criticised and ’s presenting style on , and viewers weren’t happy about it.
began their segment of the show with Michael, 71, by reading the autocue which introduced him.
The comedian quickly voiced his opinion, telling the duo that their chat wasn’t quite natural enough for his liking.
‘We need to do a bit of work on that,’ he fired out.
Josie tried to brush over the remark by showing a clip of his new West End show, Laurel & Chaplin – The Feud, and asking about his process as a director.
‘I can do scripted stuff like you just did but I prefer to, you know,’ Michael responded.
Josie tried to once again gloss over the remark by laughing, and telling him ‘alright’.
He then told the hosts he wasn’t criticising them, before proceeding to imitate their introduction of him.
‘People at home are not interested in that, they just want to get on with it,’ he told the pair and then offered to direct the show.
He also told Craig and Josie that they need to behave on camera how they do when they’re not live on air.
‘You shouldn’t go up to performance level. Be like you are before the cameras came on before you two went “Oh Michael Barrymore”.’
He then shrugged up his shoulders to create a stiff appereance, which was seemingly meant to reflect how Josie and Craig look on the show.
Making light of the situation Craig told them that they are usually more relaxed when he’s not there ‘terrifying’ them.
Viewers reacted to the awkward moment on social media.
One person wrote: ‘This is excruciating. Why is Barrymore being so insulting towards Josie, Craig and the show in general. No need’.
‘Hope Josie and Craig are getting a bonus for this discomfort,’ added another.
The segment was also described as ‘horrendous’ and ‘painful’, and Michael was criticised for imitating the hosts’ accents.
Earlier in the show,after enjoying a night out.
He revealed that his friends may have tried to purposely attempt to sabotage his working day.
‘If you tell rugby players, boxers, and football players that you’re going to be on This Morning at 10’o clock the next morning, do you know what they do? They lock you into a corner of a bar and they try to destroy your next day.
‘They’ve done an okay job,’ he admitted.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV.
