Joanna Lumley made painfully awkward jokes at the BAFTAs and Twitter wasn't impressed

While Joanna Lumley might be something of a national treasure, whoever was writing her jokes as she hosted the BAFTAs last night definitely didn’t deserve any award.

The Absolutely Fabulous star made a series of cringe-worthy dad jokes throughout the night held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, which unfortunately were only received with a stony and highly embarrassing silence from the audience.

The most notable terrible gag was when Lumley spoke about Spike Lee’s nominated movie BlackKkKlansman, saying:

It’s an incredible film. It’s already won many awards. If I’m honest, I’m surprised it did so well at the Klannes film festival

As no one laughed and the joke fell flat, Lumey awkwardly brushed over the silence by saying:

Yes, alright

The 72-year-old actor, who was the first woman to present the BAFTAs alone, continued with the bad jokes throughout the night, joking at one point about how actor Claire Foy needed to take a "small step and one giant leap" to reach the stage (Foy stars in the outer space drama First Man).

It seems like Lumley's “jokes” not only made everyone in the theatre uncomfortable but those watching from home too.

People on social media just couldn't handle the cringe, bringing back some of the internet's greatest memes.

But most of all, they questioned who was responsible for the terribly-scripted jokes.

Piers Morgan also chose to chime in on the cringey-ness, calling the whole thing a "train wreck".

But the best reaction by far was by comedian Steve Coogan, who sat through the opening monologue visibly in pain from all the awkwardness.

Same Steve, same.

HT Evening Standard

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