Comic Armando Iannucci, who has lampooned the great and the good of British society, was humbled today by the experience of receiving an OBE.
The writer and producer described the Buckingham Palace investiture ceremony, hosted by the Prince of Wales, as "slightly surreal, a little bit hilarious" but "also quite moving".
Iannucci has been a constant presence in British comedy for more than 20 years - in front of and behind the camera - working on a string of hit shows like The Day Today, I'm Alan Partridge and foul-mouthed political sitcom The Thick Of It.
Speaking after the ceremony the comic played down his achievements, saying other recipients at the palace deserved greater recognition: "I've just been doing my job for the last 20 years and quite enjoying it and it's very nice to get that recognition, but there are a lot of people here who have put in years of dedication to their local communities."
Iannucci also laughed off his famous Twitter spat with Alastair Campbell over his decision to accept the establishment honour, saying it only happened because his wife had left him alone.
The versatile writer, producer and performer was born in Glasgow to a Scottish mother and Italian father and studied at Oxford University.
He worked on radio shows before television, alongside people such as Chris Morris, Stewart Lee and Steve Coogan.
The success of The Thick Of It raised his profile higher and the success of his 2009 film In The Loop helped make his name in the US.
Actor Peter Capaldi played The Thick Of It's foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker, inspired by Alastair Campbell, a former aide in Tony Blair's government.
Iannucci's clash with Campbell over his decision to accept the OBE saw the ex-spin doctor accuse the comic of joining the establishment he derides.
The comic tweeted in reply: "It's probably more Establishment to order your army to march into other countries for no reason," in reference to Mr Blair's decision to commit the UK to war in Iraq.
When Campbell replied that "Three little letters can have more impact than you realise", Iannucci replied: "WMD".
Laughing, the comic said: "That was all spontaneous, it wasn't planned. I also think he had a book out at the time so it was quite good publicity for him.
"I don't normally get involved in those sorts of things. The problem was my wife had got up to take one of our kids to a school party and I was left on my own and that's when trouble starts."
He added: "I'm happy to get awards for programmes I do and for my work, I'm not bothered by that. I've absolutely no intention of using the letters or anything like that, I just see it as a thank you or a well done."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article