Comedian Tom Allen jokingly referenced Jimmy Carr’s wellbeing following the Holocaust joke backlash.
The 38-year-old funnyman hosted the National Comedy Awards for Stand Up To Cancer, which aired on Channel 4 on Saturday evening and took place a few days ago.
The annual event came after a resurfaced clip from Carr’s Netflix special His Dark Material sparked huge levels of fury, when he joked that the ‘thousands of Gypsies that were killed by the Nazis’ was a ‘positive’.
Celebrities including Rob Rinder and Jay Rayner slammed the stand-up comic’s remarks, and Allen also weighed in on the controversy during the show.
‘It’s been a tough few years for everybody,’ the star said during his opener.
‘Speaking on behalf of comedians, our thriving industry was thrown into disarray, as comedy clubs and theatres were left as empty as Prince Andrew’s diary, so good of him to take the heat off Jimmy Carr,’ he added.
It didn’t stop there – before Allen introduced the next guest onto the stage, he quipped: ‘We hoped Jimmy Carr would present this award but he’s still recovering from a nasty bout of career suicide.’
Despite the many jibes aimed at Carr, comedian Katherine Ryan, who took home the gong for outstanding female comedy entertainment performance, emphasised the need to protect the genre of ‘roast comedy’.
Referencing the various appearances she has made on Channel 4 panel and its Countdown spin-off over the years, she said: ‘It will be 10 years in May since I first appeared on 8 Out Of 10 Cats – most of me first appeared on 8 Out Of 10 Cats.
‘It evolved into 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, and I always looked forward to the bit where Jimmy Carr would give me the roast joke, you know?
‘That’s a genre of comedy that he happens to be best at. I think it’s really important that we all protect that genre even if people get offended by it.’
‘Thank you to all the men who let me be on their Channel 4 shows,’ she added, before leaving the stage.
The National Comedy Awards is available to watch on All4.
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