Comic Relief: Red Nose Day TV show raises £34 million despite ‘uncomfortable’ David Walliams appearance

After a star-studded night of comedy sketches and fundraising events, Comic Relief raised just over £34 million for charity. However, viewers weren’t impressed with the appearance of David Walliams.

In a Eurovision-themed sketch, the former Britain’s Got Talent judge David Walliams, 51, performed ‘Eye of the Tiger’ in a tight-fit leather number to a set of celebrity judges. After Graham Norton, Lulu and Sam Ryder announced Walliams won’t be selected for the international song competition, the comedy actor approached the judge’s table and placed a Britain’s Got Talent buzzer on it.

In disagreement with the judges, Walliams hit the buzzer and declared he’s ‘through to the Eurovision final!’. The actor said: “Well, you might not have liked it but I loved it.”

Unfortunately, the joke didn’t go over well with the public, who still remember the scandal which led to Walliams’ replacement on the ITV talent show. A transcript obtained by The Guardian allegedly revealed that Walliams described a female contestant as resembling “the slightly boring girl you meet in the pub that thinks you want to f*** them, but you don’t”.

One user took to Twitter to write: “When David Walliams finishes his audition we should all whisper obscenities about him to each other”. While another criticised the show for selecting the comedian, they wrote: “#RedNoseDay no cause why was David Walliams in it?? Read the room besties”.

Other viewers declared they were simply ‘uncomfortable’ watching David Walliams appear on the show, while others took aim at his outfit of choice with another adding: “My god you can see EVERYTHING in David Walliams’ leather trousers.”

Walliams has apologised for the alleged comments, he said: “I would like to apologise to the people I made disrespectful comments about during breaks in filming for Britain’s Got Talent in 2020. These were private conversations and – like most conversations with friends – were never intended to be shared. Nevertheless, I am sorry.”

The Comic Relief fundraiser, which featured sketches based on shows such as The Traitors and included celebrity appearances from the likes of Dame Mary Berry and Danny Dyer, finished the night raising over £34 million.

Hosted at Salford’s Media City, the show was presented by David Tennant, AJ Odudu, Joel Dommett, and Paddy McGuinness.