The comedian turned up in a black Mercedes 46 minutes late to the sold-out gig at the Troubadour Wembley Park theatre, which was due to start at 7pm but did not begin until just after 8pm on Saturday.

The venue has a capacity of 2,000 and fans who had not bought valid tickets could be seen before the show begging front of house staff to let them in.

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The allegations in full

A video of Brand from inside the venue shows him walking on stage smiling and being met with cheers before telling the crowds: "Thank you, thank you, I love you."

Dressed in white trainers, grey jeans, a black jacket and sunglasses, the 48-year-old appeared to briefly address the allegations made against him before he began his set.

Audience members told the PA news agency that Brand told them he hoped they would "appreciate" there were "certain things he could not discuss" during the show.

The set itself was shorter than the time crowds had waited for it to begin, and people could be seen leaving an hour and three minutes after it began.

Brand made a swift exit from the venue just before 9.40pm.

He has three more dates for his Russell Brand Bipolarisation live show tour, with his next a sell-out in Windsor, before appearances in Plymouth and Wolverhampton.

Four women have made allegations of sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013 while Brand was at the height of his fame, in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches.

He denies all allegations.

'I feel like I'm being attacked'

Ahead of the publication of the claims, Brand, who has in recent years repositioned himself as a wellness guru and critic of the mainstream media, released a video entitled "So, This is Happening" in which he described the claims as a "a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks".

The 48-year-old said he "absolutely refutes" the accusations that "pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream".

"As I've written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous," he said in the clip.

"I don't mind them using my books and my stand-up to talk about my promiscuous consensual conduct in the past. What I seriously refute are these very, very serious criminal allegations."

He added: "Also, it's worth mentioning that there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narrative that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct, apparently, in what seems to me to be a coordinated attack."

Signing off the clip, he said: "Now, I don't wanna get into this any further because of the serious nature of the allegations, but I feel like I'm being attacked and plainly they're working very closely together.

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"We are obviously going to look into this matter 'cause it's very, very serious. In the meantime, I want you to stay close, stay awake, but more important than any of that, if you can, please stay free."

His video, posted on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, received a response from the platform's owner, Elon Musk.

The billionaire wrote in response to Brand's video: "Of course. They don't like the competition."

He also received support from former Fox News host, Tucker Carlson, and Tristan Tate, the brother of controversial influencer Andrew Tate, who said he "did not believe one word of it".

Andrew Tate, meanwhile, re-shared a post on X which claimed Brand was getting the "Andrew Tate treatment".

The influencer is awaiting trial in Romania, charged with human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group.

Tate was indicted in June, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects. They deny the allegations.

What are the details of the allegations?

According to The Sunday Times article, one of Brand's accusers claims she was 16 and still at school when they began a relationship, having met each other while she was out shopping in central London.

Another woman claims to have been raped by Brand at his Los Angeles home.

The newspaper details claims she was treated at a rape crisis centre on the same day and sent him a text afterwards saying: "When a girl say[s] NO it means no."

A third woman alleges he sexually assaulted her at his West Hollywood home after the pair met at Alcoholics Anonymous.

And the fourth accuser claims to have been physically and emotionally abused by him.

A female comedian, who has not been named, also recalls being "grabbed" and "bitten" in the face by Brand when they gigged together in the early 2000s.

She likens his alleged behaviour at parties to the character in the 1987 film Predator.

A comedian told the Sunday Times that Brand's name was regularly circulated in online groups of female comics.

"I know for many, many years that women have been warning each other about Russell," he told the paper.