Pakistani Comedian Saad Haroon was the first runner up with 59,213 votes in the Funniest Person in the World competition won by stand-up comic from Finland, Ismo Leikola with 158,945 votes.
Haroon is a founding member of the Pakistani improv group Blackfish and other comedy troupe and creator of English-language Pakistani show “The Real News,” a mix of political and social satire.
“Countries don’t owe money to each other, countries owe money to banks,” says Ismo Leikola. “If the countries owe money to banks how stupid are the countries to pay. Like the country has an army. The bank has four cashiers and a cleaning lady.”
When Leikola told that joke in the semifinal round of the competition last week at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood it got the biggest laugh of the night.
From there the Finnish comedian bankrolled himself to victory at Friday night’s final round, a five-comic showdown at the Laugh Factory in Las Vegas. The competition was streamed over the Internet.
Mustapha El Atrassi of France was third, Nitin Mirani of United Arab Emirates was fourth and Archie Bezos of Spain was fifth.
Leikola wins $10,000 and a national comedy tour.
The competition was the brainchild of Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada, who plans to make it an annual event. He said he hopes it can show the world that if people from different countries laugh together they can set aside other differences.
Dozens of comics from around the world entered. Online voters narrowed the competition to 10 semifinalists, then five finalists before the final showdown in Las Vegas.