russell Brand Show" on Channel 4 ... where Walliams…

Ridley Scott allegedly has his actors interacting with live animals on the set of "Gladiator 2" -- something PETA has become aware of, and which it's urging the production to halt. The animal rights org fired off a handful of letters over the past few days -- all obtained by TMZ -- and they're…