2010 British Comedy Awards – and the winner is….
Rightfully so, last night (Saturday, 22 January) was billed as the biggest night of the year for the British comedy industry as UK’s funniest gathered at London’s O2 for the annual British Comedy Awards. Jonathan Ross returned as host of the 
gala evening, broadcast live on Channel 4, that, for the first time, tapped the British public to vote for their ‘King or Queen of Comedy’. In very American Idol voting fashion, five of the UK’s leading comedy acts as selected by a jury from the British Comedy Academy to go head to head with the British public phoning in their vote for the People’s Choice Award of UK”s funniest. Another new category added this year will recognize the Best Male & Female TV Comic.
Twitter was definitely ‘the next best thing to being there‘ during the evening for the unfortunate ones some 5000 miles to the west of the O2 on Saturday. Following tweets throughout the evening from the likes of Jonathan Ross, Rob Brydon, Jack Dee, Miranda Hart and others you realize just why the British make some of the best television comedy in the world. For those not in attendance and who also may have missed the live broadcast on Channel 4, the winners of the 2010 British Comedy Awards were….
- Best Male TV Comic – Michael McIntyre
- Best Comedy Panel Show – Would I Lie To You? or WILTY for short
- Best New TV Comedy – Miranda (tough choice with The Trip and Grandma’s House also nominated)
- Best Comedy Entertainment Personality – Harry Hill
- Best Comedy Actor – Peter Capaldi (The Thick of It) (well-deserved)
- Writer’s Guild of Great Britain Award – Peep Show writers, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong
- Best Female TV Comic – Jo Brand
- Best Sitcom – The Inbetweeners (personally, I was surprised Miranda didn’t win this one)
- Lifetime Achievement Award – Roy Clarke (Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances, Open All Hours) (Congratulations, Roy!)
- Best Comedy Entertainment Program – Newswipe with Charlie Brooker (What, no Graham Norton?)
- Best Female Breakthrough Comic – Samantha Spiro
- Best British Comedy Performance in Film – Kayvan Novak (Fonejacker)
- Best TV Comedy Actress – Miranda Hart (Miranda)
- Best Sketch Show – Horrible Histories, CBBC
- Outstanding Contribution to Comedy – Russell Brand
Wossy introduces David Tennant who presents the People’s Choice Award 2010 for the King/Queen of British Comedy….
All in all, a great night, a well-deserved tip of the hat to the brilliance of British comedy. Congratulations to all those that won tonight and to all the nominees. For those that missed the live broadcast, it will be repeated on Channel 4, tonight at 11:00pm. Anyone have comments on who won, who didn’t and who needs recognition next year yet?
