Daily Star Sunday

That’s a bit Picky Gervais

PUNS ARE JUST NOT FUNNY SAYS RICKY

- ■ by ISOBEL DICKINSON isobel.dickinson@dailystar.co.uk

RICKY Gervais has taken the fun out of the pun by saying he is not amused by witty

Areyou

wordplay.

He said comedians

’avinga

can’t claim the jokes

laugh?

are their own work because they are really just words from a dictionary.

Ricky fumed: “I don’t think puns are funny. I think once you’ve done one, you’ve seen them all really.

“A pun was always there, because the dictionary was always there. It’s almost like it’s not so creative. It’s more like a found object, a pun.

“Yes, you can be clever with it and there are some amazing punsters. I still think it’s not as funny as someone falling over, because it’s not visceral.”

But British pun champ and comic Adele Cliff said there was a fine craft to getting the gags right.

The UK Pun Championsh­ip 2020 winner said: “I think puns are great fun. They really are a joy to find.

“Sure, anyone can probably find a pun, but finding a good pun is a completely different thing. There’s a real

craft to them. When you find a good one it’s so satisfying.

“The art is all in the set-up, the timing and the delivery, which is what makes them so brilliant.”

Adele gave us an example of one of her top puns: “As a vegan, I think people who sell meat are disgusting.

“But apparently people who sell fruit and veg are grocer.”

MAJORCA and Ibiza will be the first parts of Spain to welcome Brits back in the summer under vaccine passport plans.

At a crunch meeting in Madrid, regional governors urged the Spanish tourism minister Maria Reyes Maroto to let them start a pilot scheme for visitors who have had their jabs. Tourism officials in Spain have previously committed to introducin­g Covid immunity passports. If the scheme goes ahead, the islands could be the first to open borders.

And resorts favoured by Brits such as Magaluf in Majorca and San Antonio in Ibiza will be back open for business.

Iago Negueruela, Belearic Islands tourism minister, said: “We will focus on becoming a lead region in the implementa­tion of immunity certificat­es.” The Government is said to be “increasing­ly positive” about summer holidays resuming.

Foreign Office minister James Cleverly this week told

BBC Breakfast that talks had taken place with “internatio­nal partners” over vaccine passports for foreign travel.

But he refused to guarantee tourism this summer.

Last week, Spain’s Secretary of State for Tourism Fernando Valdes said: “The UK is among the countries with the highest vaccinatio­n rates in the world.

“We aim to have at least 70% of our adult population immune by summer. So I’d say, ‘Keep open your expectatio­ns regarding holidays in Spain.’”

 ??  ?? FUNNY
Is Ricky right? See if the puns of top PUNNY
comics give you a giggle in the rest of today’s paper
FUNNY Is Ricky right? See if the puns of top PUNNY comics give you a giggle in the rest of today’s paper
 ??  ?? HOPEFUL: The empty beaches of Magaluf in Majorca could fill up in coming months
SUMMER?
HOPEFUL: The empty beaches of Magaluf in Majorca could fill up in coming months SUMMER?
 ??  ??

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