Masai Graham named UK Pun Champion 2016
- Masai Graham has been named as the UK Pun Champion 2016
- The stand-up comedian beat 7 other comics in the final at Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival
- Richard Pulsford was the runner-up
Masai Graham has been crowned as the 2016 UK Pun Champion.
The West Midlands based stand-up won the 'rap battle' style contest, which took place as part of Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival. The annual Pun Championship, hosted by Lee Nelson, saw eight comedians battle it out over four rounds for the hotly contested title, which is now in its third year.
Graham, who has also been placed for the last two years in the Joke Of The Fringe competition, went under the nickname 'General Punochet' for this contest. He beat Fife-based comedian Richard Pulsford - aka 'Richard IV, the Last Puntagenet' - in a closely fought final, in rounds on the topics of love, animals, education and chocolate.
The winner's jokes included such lines as: "My Jamaican Nan wants to know why I love chocolate spread so much, but mi Nutella," and "My girlfriend loves innuendos. When she said I could have the key to her back door, let's just say we both took it the wrong way."
Pulsford joked: "Life is like a box of chocolates, made of leather and zipped round your head. So said Forrest Gimp."
The knockout contest saw two comedians going up against each other at each stage, both having to deliver puns on a particular randomly-chosen subject.
The other comedians taking part in the final were Colin Chadwick, Tony Cowards, Leo Kearse, Nigel Lovell, Roger Swift and Richard Woolford. The competition was fierce with five of the comedians progressing through to the semi-finalists as it was too close to call who should be knocked out.
In what Nelson described as a "major upset to the world of punning", reigning champion Kearse was knocked out in the first round.
Results of each round were determined by cheers of the sell-out audience. On accepting the prize, Masai Graham said: "As it was an audience vote, I'm very humbled and really grateful because a lot of comedians look down on puns, so it's great we can have a collective group of people that want to hear wordplay."
He quipped: "I didn't even have to use my race card. I met Nigel Farage recently. When I told him that I came from the Black Country he thought it was an actual type of tree."
Geoff Rowe, Director of Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival, says: "The UK Pun Championship has quickly developed into one of the key comedy competitions in the UK. The standard of the acts this year was especially high and we were thrilled to host the event as part of Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival."
Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival continues in the city until the 21st February. For more details and a programme visit www.comedy-festival.co.uk
Below are some video highlights from the contest:
And here is a message from Lee Nelson: