Stand-up comedian Kev Mud has been crowned the winner of the UK Pun Championship 2024.

The final took place last night (12th February) in a boxing ring setup at De Montfort Hall in Leicester as part of the city's annual comedy festival.

Mud was delighted to win and 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."

Some of the puns that helped Kev Mud 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."

"What do Pompeii and Kim Kardashian have in common? Nobody would have heard of them if it wasn't for their massive ash!"

Joining Mud in the ring were returning contestant Daniel Edison, who made it through to the final alongside Mud this year, plus new contenders Kat Dellar, Adam Dorr, Bennet Kavanagh, Mary Cross, Pauline Eyre and Rabiah Coon.

Since its introduction in 2014, The UK Pun Championships has become an integral part of Leicester Comedy Festival. The format sees host Jason Byrne picking topics at random and the competitors then taking it in turns to pun about that particular subject. The audience vote for their preferred pun by wooping and cheering and that comedian then goes through to the next round.

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.

Michael Harris-Wakelam from Leicester Comedy Festival organisers Big Difference Company says: "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!"

Below is a highlights video from the final...