People watching the National Comedy Awards on Channel 4 this evening were left in floods of tears following powerful tributes made to the late Sean Lock.
During tonight’s programme, the show – which was filmed earlier this week in aid of Stand Up To Cancer – honoured Lock on multiple occasions, including when Harry Hill took to the stage to speak fondly of his friend.
Katherine Ryan shared heartfelt words during her acceptance speech, while a clip of Lock performing stand-up was also shown, before a montage of entertainers who knew the star personally, including Bill Bailey and Lee Mack, spoke about how much he meant to them.
Lock, who was frequently seen on Jimmy Carr’s panel show 8 Out Of 10 Cats and the Countdown spin-off, died in August 2021 at the age of 58 after being diagnosed with cancer.
Numerous tributes were made to him from the entertainment world, with his 8 Out Of 10 Cats co-star Jon Richardson writing at the time: ‘I idolised Sean as a comic long before I became a comedian myself and 10 years working alongside him didn’t diminish that in the least. An incredible comic brain and a truly unique voice.’
Over six months later, the mentions of Lock at the National Comedy Awards continued to prompt fans of the comic to shed buckets of tears.
‘Love Sean Lock.. Deserves to be honoured tonight. Heartbreaking when he died so young. Let’s beat Cancer. Donate if you can to beat Cancer,’ one person tweeted.
‘Beautiful tribute to Sean Lock tonight. Brilliant comic and a better man,’ another said.
Someone else said that they were ‘crying so much at the Sean Lock tribute at the National Comedy Awards that my left eye has welded together’.
‘Wasn’t expecting to have a good cry about Sean Lock tonight. But he always was unpredictable,’ another stated.
Later on during the programme, it was announced that Lock had won the prize for outstanding male comedy entertainment performance, with the audience standing up to applaud the comedy icon.
‘I don’t watch award shows but I just saw a standing ovation for Sean Lock at the comedy awards & got quite misty,’ a viewer wrote on Twitter.
‘Oh the clapping for #seanlock is so sad!’ another said, while someone else added: ‘Sean Lock winning the Outstanding Comedy Male Entertainer award. Gone far too soon.’
When it was announced that Lock had died, a statement from Off the Kerb Productions read: ‘Sean was one of Britain’s finest comedians, his boundless creativity, lightning wit and the absurdist brilliance of his work, marked him out as a unique voice in British comedy.’
It continued: ‘Sean will be sorely missed by all that knew him. We kindly request that the privacy of his family and children is respected at this difficult time.’
The National Comedy awards will be available to watch on All 4.
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