Comedian Adam Hills has revealed the Princess Royal’s favourite comedy show is the BBC’s popular series Would I Lie to You?
The Australian TV host was given an insight into what makes Anne laugh when she made him an MBE for services to Paralympic sport and disability awareness at a Windsor Castle investiture ceremony.
Hills, who has a prosthetic foot, has hosted Channel 4’s The Last Leg with Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker since its inception in 2012.
It started as a show to run alongside the London 2012 Paralympics coverage on Channel 4, but due to its popularity and ratings success it became a permanent fixture.
Alongside Widdicombe and Brooker, the Bafta-nominated series covers the week’s topical news but has also shone a light on conversations around disability with coverage of the London, Rio and Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Hills said about his chat with Anne: “We talked about comedy for five minutes, she asked me how I got into comedy, was it something I always enjoyed, whether I came here to do it, or was I doing it in Australia.
“I don’t think I’m breaking royal protocol by saying she said her favourite comedy show was Would I Lie to You? Then asked if I’d been on it and I said no, and she seemed quite disappointed.
“I’ll now call Lee Mack and tell him the Princess Royal watches him.”
In Australia the stand-up comedian has also been a popular fixture on the small screen with two hit series, the music comedy quiz show Spicks And Specks and a late night talk show, Adam Hills Tonight.
In 2019 he made the Channel 4 documentary Adam Hills: Take His Legs, which saw him embark on his childhood dream of playing competitive rugby league and join the Warrington Wolves’ Physical Disability Rugby League team as they journeyed to his home country, emerging as champions.
He published his autobiography, Best Foot Forward, in 2018 and his new children’s book, Rockstar Detectives, was published earlier this year.
Speaking about the MBE he said: “It’s like a reward for eating chocolate – I’d be doing it anyway.”
Hills added: “It is lovely for Paralympic sport and disability awareness because I do believe strongly in Paralympic sport and it all goes back to Sir Ludwig Guttmann who invented the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1948.
“His little vision of creating a sporting event for people in wheelchairs has just grown into this massive bubble of awareness for disability.
“I feel like all I do is put the spotlight on the Paralympics once every four years but I guess also I’ve been promoting disability Rugby League, and disability cricket through the Lord’s Taverners – I think most people who come into contact with disability sport become addicted to it and I’m definitely one of those.”
