Comedy Champ: Wife of winner John Gavin admits he is funny

Aug 24 2008 By Steve Hendry

THE wife of Sunday Mail Comedy Champ John Gavin has finally been forced to admit: "You are funny."

Shelley, 26, secretly entered him for the contest but refuses to give John any credit for his jokes at home.

She said: "It was a great achievement and I am so glad I entered him.

"I don't want to admit this to him but he is quite funny.

"He's a good guy, a real dad and he deserved the chance to have a go at something he really wanted to do."

John won two heats of our contest to get to last week's final of the prestigious So You Think You're Funny contest.

His act about life at home with the couple's daughters - Aimee, five, Eve, two, and five-monthold Jessica - and his rise to fame through the Sunday Mail went down a storm with the 350-strong crowd.

Six weeks ago John, of Hamilton, had never done a stand-up gig in his life.

Now he's starred on stage at the Edinburgh Fringe, swapped jokes with Johnny Vegas and been a guest on Fred MacAulay's BBC radio show.

Last week he took his place in the SYTYF final, hosted by Rhona Cameron, and pitted his wits against nine others tipped to be the big names of tomorrow.

While the 28-year-old - who brandished the Sunday Mail on stage - didn't win, he's in good company.

Comic and actor Johnny, who judged the contest with Edinburgh's queen of comedy Karen Koren, revealed he lost out in the competition in 1995.

Johnny, who stars in teabag ads with a cloth monkey, said: "I died on my backside when I did SYTYF. It was one of the worst gigs of my life. But I came through it...and now I work with a monkey.

"Hats off to John. It's not easy to face a crowd and make them laugh." Karen, who discovered Peter Kay, Dylan Moran, Greg Hemphill and Lee Mack, said: "John held his own, which says a lot when you think how long he has been doing it, and has done Comedy Champ proud."

John said: "I've no idea how I got through it because I was terrified.

"It has been something I could never have imagined in a million years."

His mum Hazel said: "We've had a lot of fun and it's been an amazing experience for him."

John's dad Bobby added: "I'm very proud. He exceeded any expectation I had to get here."

SYTYF 2008 was won by Norwegian Daniel Simonsen, with Brighton comic Sean Walsh second and actress Sara Pascoe third.

Computer trainer John will be back at work on Tuesday but admits he would love to have a fulltime career as a comedian.

He said: "I have no idea where it goes from here.

"I just wanted to focus on Comedy Champ and SYTYF. But if somebody would pay me to tell jokes, I would do it in a s hot."