2012 Winner of the P. O. T. Y. Award Bob Dvorak was interviewed by his home town newspaper. Bet you didn’t know that he’s an engineer too.
Gary Hallock, Pun-Off emcee, and 2011 P. O. T. Y winner John Pollack, author of the book “The Pun Also Rises,” were interviewed on Hartford, CT public radio WNPR on May 30, 2012 by Colin McEnroe. The program was an hour-long celebration of puns and wordplay. You can listen here.
Punniest of Show contestant Alexandra Petri from Washington D. C. who finished a very respectable 4th place in her first Pun-Off wrote about her experience in her Washington Post blog. We joked that she’s quite a dish, but she’s really a philosophical writer!
The judges gored her routine 36 points.
Austin, Texas. May 19, 2012: He may hail from Queens, New York, but Jerzy Gwiazdowski will rain for the next year as new Punniest of Show World Champion. Although he was a total newbie to our contest, Jerzy did arrive with some experience at competitive punning, having recently claimed a 2nd place honors in a PUNderdome competition in Brooklyn, New York.
For his 90-second PUNtastic presentation, Gwiazdowski scored a rare 40 out of a possible 40 points from our six-judge panel for 1st place. That left our 2011 Punniest of Show champ, Gracie “I Barely Know Her” Deegan of Austin, Texas with 2nd place and Benjamin Ziek of Glendale, California, (2011, 2010 PunSlingers champion) to receive a not-so-shabby 3rd place medal to show he’s still hardware it counts.
Jerzy Gwiazdowski , Gracie Deegan, Benjamin Ziek. Photo: Clay Leben
In the pun quick-draw shootout PunSlingers contest, 1st place was handily won by shooting star, Dav Wallace (2010 2nd place winner) of Round Rock, Texas. Our two-year defending champ, Benjamin “Game Show Freak” Ziek, was punched out in the final round for 2nd place. The multi-medaled Andy Balinsky of Austin, Texas tied for 3rd place with another Austinite, 2009 PunSlingers and 2011 mmMVP winner Matt Pollock.
The 2012 mmMVP trophy was awarded by a vote of his fellow Pun-Off contestants to the newly crowned Punniest of Show champ Jerzy Gwiazdowski for his clever puns and significant skills in winning smiles.
URL welcome. Coordinator Gary “PunMeister” Hallock
Dav Wallace, Benjamin Ziek, Andy Balinsky, Matt Pollack. Photo: Clay Leben
We are hoping to did live stream some of the Pun-Off on its own page. If the picture freezes or we exceed 50 viewers, refresh and try again. I apologize in advance if it doesn’t work. Please tweet with the hashtag #punoff2012.
The May 2012 Fortune Magazine has a feature story on the 2011 Pun-Off with a sketch of Punster of the Year John Pollack.
http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/tag/o-henry-pun-off-world-championships/
Peached Tortilla (http://thepeachedtortilla.com/) will be our exclusive food trailer at the Pun-off on May 19. Eric, the owner, has generously offered to make a contribution from his sales to the Friends of the O. Henry and Dickinson Museums. We are so looking forward to Eric’s tongue foo Asian eclectic cooking!
“Flavors know no boundaries at the peached tortilla. There are no rules. We start and stop with putting out innovative, great tasting food for the masses. It’s time to join the flavor revolution and unzip your taste buds. Austin, allow yourself to get peached.” Continue reading
Give your stamp of approval to the 2012 Pun-Off T-shirt design!! Artist Quinn Argall played off the new US postal stamp design that commemorates the 150th anniversary of O. Henry’s birthday on September 11, 2012. He replaced the urban NYC city skyline of the official stamp with Austin’s marked by the Texas capitol and UT Tower. The image of young O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) with handle bar mustache is based upon an 1880′s photo when he lived in Austin. Continue reading
The third of our weakly FRIDAY PUNSTER WARM-UP sessions will be held Friday, May 11, 2012 from 6:30 to 9:30 pm at Joe’s Place, 1814 East Martin Luther King Drive, Austin, Texas (that’s the corner of MLK and Chicon.) Continue reading
Join in on Friday, May 4, 6:30 – 9:30 pm
The second of our weakly FRIDAY PUNSTER WARM-UP sessions will gather in this week at THE NEW WORLD DELI, 4101 GUADALUPE, Austin, TX. These gatherings are designed to put everyone in the mood for the upcoming competition at the 35th Annual O.Henry Pun-Off World Championships on May 19th. Continue reading
The first of our weakly FRIDAY PUNSTER WARM-UP sessions will gather in this week at THE POURHOUSE PUB at 6701 BURNET Road, Austin, TX. These gatherings are designed to put everyone in the mood for the upcoming competition at the 35th Annual O.Henry Pun-Off World Championships on May 19th. Continue reading
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Posted in Archive, Noose You Can Use, Pun-Off 2012
Tagged practice, punoff2012, warm-up
Registration Is Full! – Position is nine tense of the law!
Update May 12: Cold Feats & Corn Flix : Although registration for both Punniest of Show and Punslingers is full, as expected, we’ve flushed out a few pairs of cold feet and conflicted schedules. A number of contestants have dropped off both of our confirmed lists and the “stand-bys” are moving up. In fact, we have an even 32 pre-registered in Punniest of Show with NOBODY on that waiting list. If you have the urge and the nerve there’s still a full week before you’ll be expected to prove your mettle to claim that medal. Feel lucky, punk! Well, do you? Sign up here. You might be surprised! Continue reading
