Joe Lycett goes back to his own name after changing it to Hugo Boss

Joe Lycett is reverting to his own name after officially changing it to Hugo Boss as an act of protest against the company.

The stand-up comic - who fights for the rights of the public in Joe Lycett's Got Your Back - changed his name to match that of the German fashion brand earlier this year, saying that they targeted small businesses for using the word “Boss”.

However, he said he has now raised awareness and that it is time to be a Lycett again.

The star, 31, explained on Twitter: “A little over a month ago I changed my name by deed poll to Hugo Boss.

“This was to raise awareness about the fact that fashion behemoth Hugo Boss have issued cease and desist letters to small businesses that have the word ‘Boss’ in their name, including independent Swansea brewery, Boss Brewing.

“And raise awareness it did – it became world news with headlines across the globe and also Dick n Dom from da Bungalow said I should be knighted.”

Read more: Joe Lycett shares funny take on Gal Gadot’s Imagine video

He went on: “Hugo Boss released a statement saying they ‘welcome the comedian formerly known as Joe Lycett to the Hugo Boss family.’

“Well I have decided to go back to the Lycetts.

“They don’t target small businesses, if you ignore the time mum posted a dump to the local florist.

“It’s time for me to return to Joe Lycett. In tomorrow’s episode me and my team secure one of the biggest financial victories ever seen on a consumer TV show.

“It is worth millions. It would be wrong for the company Hugo Boss to in any way take claim of this victory, or indeed many other victories across the series.”

Delivering a parting shot, he joked: “I would however like to take this opportunity to issue one final statement as Hugo Boss: Hugo Boss has a smelly bum bum.”

Lycett became Hugo Boss in February, legally changing his name by deed poll.

A spokesman for Hugo Boss said at the time: "We welcome the comedian formerly known as Joe Lycett as a member of the Hugo Boss family.

"As he will know, as a 'well-known' trademark (as opposed to a 'regular' trademark) Hugo Boss enjoys increased protection not only against trademarks for similar goods, but also for dissimilar goods across all product categories for our brands and trademarks Boss and Boss Black and their associated visual appearance.

"Following the application by Boss Brewing to register a trademark similar to our 'well-known' trademark, we approached them to prevent potential misunderstanding regarding the brands Boss and Boss Black, which were being used to market beer and items of clothing.

"Both parties worked constructively to find a solution, which allows Boss Brewing the continued use of its name and all of its products, other than two beers (Boss Black and Boss Boss) where a slight change of the name was agreed upon.

Read more: Joe Wicks offers to be nation’s PE teacher

"As an open-minded company we would like to clarify that we do not oppose the free use of language in any way and we accept the generic term 'boss' and its various and frequent uses in different languages."

Hugo Boss was a German designer who founded his own fashion house in 1924. He died in 1948 but his son-in-law took over running of the company and it has risen to become a global fashion brand.

Joe Lycett's Got Your Back is on Channel 4 at 8pm on Friday.