‘Don’t vote for Dido, Dido will kill you’: Remembering Amy Winehouse’s most charming and hilarious moments

Amy died 10 years ago (Picture: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

It has been 10 years since Amy Winehouse left us, but her legacy remains – not only in her music, but in her charm and downright hilarity.

Amy was one of the most talented musicians to come out her generation, and a cultural icon to boot, but what is often forgotten is just how much of a star she was elsewhere. While many superstars fail to translate their personality off stage when doing interviews or TV shows, Amy sparkled, whether she was being grilled by a talk show host, or going head to head with comedians.

Not everyone could do the noughties panel show circuit and come out not only unscathed but on top, but Amy gave as good as she got – and she got a lot – and delivered iconic comebacks with her trademark dry wit. 

Then, with as much ease, she gave us moments of utter charm and vulnerability, as the girl done good from Camden shone from behind the caricature she was painted with. 

To mark the 10th anniversary of Amy’s death, we’ve taken a walk down memory lane to highlight some of her most hilarious, charming and utterly Amy moments. 

Amy’s Brit Awards campaign

Not only could this be Amy’s funniest moment, but it could be the peak of all television. Popworld was a golden age for UK pop culture, a time where the nation was producing huge stars but they were also still accessible to be absolutely rinsed by Simon Amstell and Miquita Oliver. 

Way before she released Back To Black and became a global icon, Amy had been nominated for two Brit Awards in 2004, for British female solo artist and British urban act, and embarked with Simon Amstell on a cab ride around north London campaigning for votes.

Celebs may go viral on TikTok now, but no content has ever bettered Amy Winehouse throwing rocks at a Dido poster and shouting through a microphone: ‘Dido will kill you.’

(Sadly, Dido did beat Amy to the award that year. The voters obviously didn’t see this campaign.)

Never Mind The Buzzcocks intro round

One of the all-time great Buzzcocks guests, Amy appeared on the panel show twice, once in the Mark Lamarr era and once with Simon Amstell.

Her finest moment from her first appearance came in the intro round, as she compared himself to a ‘small kitten’ while attempting to recreate Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd. 

‘I’d rather have cat AIDS’

Then came the utterly iconic appearance in the Amstell era. It’s slightly uncomfortable to hear the jokes about Amy’s drinking and drug use now, but the star stole the show with her banter with Simon.

Perhaps the most memorable moment when, after chastising Amy about hanging out with Pete Doherty, Simon suggested that she ‘do something with Katie Melua’ instead.

Amy’s response? ‘I’d rather have cat AIDS, thank you.’

The Friday Night Project

The Friday Night Project saw Alan Carr and Justin Lee Collins heading up two teams, with a celebrity guest host and a musical guest joining each episode. That’s a lot to go up against, especially when the guest host is someone as charismatic as David Tennant.

But in the first episode of series four in 2007, Amy not only stunned the audience with a performance of You Know I’m No Good, but was as funny as any of the comedians on the show.

They were all too busy trying to come up with zingers that they missed the best of the night, when David asked the teams what his sexual awakening was. Amy said: ‘Your mum.’

Her reaction to her Grammy win

The 2015 documentary Amy, directed by Asif Kapadia, is well worth a watch and the whole thing pulls at the heartstrings, but one particular moment will always stand out.

The film showed Amy performing live from London at the Grammys in 2008, having been unable to travel due to her visa approval not coming through in time. At the awards, Amy received five Grammys, the last being the coveted record of the year for Rehab. 

The singer was totally distracted by the award being handed out by her hero Tony Bennett, and clearly didn’t expect to win. Her stunned, frozen expression upon hearing her name, while surrounded by her team celebrating, is still a gut punch to this day. 

Her Brits performance with Mark Ronson

There are some Brit Awards performances that will go down in history, and this is one of them.

In 2008, Mark Ronson, riding high with his album Versions, staged an epic performance featuring then-newcomer Adele singing Coldplay’s God Put A Smile Upon My Face and Daniel Merriweather singing Stop Me.

But the stage really came alive when Amy came on to sing Valerie, proving she had a live voice like no other. 

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