Twenty Twelve Snubbed at the British Comedy Awards, but Jack Whitehall Wins the Crown

Twenty Twelve Snubbed at the British Comedy Awards, but Jack Whitehall Wins the Crown

The British Comedy Awards were held last night, presented once again by Jonathan Ross. It saw a room of the country's funniest people come under one roof to celebrate and ridicule one another, as is the British tradition. 

Twenty Twelve and The Thick of It have been compared since the former hit screens in 2011. It satirises the shambolic organization of this year's the Olympic games, while The Thick of It satirises the inner workings of the British government. However, despite audiences loving Twenty Twelve and it receiving four nominations in the three categories that it's eligible for, it failed to take home anything. Both Olivia Colman and Jessica Hynes from the show were nominated for Best Actress, but they lost out to The Thick of It's Rebecca Front. It seems an odd snub given that everyone has been celebrating all things Olympic since it was revealed that London got the deal.

Another surprise was Jack Whitehall's voted win of King of Comedy for 2012. He was up against some serious comedy heavy weights that have done the circuit for years: Alan Carr, Lee Mack, David Mitchell, Graham Norton and last year's Queen of Comedy, Sarah Millican. Initial speculation had assumed David Mitchell would get the prize, for his many panel show appearances, Peep Show and That Mitchell and Webb Look. However, Whitehall has really broken through this year, with popular shows Bad Education and Fresh Meat, which are a lot better than they sound. 

Other big winners with Bob Mortimer and Vic Reeves for Writers Guild of Great Britain and Sacha Baren Cohen for the British Comedy Academy Outstanding Achievement Award. Unfortunately Cohen wasn't available to pick the award up himself, but Ali G turned up instead, wearing a gold Jimmy Savile shell suit.