McIntyre hurt by 'nasty' remarks of fellow comics on awards night

The comedian Michael McIntyre has told how a career-capping night of triumph descended into "nastiness" that left him feeling wretched at an awards event in January.

The Britain's Got Talent judge said he was left feeling "awful", despite being named best male comic at the British Comedy Awards, when he became the butt of other artists' jokes.

In an interview broadcast on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs today, he said he was initially shocked by the reaction he provoked among other performers.

Stewart Lee has talked of McIntyre "spoon-feeding" his audience "warm diarrhoea".

"I can't say it's water off a duck's back and I'm so thick-skinned. I can't just say that.

"I can say it now because I'm getting used to it. but it did come as a shock at the beginning."

McIntyre was tens of thousands of pounds in debt before he finally had a break.

But he told the Desert Island Discs presenter Kirsty Young that he found his award "confusing" because it was accompanied by "an amazing amount of hostility" from fellow comedians.

"I would never be rude about somebody else in my profession because we all do this same thing. We're just trying to make people laugh."