A charity worker from Porthcothan Bay has been crowned the king of the one liner. 

Kev Mud was announced as the winner of the UK Pun Championships 2024 at Leicester Comedy Festival. 

Some of the puns that helped Kev take the crown were "I can't go to the toilet without taking candles. I'm a party pooper,"

"I was at a kid's party and they said, "there's an ice cream man outside' but by the time I got out there he had melted" and "What do Pompeii and Kim Kardashian have in common? Nobody would have heard of them if it wasn't for their massive ash.”  

Kev, who works at Pentreath, was up against returning contestant Daniel Edison as well as new contenders Kat Dellar, Adam Dorr, Bennet Kavanagh, Mary Cross, Pauline Eyre and Rabiah Coon.  

The event was hosted by Irish comedian Jason Byrne. 

Kev said: “I feel really proud to be UK Pun Champion for 2024, I don't usually write puns and I've only been going for just over a year, but comedy has given me the chance to make a lot of people laugh, and what's better than that?  “Also, I live in a caravan and I couldn't turn down a night of free heating.” 

Since its introduction in 2014, The UK Pun Championships has become a huge part of Leicester Comedy Festival – Europe’s largest comedy gala and now in its 31st year.   

A celebration of the great British pun, contestants enter from across the UK to compete in a battle that takes place in a real boxing ring, surrounded by a boisterous live audience.   

Host Jason Byrne picked topics at random on the night and competitors then took it in turns to pun about that particular subject.   

The audience voted for their preferred pun by wooping and cheering and the favourite then went through to the next round.  Ultimately, the two finalists, battled it out until the overall winner was crowned. 

The 2023 winner Lee Brace attended the show to handover the Championship Belt to Kev Mud.  The belt was originally designed and commissioned by Cornish stand-up and YouTuber Colin Leggo, who was the 2019 champion of The UK Pun Championships.  

Michael Harris-Wakelam, Big Difference Company, CEO said “Is there anything more uniquely British than a pun?

“The UK Pun Championships is one of the events that we know everyone in our comedy community marks their calendar for.

“Having seen the applications for this year’s edition, it’s no surprise to see such a strong line up on stage once again at De Montfort Hall.

“It’s often seen as a specialist area of comedy, but the joy of puns is that they are so easily delivered and remembered and so anybody can have a go and join in with this celebration of puns!”