The UK Pun Off – Lin Smith, Richard Pulsford, Stevie Vegas, Friz Frizzle and host Iain MacDonald

Tonight I was at the Playwright for the first ever live UK Pun Off, which was debuting as part of the Nottingham Comedy Festival. Although there was some unavoidable noise bleed from the bar, John Morris had laid the room out well and it’s well suited to comedy.

It was nice to see what is effectively a showcase for one-liner comedians, as puns don’t always get the respect they deserve. The format of the night was that there were five categories to be punned: music, zoo, Europe, films and fruit and veg and each act would take it in turn to pun the topic of that round and this would be completed three times to complete the round. This was then followed by MacDonald taking puns from the audience, which was nicely interactive and helped everyone to feel invested in the show, especially an audience member on the second row, who was really into this. With four contestants and five rounds, scores were level until the final category, which meant that the winner of the medallion was undecided until right to the very end.

Iain MacDonald

I can remember seeing MacDonald at the UK Pun Championships in 2017 and I was impressed by him then and I’ve admired his work ever since, so seeing him at this event was a real pleasure. Tonight, resplendent in his UK Pun Off tshirt, he had what was probably the hardest job of the night. Not so much keeping the show on schedule and balanced between contestants, which he achieved seemingly effortlessly, but to not get carried away and dominate proceedings. MacDonald managed to be funny, authoritative and to let the others shine, which was good going. He had a great night.

Lin Smith

This was Smith’s debut on the Pun Off, but you wouldn’t have known it. She’s a musical comedian, who appeared tonight sans instruments, but as her word play was good, the lack of musical kit didn’t hold her back. There were some good jokes on display and the toppers – underused by the other acts – added a lot to what she was doing. It might have helped her a touch if she had spoken a little bit more slowly, as I don’t think everyone heard every word she said, but she still did well.

Richard Pulsford

On his fourth show of the day, you’d have expected Pulsford to look more tired than he did. Either way, it didn’t interfere with the sheer quality of his output. In terms of construction, writing and delivery, he really does remind me of Tony Cowards and that I do like. I’d argue that he had the best quality jokes of the contestants. In terms of construction, he was well ahead of the rest. Meerkats was arguably the best joke of the whole show.

Stevie Vegas

With his R2D2 suit and props, Vegas stood out. Whilst he had some decent jokes, such as hippo, he didn’t really get chance to make the most of the props and it might have benefited him to have injected a bit more of his personality into proceedings.

Friz Frizzle

Friz was the well deserved winner of the show. They were a real presence in the room and whilst this might be partly due to them being sat in the corner (with keyboard) and being left with the contestant’s mic at the end of each round, they were happy to heckle, ad lib and generally throw themself more into the night than the rest, who kept the funny to their own parts. This ensured that they were great fun and had more chance to be funny throughout. Perhaps half of their answers were in the form of songs, which gave them the chance to work in 2-3 punchlines on each. I was impressed by their nous in getting an audience volunteer to assist in one joke. This really kept what they were doing fresh and different to the others. Frizzle was the most entertaining of the panel through the entire course of the night.