Yesterday, for the second year, my roommate Carmen participated in the World Championship Pun Competition in Austin, TX. There were two events. The first was called “Punniest of Show” in which the contestants (32 in all) performed a 90-120 second monologue and were rated on a scale of 1-10 by four judges for a maximum of 40 points. I am proud to say that with a score of 39, I now live under the same roof as the second-place winner!
Here’s a clip of her presentation:
You can read the entire transcript here.
The second event was a tournament in which two punsters went head-to-head. They would receive a topic and go back and forth punning off that topic with only 5 seconds to come up with one. If they took longer than 5 seconds they were out. No word could be punned off of twice, and if they reused a word they got a strike against them and they were out on the third strike.
Carmen faced last year’s second-place winner in the first round. The topic was “Dancing.” A few excerpts:
“My paper isn’t good I got a B, but can I plié?”
“At the big dance your senior year of high school you have to have the right drink. You need promenade.”
In the second round her topic was “The American Presidency.” This one lasted 17 minutes!
“I’ll have to put a Nixon that one.”
“I was editing my web page and I wanted to make sure everything was easily accessible, so I put a Lincoln everything.”
“Have you ever found one of those pits? They come impeaches.”
Moving onto the third round, the topic was “Mystery and Crime Fiction.” More snippets of punny goodness:
“For Halloween I dyed my hair and put it up in a ponytail with a red herring.”
“There was a costume that was used in the play, but I don’t know who donned it.”
Finally, she moved onto the final round, facing off against last year’s first and third-place winners. The category was “Fictional Creatures”:
“I gave her some money because I ogre.”
“If you’re hurting, I don’t care. Bear it.”
“I’m so mad, I’m going to lop off your head! Psych! Lops aren’t very nice.”
Last year’s champion got out on strikes, and Carmen took it to the other guy. But it was soon obvious that he knew many more creatures than she did, as he revealed himself to be a Dungeons & Dragons fan, whereas Carmen is NOT into fantasy or any similar genre. So after a long and hard battle, she conceded and again took second!
Congratulations Carmen!
Her fans:
From Becky:
Next year FIRST PLACE ALL AROUND!!
You performed brilliantly, and we were honored to be part of the cheering section!
From Cio:
Hi. I know how much you love to read. Many of my friends have suggested a specific book to me, Nicole is reading it currently. I heard bits and pieces of it. It sounds really good. I think you would enjoy it…it’s called The Irresistable Revolution : living as an ordinary radical by Shane Claiborne
If you’ve read it, i’d like to know your thoughts, if not, look into it, and tell me what you think.
From Megan:
I am turning green with envy! I wish I could have been there. I thought of you guys all weekend while I was caring for Princeton’s ill. What a large crowd she had this year!
I’m glad you had pun.
From Katy:
You just got a lot cooler in my book.
From Bill:
Carmen the Great!!!
I’m not surprised, not for one second, or two that Carmen did so well in this outstanding, ostentatious, oratory, extravaganza. You are the BEST!!!
You have been a difference maker in the lives of students and teachers at SWHS, you will be missed!!!