Jonathan Ross Addresses His 2004 Comedy Awards Joke About David Walliams

Jonathan Ross has called a joke he made about David Walliams at the 2004 British Comedy Awards a "tasteless joke" that he "would not dream of making today about anyone." He made the comments in a statement published on 11 November 2026, as reported by Deadline.

The joke came at the ceremony in 2004, when the British Comedy Awards was 15 years old. Ross said the awards was drunk, unpredictable and probably going home with Walliams. It was a line that drew attention to the two men at the time, and it has been raised again now.

Ross said the joke was written by the Comedy Awards writing team and submitted to him. He said he understood the punchline as a reference to Walliams having publicly dated younger women, with the idea exaggerated for comic effect.

The statement also addresses the wider news around Walliams. Ross said he is "as horrified by the revelations about David Walliams and the crimes of Russell Brand as the rest of the nation." He did not link the 2004 line to any of those matters in his own account of what he meant.

Ross said that had he suspected the joke referred to actual events, he would have refused to use it. He added that he would not have felt comfortable continuing a personal or professional relationship with Walliams.

For anyone who watched the ceremony at the time, the joke was one of many quick lines in a long evening of gags. Now it reads differently to a lot of people, and Ross's statement is his direct answer to that. It sets out what he says he believed when he delivered the line, and what he says he would do now.