Adam & Joe win Sony Radio Award
Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish, aka Adam & Joe, have won the Gold Award for comedy at this year's Sony Radio Academy Awards. 'The Sonys' are generally considered to be the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry.
The duo were awarded the comedy prize for their Saturday morning show on BBC 6Music. They beat off competition from a number of established Radio 4 comedies; namely Bleak Expectations, Down The Line, Mark Steel's In Town & The News Quiz. Mark Evans' madcap Victorian-based sitcom Bleak Expectations was awarded the Bronze Award, whilst Mark Steel's stand-up show took the Silver prize.
This year's Sony Awards, hosted by Chris Evans, were held at The Grosvenor House Hotel, London. Mark Watson presented the comedy award, which Buxton accepted alone because Cornish couldn't be at the ceremony as he is still busy directing his first feature film, Attack the Block. On accepting the award, Buxton exclaimed "holy shit", before launching into an amusing list of people to thank, much of which rhymed. He also managed to shout 'Stephen!' before leaving the stage, a nod to fans of the show. 'Stephenage' is a game invented Adam & Joe whereby listeners must shout 'Stephen' in a public place.
The judges' citation for the award said that Adam & Joe's programme "was very strong on originality in both its content and its formats - musical pastiches, features, presenter-led sequences and banter. It interacts with its audience in a refreshing, engaging way."
Adam & Joe were favourites to win gold at this year's awards, having picked up three Silvers last year ('The Entertainment Award,' 'The Comedy Award' and 'The Competition Award.'). Adam & Joe have been presenting their 6Music show together since October 2007, but since January this year they have been on a break, with Andrew Collins and Richard Herring acting as guest hosts. Adam & Joe have put their show on hold to allow Cornish to complete his film projects, one of which has been to co-write the new big-budget Steven Spielberg movie The Adventures Of Tintin (which, incidently, is due to star a host of comedians, including Simon Pegg and Nick Frost).
For more details about the Sony Awards visit www.radioawards.org