Joe Lycett was hardly going to let his moment of glory at the National Comedy Awards pass by without one final dig at his bestie Liz Truss, was he?
Throughout Truss’ 49 days in Downing Street last year, Joe provided regular commentary as he ironically cheered her on from the sidelines in his own inimitable way.
Over the course of Truss’ tenure as PM, Joe carried on a running gag about being “very right-wing”, which began when he appeared on Laura Kuenssberg’s inaugural BBC politics show last month, the day before Truss was announced as the new PM.
Poking fun at the host’s interview with Truss, which aired moments earlier, the stand-up comic sarcastically quipped: “I know there’s been criticism in the Mail on Sunday today about leftie liberal wokie comedians on the BBC – I’m actually very right wing and I love it.”
In the weeks that followed, he kept up the gag, which included creating several artworks in Truss’ honour.
During Friday night’s ceremony, Joe was awarded the Comedy Game Changer title, and when it came to his thank yous, there was only ever going to be one name first on the list.
“Couldn’t do it without you, girl,” he joked, referring to the short-lived PM.
The former Great British Sewing Bee host went on to shout out a number of other individuals and organisations that he’s crossed over the years, including Hugo Boss and “anyone on Twitter with a football team logo as their picture”.
He then jokingly thanked Nadine Dorries “for all she’s done for culture” and BBC chairman Richard Sharp “for that loan you gave me”.
Joe ended the speech with a special mention to Channel 4’s lawyers, concluding: “I’d like to dedicate this award to the Channel 4 lawyers, who have protected me throughout my career, from myself. And with that in mind, I’d like to say Richard Sharp should stand down as the BBC chairman.”
“And that’s not my opinion,” he added. “But the opinion of Channel 4 television. Thank you so much.”
As well as Comedy Game-Changer, Joe was also awarded Best Stand-Up Show during the ceremony for his brilliantly-titled More, More, More! How Do You Lycett? How Do You Lycett? Set.
Other winners on the night included Katherine Ryan, Ricky Gervais, Derry Girls’ Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Jordan Gray and Mo Gilligan.