Victories for After Life, Joe Lycett, Katherine Ryan and more - and Rhod Gilbert gives a cancer update

After Life was a triple winner at  Channel 4’s National Comedy Awards tonight.

The show was named best scripted comedy, with Ricky Gervais  best comedy actor and Diane Morgan taking home best supporting role. The accolades are voted for by the public.

Gervais who wrote and directed the show,  was not at the North London ceremony, even though co-star Tony Way pointed out that he lived just three Tube stops away.

In a video massage to accept his acting award, Gervais, said there was 'no one to thank. I even told me where to stand and what to say I wrote, I didn't even change my hair.'

'But thank you to Netflix, the brilliant cast and crew. Thanks to Channel 4 where it all started for me. And most of all, thanks to the viewing public who voted for this. Best fans in the world. You're the reason I do it. Well, the money...

‘And it annoys people, winning awards. This must be particularly annoying for the other nominees because they were doing their best comedy acting, weren’t they, And I was playing a man who's suicidal, depressed, abusive, often crying. So even when I'm not being funny, I'm still the funniest.’

Joe Lycett took home two accolades after  viewers voted for his tour More, More, More! How Do You Joe Lycett? How Do You Joe Lycett? on Twitter during the broadcast.

The result might have seemed a foregone conclusion as he was up against shows from Sam Campbell:, Tim Key, Amy Gledhill and Jordan Gray  that would have been seen by much fewer people – but Lycett still appeared to be taken by surprise.

Before the show it was announced that Lycett would be taking home ‘comedy game-changer award’ created by judges in recognition of his work to inspire social change through comedy, from  confronting Shell on greenwashing to challenging David Beckham to relinquish his role as an ambassador for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

He received a standing ovation from the audience in Camden’s Roundhouse when he collected his award from artist Grayson Perry, who hailed him as a disruptor.

It was a label he leant into during his acceptance speech, when he inflamed the row over  BBC chairman Richard Sharp’s links to Boris Johnson, as he referenced some of his more attention-grabbing stunts.

He said: 'I’ve written some names of people I should thank… Liz Truss, couldn’t do it without you, girl. Hugo Boss, I’d like to thank Hugo Boss for designing those lovely Nazi uniforms and then to the company Hugo Boss for their unending appetite to protect their intellectual copyright.

'To everyone on Twitter with a football logo as their profile picture for keeping me grounded. To Nadine Dorries for everything she’s done for culture. To the BBC chairman Richard Sharp for that loan you gave me, thank you Richard. I was struggling when I started out and he kept me afloat.

'I’d like to dedicate this award to the Channel 4 lawyers who 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 but the opinion of Channel 4 television. Thank you so much.'

.@joelycett receives the Comedy Game Changer award, and gives an acceptance speech we are going to pretend we didn't hear #NationalComedyAwards pic.twitter.com/nNIodpPlV6

— Channel 4 (@Channel4) February 17, 2023

Best comedy panel show went to 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown while Taskmaster was named best comedy entertainment show.

Jon Richardson picked up the Cats Does Countdown award, joking that he was so integral to the show that he didn't even feature in the clip played to announce its victory.

And accepting the Taskmaster award - in a SuperTed T-shirt – series creator Alex Horne said: ‘Thank you for all the comedians who've been on the show… and thank you to all the comedians who haven't been in the show. You will be soon, that's how it works.’

And in a nod to the occasional controversy over agents who make TV shows he said: ‘Thank you to Avalon who made the show and who are also my managers – and that's fine.'

‘Thank you, Dave, for having faith in us in the beginning and taking the risk an thank you to Channel Four equally Thank you to all the people who make the show, none of whom are standing here. That's a combination of models, actors, male escorts.’

Best Comedy Entertainment Show is snapped up by the bizarrely brilliant @taskmaster #NationalComedyAwards pic.twitter.com/qGVN9A0NLS

— Channel 4 Press (@C4Press) February 17, 2023

In one of the most moving scenes of the night, Rhod Gilbert spoke of being diagnosed with cancer of the head and neck during a fundraising video.

He spoke of how he was treated at the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff, which he had previously raised funds for.

‘I’ve led five fundraising treks all over the world, I do stand-up comedy nights to raise money, I hosted quizzes… it’s been a big part of my life for the last 10 years, so imagine my surprise when I was diagnosed with cancer,’  he said. ‘It pissed me off no end, because I thought I’d have life-long immunity! Apparently not. Apparently you’re just as likely to get cancer even if you spend your time fundraising for a cancer hospital. Anyway, I did get it, and it turns out it can come for anybody.’

He added: ‘‘I’d been struggling for a while anyway, with pain in my neck and a sore throat and I couldn’t speak or breathe and I was postponing tour shows, I had terrible Spasm in my face and tightness in my muscles. Couldn’t get to the bottom of it, turns out after a biopsy that I have something called head and neck cancer. Cancer of the head, sounded pretty serious.’

He underwent surgery and daily sessions of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, noting wryly: ‘‘I had to have chemotherapy in a room with pictures of me on the way in! Grinning down at myself like, "Come on, you can do it!" Which was a bit odd.’

‘But, my care has been faultless, my facial hair is back, my voice is back to normal, my weight is starting to come back, my saliva glands are coming back. Basically, I’m coming back!

He said that now he was on the road to recovery, he was feeling ‘really happy and really positive - and some people will say that makes a change… I’m not exactly known for that.’

Katherine Ryan won the first accolade of the night when she was named Outstanding Female Comedy Entertainment Performer for her Amazon Prime show Backstage With Katherine Ryan.

Accepting her award, she said: 'Oh my goodness, I didn't expect to win... this early’ – and said she hoped to make more episodes.

The amazing @Kathbum wins Outstanding Female Comedy Entertainment Performer! #NationalComedyAwards pic.twitter.com/biy5AgdP5X

— Channel 4 Press (@C4Press) February 17, 2023

Lee Mack won the equivalent award for the best male comedian for Would I Lie To You. He sent in an acceptance video, saying: 'I don't do this for the awards. I do it for the money.'

Derry Girls star Saoirse Monica Jackson was  named best comedy actress and best comedy podcast went to Shagged, Married, Annoyed with Chris and Rosie Ramsey for the second time. Chris said: 'I'm glad the rest of the world has realised how funny Rosie is.'

As also previously announced, Mo Gilligan received an ‘impact in comedy’ award  created by the judges in acknowledgement of his efforts to shine a light on other black comics, including his Black British Takeover gigs at The O2, as well as off-screen opportunities.

He was not at the ceremony, but sent a video message crediting those black comics who had inspired and encouraged him – such as Angie Le Mar, Slim, Richard Blackwood, Eddie Kadi, Babatunde Aleshe,  Axel Blake and  Thanyia Moore – and said he wanted to do the same for the next generation. ’As everyone was giving me my props, I wanted to give them their props’

That was why I started doing things like the documentary Black British And Funny or doing shows at The O2 to show this amazing scene that some people didn't even know even existed.  Funny is funny.’

The recipients of the comedy breakthrough star awards had also previously been announced as Cheaters star Susan Wokoma, stand-up Jordan Gray – who closed the ceremony with a barnstorming performance - and Am I Being Unreasonable? scene-stealer Lenny Rush.

To donate £40, £30, £20 or £10 to Stand Up To Cancer, text FORTY, THIRTY, TWENTY OR TEN to 70404.

The full list of winners and nominees is:

Best Scripted Comedy: After Life
Nominees: Ghosts, Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, Derry Girls 

Best Comedy Entertainment Show: Taskmaster ​
Nominees: The Graham Norton Show, Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. The Chris and Rosie Ramsey Show 

Best Comedy Panel Show: 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown  
Nominees:  Mock the Week, QI, Would I Lie to You?

Best Comedy Podcast: Shagged, Married, Annoyed with Chris and Rosie Ramsey
Nominees: Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Parenting Hell; Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster; Have A Word

Outstanding Comedy Actress: Saoirse Monica Jackson (Derry Girls)​
Nominees:  Rose Matafeo (Starstruck); Sharon Horgan (Bad Sisters); Charlotte Ritchie (Ghosts); Daisy May Cooper (Am I Being Unreasonable?)

Outstanding Comedy Actor: Ricky Gervais (After Life)
Nominees: Dylan Llewellyn (Big Boys); Joseph Gilgun (Brassic); Kiell Smith-Bynoe (Ghosts); Stephen Merchant (Outlaws)

Outstanding Supporting Role: Diane Morgan (After Life)
Nominees: Jamie Lee O’Donnell (Derry Girls); David Earl (After Life); Lolly Adefope (Ghosts)' Siobhan McSweeney (Derry Girls)

Outstanding Female Comedy Entertainment Performer: Katherine Ryan (Backstage with Katherine Ryan)
Nominees: Fern Brady (Taskmaster); Sandi Toksvig (QI); Judi Love (Taskmaster): Sarah Millican (Taskmaster)

Outstanding Male Comedy Entertainment Performer: Lee Mack (Would I Lie to You?) *
Nominees: Greg Davies (Taskmaster); Joe Lycett (Joe Lycett’s Big Pride Party); Munya Chawawa (Taskmaster); Alex Horne (Taskmaster)

Best stand-up show: Joe Lycett: More, More, More! How Do You Joe Lycett?
Nominees: Sam Campbell: Comedy Show; Tim Key: Mulberry; Amy Gledhill: The Girl Before The Girl You Marry; How Do You Joe Lycett?; Jordan Gray: Is It A Bird? 

Published: 17 Feb 2023