Merry memories

As you might expect from a bunch of comedians together in one room chomping croissants, there was much jollity at today's breakfast launch of the British Comedy Awards nominations, despite the gloomy prospect of ITV not showing the event live. Event producer Michael Hurll kicked things off by celebrating the unpredictability of the event with an interesting analogy: "It is a bit like Britney Spears getting out of a taxi - you never know what you are going to hear or see but it's always a lot worse than what you expected." Jack Dee was also in attendance, shedding some further light on the infamous moment when Julian Clary told the 1993 ceremony that he had been "fisting" then-Chancellor Norman Lamont. "Apparently Julian's mum later wondered what the fuss was about," Dee told Monkey. "She was wondering why everyone was making a fuss about her son visiting Norman Lamont." Oh yes, and Jonathan Ross's agent Addison Creswell was also there. He told Monkey that the TV Controller blog author was "definitely not Dominic Vallely", that he had never helped the author out, and he could take the joke of being spoofed as the foul mouthed "uber agent and party monster" Perry Mansell.