The National Comedy Awards for Stand Up To Cancer at least had the advantage of being in a good cause and not being subject to BBC editorial panic about participants swearing or attacking the government. Most speeches included unbleeped expletives.

But whereas stars who hadn't been nominated dudn't turn up for the BAFTAs, the problem here was that celebs who got a nod and even a gong didn't show. Ricky Gervais won two prizes for After Life but didn't collect them, either because he was busy or because of large numbers of guests saying the Roundhouse wouldn't be a "space space" for them if he did.

Comedy's historically dominant gene pool - Gervais, Greg Daves, Lee Mack - also stormed the Channel 4 show from the industry votes, though balance was provided by "lifetime" or "breakthrough" prizes added by the organisers, although Mo Gilligan, in LA, couldn't pick up his.

Another shot at daner was the final music act, Jordan Gray, although she did not strip nake and play the piano with her penis, as during the Saturday Night Live one-off revival last year. C4 will have been disappointed it didn't happen again, while the [o]BBC[/c] would be appalled if it ever did.

Katherine Ryan divides fans after defending Jimmy Carr

"I think it's important we protect that genre even if people get offended by it," she said.

Voting reopens on National Comedy Awards

Voting has reopened for the new National Comedy Awards.