Punday (er, Monday) 10h February marks the UK’s  sixth 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. Each year #UKPunDay trends on Twitter, with thousands of people tweeting throughout the day, attracting over 30 million impressions, with the best jokes making it onto BBC Radio One, BBC Radio Two, Metro, Daily Mirror and The Sun. 

#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.

Past winners include Colin Leggo (2019), Robert Thomas (2018), Lovdev Barparga (2017), Masai Graham (2016) and Leo Kearse (2015). 

Contestants for 2020:

Iain MacDonald                    Philip Simon
Stevie Vegas                          Richard Pulsford
Richard Woolford                 Chris Norton Walker

Adele Cliff                             Kat Molinari

Geoff Rowe, Founder and Director of Leicester Comedy Festival, said: “it’s often said that some of the best ideas are thought up in the pub, well that was absolutely the case with The UK Pun Championships!  We were discussing celebrating British comedy and quickly chatted about puns and whether they are a particularly British thing.  It certainly seems that French puns are not very good…..  So, the event was born and has grown in silliness each year since 2015.  We’re delighted to welcome a great line up of pun based comedians to Leicester Comedy Festival, from across the UK,  to battle it out in a genuine boxing ring, hosted by the wonderful Jason Byrne.  The best way to celebrate #UKPunday is of course at the UK Pun Championships, but if you can’t be there, be sure to join in online and share your puns using #UKPunDay.”  

Now in its 27th year Leicester Comedy Festival 2020 runs 5-23 February. The festival is the longest running comedy festival in the UK, having taken place every February since 1994, and now regularly attracts over 130,000 people to venues across Leicester and Leicestershire. 

● The complete programme is available now www.comedy-festival.co.uk 

● All ticket enquiries: 0116 456 6812 

● Twitter: @LeicsComedyFest