David Walliams says Simon Cowell was ‘not happy’ when he won Best TV Judge

David Walliams said Simon Cowell was not happy when the comedian won Best TV Judge at the National Television Awards.

Walliams, 53, was speaking at Advertising Week Europe 2025 alongside long-standing comedy partner Matt Lucas.

Speaking about winning the prize, which he has won four times, Walliams joked: “Simon Cowell never won. And that’s all he does, judges. Judging is just a tiny part (of what I do).

“He wasn’t happy with you was he?” said host Melanie Rockcliffe.

“No,” Walliams said. “It was a fun show to do.”

Walliams judged the show for 10 years but left in 2022 after he apologised for making “disrespectful comments” about auditioning contestants during filming breaks in January 2020 at the London Palladium.

He and Lucas, 51, spoke at the event in central London on Tuesday about the success of their sketch shows Little Britain and Come Fly With Me and how they met in the 1990s at National Youth Theatre.

“Matt and I were the funny ones in our groups, and we were brought together,” Walliams said. “We both did impressions.

“I did an impression of Frankie Howerd and you (Lucas) did an impression of Jim Bowen who hosted Bullseye.”

Walliams, who has also had a successful career as a children’s author, added: “The next year, we were a play together, it was a Shakespeare play. I was starring. In fact, what were you doing?”

Lucas replied: “Yeah, all right, I was bringing props on and off.”

The pair discussed their famous characters including Carol Beer who says the catchphrase “Computer Says No”.

Walliams claimed the phrase is now used colloquially in Iceland.

Lucas, who stepped down from his role as a co-host on The Great British Bake Off after presenting three series alongside fellow comedian and actor Noel Fielding, told of how people still mix his character Vicky Pollard up with Catherine Tate.

“Sometimes I get ‘Am I bothered?’ and I go no, that’s Catherine Tate,” Lucas said.

The duo also discussed their new podcast Making A Scene, which is their first joint project in 15 years.

In the show, the pair have a celebrity guest on who is asked to talk about the hypothetical film of their life – including who would play them and the key scenes.

Asked who should play each other, Lucas, who appeared in the Gladiator sequel starring Irish actor Paul Mescal, said Walliams should be played by Christopher Biggins.

Walliams jibed: “A white chocolate egg.”