‘It just rolled off of his tongue’

Alan Carr made a joke at the expense of Phillip Schofield at this year’s Royal Variety Performance, and ITV chose not to include it in the broadcast on Sunday, December 15, it’s been claimed.

Presenting duo Alan and Amanda Holden left much to be desired, according to some viewers.

The disgruntled among them called for the return of last year’s host, Bradley Walsh. He also divided viewers last year, however.

But Amanda stood her ground, describing the presenting gig as her “dream job”. She wrote on social media that their “ratings were brilliant so that’s what counts”.

Now more behind-the-scenes stories are emerging…

Alan and Amanda kept audiences on their toes during this year’s Royal Variety (Credit: Royal Variety Performance/YouTube)

Alan Carr’s joke about Phillip Schofield cut from Royal Variety Performance

Royal Variety viewers enjoyed a night of jolly entertainment on Sunday. However, at least one of co-host Alan Carr’s jokes was missing.

He and Amanda Holden began talking about what they’d been up to during the day.

Note that the live show actually took place on November 22 – not on Sunday, December 15, when it appeared on our television screens.

One audience member revealed that Amanda said she’d been juicing; Alan said he hadn’t had time for dinner. A Deliveroo driver then appeared, carrying several boxes of pizza, prompting Alan to instruct him to deposit them in his dressing room.

As he trundled off stage, Alan said: “I can’t be too hard on him, I’m just pleased to see Phillip Schofield is back working again!”

Oh, Alan!

Alan earned praise from at least one audience member following his co-hosting performance (Credit: Royal Variety Performance/YouTube)

Audiences seemed to like the joke

MailOnline quotes one audience member as saying Alan was “hilarious”.

“It just rolled off of his tongue and the whole place was falling around laughing,” they reportedly said.

“The crowd were in fits of laughter, it perfectly timed and very, very funny. It is just so strange that ITV didn’t include it in their final edit.”

But it didn’t appear as part of the televised performance on Sunday night. ITV had to cut the show down to fit within the timeframe it had, and Alan Carr’s Phillip Schofield joke didn’t make the cut.

Bradley Walsh came under fire for his jokes during last year’s Royal Variety, too. He joked about working for every member of the royal family and never receiving a sausage as reward, let alone an MBE, an OBE or a CBE.

It’s par for the course for audiences to complain about jokes. Some called Bradley cringe; inevitably, this year’s audiences were going to have mixed feelings about Amanda and Alan.

It may be that ITV’s production and editorial team chose to err on the side of caution when putting the final cut of the Royal Variety Performance together in order to prompt less of a negative reaction from audiences, regarding the Phillip Schofield jibe.

Either way, ITV chose not to comment on it when Entertainment Daily contacted their press office.