Comedy awards: Backstage gossip

• Sharon Horgan, winner of the best TV comedy actress said: ‘It feels great but I'm really taken aback. Pulling has been nominated for a few things and has never won and I didn't expect to win it tonight. I was watching the clip thinking that was not the best clip - like they were going to be judging it all on that clip!’ But she expressed her disappointment that the BBC hasn't commissioned another series, despite an hour -long special out in April. She said: ‘The BBC hasn't commissioned another series, I thought there was one more, but...’ On being asked why. She added: ‘Why don't you ask them because I haven't got a f**king clue! We're all old birds. There was a number of reasons. They just decided not to go with it.’

• Burlesque star Dita Von Teese, who presented best TVcomedy actress revealed a love of Alan Carr, Jonathan Ross and ‘shows like Little Britain’. She said: ‘I discovered it when it first came out in the US and I just can't get enough of it.’ She also told how she'd been the subject of one of Russell Brand's prank calls: ‘But I didn't answer it because I knew better!. I've had a conversation with him again since though and he was a lot of fun to talk to. I can totally handle guys like that. But I will not be shagging Russell Brand!’

• A slightly worse-for-wear Alan Carr joked that he would like to donate his award for best comedy entertainment personality to Karen Matthews. ‘I'm obsessed with her - I think she's a gay icon. Why? Well, people like a bit of rough don't they?’ he said. Carr said he really didn't expect to pick up the award. ‘Did you hear my speech?! When I won best stand-up last year, there was a whisper that it was me so I had a little something up my sleeve. But this was televised live so I look a complete twat!’ Even if he had prepared a speech, it wouldn't have been anything controversial, he said. ‘I'd have been talking about Matalan or something. I'm just happy to be here and not working in a call centre.’ Asked where his Sunday Night Project partner Justin Lee Collins was, Carr explained he was tied up ‘wrestling a transsexual Mexican wrestler for a Sky One show’. Future Sunday Night Project guests include Tom Jones, Catherine Tate and Simon Pegg, he said, plus there will be a Christmas Celebrity Ding Dong with Barbara Windsor and Joe Pasquale. ‘It's very camp!’ he added.

• Katy Brand, winner of best female comedy newcomer said: ‘I feel a bit weird and a bit pissed. I think this is my first award since I won the RE prize when I was 16. That time I won book tokens, which I sold to my RE teacher for cash. I'm going to hold on to this one I think. I really wasn't expecting to win and made a complete dick of myself when I did! Shouting "Fuck you!" at Kevin Bishop (who'd shouted the same at her) was one example. I'm friends with both of the other nominees and we'd been Facebooking each other about it beforehand...but when you win your mind goes a bit blank. All you can think is I have to go up there and say something.’ She said she'd been inspired by comedians such as French and Saunders and Kathy Burke: ‘People who weren't interested in being pretty and just wanted to be funny and make people laugh.’ Fans can look forward to a Katy Brand Christmas special on December 13 – which includes Katy Perry piss-take 'I Wanked A Tramp And He Liked It' – while filming for the show's third series begins in the new year. Asked if she'd had any embarrassing meetings with any of her celebrity subjects, she said: "I know Sadie Frost and Kate Moss have been very nice about it... I had a little 'encounter' with Lily Allen in a restaurant once, but I think we both left with dignity intact. I'm never terrified of bumping into these people, but then again, it's never pleasant to have a drink thrown in your face!’

• Lifetime achievement award winner Jasper Carrott was coy about whether he would return to stand-up: ‘I suppose I haven't done stand-up for quite a while. Whether I will or not I don't know.’

• On Gavin and Stacey picking up Best TV Comedy, James Corden said: ‘It was great for Ruth [Jones, his co-star and co-writer] and I to have won best comedy newcomers  and then a year later to win best comedy show. On Angus Deayton's jibe about the ‘bubble bursting' jibe, he said: ‘I'd be interested to know who wrote that because it was very good and it obviously wasn't him. If anyone knows about bubbles bursting, it's him.’ He added: ‘Our show is essentially a very ordinary show and we hope people will find extraordinary moments within it. Having now finished it, Ruth and I are as proud of it as we are of any of the series.’ On Ruth's comments that she always writes stories that will avoid the pair having to kiss: ‘I understand completely that Ruth wouldn't want to snog me. I feel exactly the same about her. I feel the same about my brother and sister. It doesn't mean I don't love them, I just can't imagine wanting to snog them!’

Report by: Nione Meakin

Published: 7 Dec 2008