Contestants Announced For 2021 UK Pun Championships

8th February marks the UK's seventh ever UK PunDay, an annual event in which pun fans around the country unite to share their best (and worst) puns on social media, using hashtag #UKPunDay.

#UKPunDay is 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.

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 2020. 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.

Adele Cliff took home the crown in 2020 and joined the list of past winners: Colin Leggo (2019), Robert Thomas (2018), Lovdev Barparga (2017), Masai Graham (2016) and Leo Kearse (2015).

Contestants for the 2021 UK Pun Championship:

• Pauline Eyre (@yespaulineeyre)
• Friz Frizzle (@FrizFrizzle)
• Iain MacDonald (@imacpun)
• Chris Norton Walker (@nortonwalker)
• Richard Pulsford (@RichardPulsford)
• Rob Thomas (@roblavs)
• Richard Woof-lord(@rwoolfordcomedy)
• Jenan Younis (Jenan_Younis)

The Silver Stand Up Competition has been running at the Leicester Comedy Festival for the past 9 years and 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 confirmed as:

• Geoff Alderman
• Alyn Ashby
• James Beaumont
• Brian Cowles
• Nik Hill
• Kevin Hudson @thekevinhudson
• Paul Jennings
• Lawrence Laidlow
• Paul Merryck
• Chris Phillips @TheChrisPhilips
• President Obonjo @realobonjo
• Professor John
• Sid
• Tel Turnbull
• Sha Wylie @shawylie

Leicester Comedy Festival makes a significant contribution to the cultural life of England, regularly featuring over 1,000 comedians, performing in over 90 venues to an audience of 135,000. The festival also has an estimated economic impact of over £3million per year to the local economy. As part of the festival, the charity works closely with local community groups to ensure the smile spreads as widely as possible by organising workshops and activities, which engage hundreds of people each year.

Websites: www.comedy-festival.co.uk

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