For me, I love the British Comedy Awards and they come at the right time of the year, the end. It's a chance to celebrate the ups (and downs) of the past year in British Television Comedy. Year after year the winners aren't always the ones I would have predicted and this year I've decided to write my predictions down in this blog. Not for every category but for the ones I feel thoroughly deserve to win.
Let's start with the big one. The one that we can actually vote for and that is the 'King or Queen of Comedy'. Previous winners include Miranda Hart and last year's winner (who is also up for it this year) Miss Sarah Millican.
Alongside Sarah and nominated for this award are Alan Carr, Graham Norton, Lee Mack and David Mitchell. But despite that great line-up my choice is Jack Whitehall. Why?
Well, it's not for his Channel 4 show Hit The Road Jack which whilst having some funny moments was on the whole quite dull but rather for his roles in both Fresh Meat and Bad Education.
I've previously written about both shows and on both occasions have singled Jack out as a particular highlight so regular readers won't be surprised to hear my vote goes to him. What's great about Jack is how he's been able to put aside his stand-up act and be genuinely funny as somebody else whether that's JP or Alfie Wickers.
Another comedy performer that I'm particularly fond of is Olivia Colman (see image left), if only for the fact that she appears to be in whatever programme I choose to watch. It should come as. No surprise therefore that she is up against HERSELF in the 'Best TV Comedy Actress' category for her roles in Rev and Twenty Twelve.
Unable to pick the two apart I think her role in Twenty Twelve slightly wins for me. If only for the reason she gets more airtime than she does in Rev. Historically Colman doesn't do that we'll at Award ceremonies, nominated for several BAFTAs yet never returning home with one. However I think that 2012 (no pun) will be her year and no longer will she be that woman that's in Peep Show and those other shows.
Despite Horrible Histories winning the 'Best Sketch Show' for the past two years (and nominated again this year) I think it is only now that Facejacker has arrived that we have a sketch show we can be proud of. Whilst other nominees Cardinal Burns and Very Important People had its funny moments none were as funny or convincing as Facejacker. A spin-off from the very funny Fonejacker, the show sees Kayvan Novak don several disguises such as art critic Brian Badonde, Terry Tibbs and my personal favourite, wheelchair bound Dufrais (see image right).
Week upon week the show provided laughs and had me waiting for the next week to see how far Kayvan Novak would take the characters as they are the move from the UK to the US. And often the answer to that question would be very far.
And finally the one that's similar to the Best Album category at the BRITs and that is the award for 'Best Sitcom'. I've written about many great sitcoms in the past, including Rev which is nominated this year. Last year's winner Twenty Twelve is also nominated this year and in a year where the Olympics were so well received is a hot favourite. Also nominated is Sky Atlantic's Hunderby which is written by Julia Davis who also stars. Whilst I'm a fan of Julia I was somewhat underwhelmed with the sitcom which is set in the 1800s. Therefore my choice this year for the award has to go to The Thick Of It.
Returning for what turned out to be a very strong fourth series, The Thick Of It reminded us why we fell in love with its satirical comedy in the first place. What this series did particularly well was portray the current state of our government, with a new coalition setup and a superb Leveson episode which saw the likes of Malcolm Tucker be questioned in a style that this year became all too familiar for us.
So there you go. They were my predictions for 4 out of the 11 categories. But I'm not done just yet. Very often awards such as these miss out some real gems and this year is no different.
Former winner Absolutely Fabulous, which returned towards the end of last year and BBC Three hit Him & Her both have failed to be recognised this year with no nominations. Also, whilst many critics and viewers alike disliked BBC One's first Asian sitcom Citizen Khan I feel it should be recognised as it averaged 3 million viewers that saw the series recommissioned before the first one had even finished. And if not a nomination for the show then Adil Ray the man behind Citizen Khan should definitely have got a nod.
All in all it's been a great year for British television comedy and hopefully 2013 will be just as good. And as for who will actually win, I guess we'll have to tune in to Channel 4 on December 12th for the 2012 British Comedy Awards hosted by Jonathan Ross.
Who do YOU think will win? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter @elliot_gonzalez.