UK Pun Championship 2021 line-up announced
- Pauline Eyre, Friz Frizzle, Iain MacDonald, Chris Norton Walker, Richard Pulsford, Rob Thomas, Richard Woolford and Jenan Younis will compete
- The contest takes place on 8th February 2021 - #UKPunDay
- 15 finalists for the Silver Stand Up Competition, for those over 55 years-old, have been revealed too
UK Pun Championship 2021 line-up announced
The contestants have been revealed for the 2021 UK Pun Championship. Also, the finalists for Silver Stand Up Competition have been announced.
The contestants for the 2021 UK Pun Championship will be:
The contest is due to take place on 8th February 2021. Founded by Leicester Comedy Festival, the annual competition is now in its seventh year.
Adele Cliff took home the crown in 2020 and joined the list of past winners: Colin Leggo (2019), Robert Thomas (2018), Lovdev Barpaga (2017), Masai Graham (2016) and Leo Kearse (2015).
The 8th February is denotated as #UKPunDay, Britain's first and only national day celebrating puns, and was founded by Leicester Comedy Festival following the cult success of The UK Pun Championships.
Talking about the format, the festival explains: "The culmination of the day takes place at Leicester Comedy Festival with a rap-battle style pun-off staged in a boxing ring in which budding contestants from around the UK compete for the title of UK Pun Champion. Topics are picked randomly on the night and competitors then take it in turns to pun about that particular topic. Audiences vote for their favourite pun (by way of woops & cheers) and the winner goes through to the next round. After a full evening of pun-based comedy, which is billed as a "celebration of Puns", two finalists then fight it out until a winner is crowned."
The festival has also revealed the finalists for the Silver Stand Up Competition. Running at the Leicester Comedy Festival for the past 9 years, it is exclusively for comedians aged over 55. The competition is supported by established acts such as Alexei Sayle, Jasper Carrott and Arthur Smith. The 2021 shortlisted comedians are:
Geoff Alderman
Alyn Ashby
James Beaumont
Brian Cowles
Nik Hill
Kevin Hudson
Paul Jennings
Lawrence Laidlow
Paul Merryck
Chris Phillips
President Obonjo
Professor John
Sid
Tel Turnbull
Sha Wylie