Piers Morgan has become involved in a heated Twitter argument with a number of major comedians this evening following his remarks about this year's Comic Relief.

Earlier this evening Morgan tweeted that “I think @comicrelief's a fabulous charity but some of those sketches were awful - led by the diabolical No Direction. cc @JohnnyVegasReal”

He then followed this with “All comedians involved in @comicrelief make a lot of cash off the back of their TV appearance. It's not all 'for charity’.” John Bishop was quick to contribute: "Piers I know you use this medium to stoke the fire to get attention-but being a twat helps nobody" to which Piers replied: "Well I bow to your expertise in the twat field, Mr Bishop."

Morgan also had a further dig at Johnny Vegas's performance: “To be fair to @JohnnyVegasReal, I've always found him about as funny as a foot-full of verrucas.”

Vegas responded with: “Well @piersmorgan if you find breaking the law by intruding on people's private lives laughable I'm glad my humour fails to entertain you” and was retweeted by Russell Brand.

Numerous comedians have quickly responded and Morgan has attempted to defend his position: “For the record, I think @JohnBishop100's a good guy & funny comedian - even though he thinks I'm a prick.” Bishop replied with "I agree yr a prick!" Morgan took it on the chin: "I may be a prick but I have a million more followers than @JohnBishop100 & @JohnnyVegasReal combined. Which makes me a very popular prick." 

He also suggested a new Comic Relief event for next year: “How about a televised Twitter war for @comicrelief next year @emmafreud - me vs a bunch of overly sensitive comedians?” Morgan also tweeted that: "I raised a lot of money doing Celebrity Apprentice for Comic Relief. I just don't put a halo on my head."

Morgan also attacked Russell Brand when he joined in: "Oh god, now @rustyrockets has got involved. Nothing like being lectured on law-breaking by ex drug addicts. @JohnnyVegasReal"

He also said “I personally think @comicrelief would raise even more money if they ditched all the has-beens and used more contemporary comedians.”

At the time of writing this this was Morgan's final word: "Right, time for a swim in my Beverly Hills pool. Would invite a few UK comics but most of them can only dream of Hollywood."

These are very edited highlights - click on the Twitter names to catch up and keep up to date.

Read BTJ's Review of this year's Comic Relief here.

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