Ant and Dec are probably the most famous presenting duo on British TV, and they certainly have the awards to show it.
The duo won the National Television Awards gong for 'Best TV Presenter' 23 years in a row until they were finally defeated this year by Gary Lineker, but Ant and Dec are unlikely to feel too threatened.
At the moment, they're off in Australia presenting I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! and the duo are up to their usual tricks, slipping jokes into their introductions and having fun while on live TV.
Advert
They've even been sneaking in meme references, and you might be wondering how the double act comes up with this stuff day after day, and it turns out they manage it because they're actually a trio.
Ant and Dec have a third member to thank for some of their material, joke writer Andy Milligan.
He's a full-time writer for the duo who has come up with some of their best gags and writes lots of their jokes for them, so if you've ever chuckled at something Ant or Dec said then you probably owe your chortle to Andy.
He's worked for them for about 20 years and once opened up on what's expected of him when he's got all sorts of presenting appearances to write jokes for.
Advert
Appearing on the Firecrotch & Normcore: THEY LIKE TO WATCH podcast last year, Andy revealed how much he needs to have ready for the duo each day.
"One of the amazing things I've got from Ant and Dec is that it keeps you match fit as a joke writer," he explained.
"Your jokes are going to be on telly... When we do I'm A Celebrity in Australia, that's relentless, you come in and every night it's a blank page, you better have 20 jokes ready for 7am, every morning for three weeks, but that forces you to write and get better."
It's not Andy doing all the legwork on the funny stuff, however, as he works with Ant and Dec to make sure the end result is fun for audiences.
He described writing for them as 'a conversation' and having to account for 'two people' and he has to 'ascribe personas to them for that joke', so both Ant and Dec have roles to play in making people laugh.
Advert
The joke writer said that once he's done writing his jokes the presenters 'improve it and make it better', and being able to hear what the audience thinks can help too.
He said: "You get to hear, did an audience laugh at that? They didn't? Then it's not a good joke."
In addition to his work with Ant and Dec, Andy also co-created the comedy Man Like Mobeen along with Guz Khan, and has a couple of BAFTAs under his belt for his comedy writing.
Topics: Ant and Dec, Im A Celebrity, TV
Joe Harker