Vine and Burns cause chaos

Comedians have been causing chaos on the BBC News Channel in the wake of the ‘best joke of the Fringe’ award.

First of all recipient Tim Vine exposed the sham of the Edinburgh backdrop used in the studio, by peeling it back to show an alternative nighttime scene used for evening broadcasts.

Then later, Brendon Burns stormed out of an interview after expressing mock outrage at the result.

He told presenter Huw Edwards: ‘I’m outraged! It’s an absolute disgrace... The city’s burning to the ground in disgust – to take out artform and whittle it down to a trite soundbite of ambiguous wordplay. This just disgusts me.’

He blatantly plugged his show and his book, before being asked what he thought of Vine’s winning joke.

‘Pun-slinging tosspot, that’s what he is,’ he stormed. 'You should be embarrassed to even speak to me.’

Then, after playing with a phone on the desk in front of him, he said: ‘Enough said. I’m off.’

Edwards replied with: ‘Oh Brendon, I was going to say “come back”, but you know what, I’m not going to bother.’

There was then some faffing as to whether or not he would go back on air, but he only made a brief appearance before being cut off. Click here to watch the footage.

Earlier, Vine exposed the backdrop of the BBC's Edinburgh studio, which shows the city's skyline, while live on air.

He said: ‘Edinburgh doesn’t look enough like Edinburgh, so we have a picture.’

He was being interviewed by Emily Maitlis about winning the accolade for his line: ‘I've just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I'll tell you what, never again.’

Click here to watch this footage.

Burns later clarified that he was only joking aout Vine, saying: 'I actually think Tim is brilliant.'

Published: 23 Aug 2010