Pun champion accused of plagiarism

The winner of the year’s UK Pun Championships has been accused of using second-hand jokes to take the title.

Will Bicknell-Found, who uses the stage name Will BF, was crowned winner of this year’s competition at the Leicester Comedy Festival earlier this week.

But one audience member has written to organisers saying: ‘I think the winner lifted loads of his jokes…. [it] just doesn’t sit right seeing someone win with a bunch of recycled jokes.’

And another comedy fan wrote on Twitter: ‘Most of the jokes seemed to be Googled. I thought it was a competition for writers, not plagiarists??’

Of the winning jokes citing in the announcement of his victory, all could be found online, in several places such as 'dad joke' social media feeds and Subreddits, neither of which are renowned for original content. They were:

• My cousin lost his job at the clock factory; it’s such a shame, as he was putting in all the hours.

Appeared on a Reddit post at least as long ago as 2016.

• Old McDonald has turned his farm into a massive corporation; he’s the Ee-i-CEO.

Several versions of this pun appear on social media - often with the punchline CIEIO – and on joke compilation websites

• I thought my dad was a smart guy, but I asked if he knew what an eclipse is, and he said, ‘No, son.’

Was included in a Buzzfeed list from 2017, among many mentions online

• Whoever stole my copy of Microsoft Office, I will find out—you have my Word.

Again features widely online, including on Reddit, for more than a decade. Some versions are so old they are phrased as ‘whoever stole my Microsoft Office DVD’.

The audience member who complained to the festival acknowledged ‘it it's possible for people to come up with the same puns’ but felt Will BF’s ‘were all well-known ones that have been around for ages’.

He also cited five more gags with references to online mentions, including one sometimes credited to Tommy Cooper: ‘Police arrested two kids yesterday, one was drinking battery acid, the other was eating fireworks. They charged one and let the other one off.’

The punter added: ‘These are just the ones I can remember, but I’m sure there were more.’

Chortle approached both BF and the comedy festival’s press team yesterday, but neither have responded.

Published: 13 Feb 2025