Parky attacks presenters over 'obscene' calls

He said he had no sympathy for 33-year-old Brand who was “generously called a comedian”.

But he said Ross, 47, was “very good at his job” and would bounce back.

Michael told Eamonn Holmes on Radio 5 Live: “Jonathan should have more oil in his lamp frankly, more sense.

“Jonathan has been through a lot of television.

“He’s very good at his job but he’s given to fits of madness now and again and I think he had one on this occasion.

“As for the other guy, I don’t have an opinion on the other guy.”

He said when Brand arrived at the BBC there was a feeling that “sooner or later it would put them in a very embarrassing situation”.

Michael expressed some sympathy for Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas, who resigned over the affair, but added that “she was the one who invited him in”.

He questioned the judgment of hiring someone who was sacked from MTV for coming to work dressed as Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks.

“The facts are he did something that was silly, obscene, tasteless and unfunny,” said Michael.

“He’s generously called a comedian. I can’t feel much sympathy for him.

“As for Jonathan, he’ll come back, he’ll be fine.”

Michael, 73, who presented Parkinson from 1971 to 2007, was critical of modern chat shows which he said lacked genuine wit.

“It’s just boys behaving badly – let’s get out that joke book about titty jokes and that sort of thing.

“Come on, we’re all a bit older and a bit wiser and a bit more sensitive than that aren’t we?”

He added: “With Jonathan what you see is what you get and he’s been a popular member of our broadcasting elite now for 20 years or so, so he’s got to be doing something right.

“I feel sorry that in this situation he went along with what was happening in the radio studio. The other guy, as I said, I don’t care about.

“In the end what Brand did and what Jonathan did was indefensible.”