Comic denies his stand-up was cut from ITV show

Jason Manford has denied his own stand-up was cut from ITV’s new comedy talent hunt Show Me The Funny because of a legal wrangle.

The Sun today claimed that the shows had been due to kick off with Manford performing ten minutes of his own material – but that Universal Pictures had blocked the move as they owned rights to routines that would be on his next DVD.

The paper quoted him as saying: ‘They edited all my bits out. It's all very complicated. I've got a DVD coming out and I'm on tour, and a certain production company owns my sets.’

But on his Facebook page, Manford has denied the story, saying: ‘I was never booked to do stand-up so no one has "edited out my gags".

‘The show isn't about me, it's about giving new comics a chance to shine on ITV1, hopefully securing them a bright future and an amazing prize.’

The winner scoops £100,000 - the same as Britain's Got Talent – plus a DVD show and a national tour.

The audience for the first show started at a healthy 3.4million, but 1.3million turned off over the duration, leaving an average of 2.7million.

Published: 20 Jul 2011