Stephen Merchant, last night won Best TV Comedy Actor at the British Comedy Awards, beating “Extras” co-star Ricky Gervais.

The actor, director and Uncut contributor plays Gervais’ hapless agent in the hit BBC sitcom “Extras”. He previously co-wrote the hugely successful series, The Office, also with Gervais.

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Gervais was unable to attend the event in London, and sent the following comic message to his friend from New York, saying “A British Comedy Award? – quite a prize. Not to me, I’ve won American one. But to people in that room, this is probably the highlight of their career. Enjoy the night. I’m off to have dinner with Jerry Seinfeld and Ben Stiller.”

The Best TV Comedy Actress prize went to Catherine Tate.

David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s Channel 4 hit “Peep Show” took the honour of being named the Best TV Comedy Show.

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