Today’s O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships lead off with the Punniest of Show competition, where contestants had ninety seconds to present prepared punnish material. At 90 seconds, a whistle was blown, and if the contestant was still going when the bell was run at 120 seconds, he or she was disqualified.
Each contestant was given scores from one to ten by the six judges. The highest and the lowest scores were thrown out, and the remaining were summed for a potential forty points.
The competition was won by the duo of Justin Golbabai and Kelly Dupen, whose food related entry explored the epic battle between carnivores and herbivores.
Second place was a four way tie at 35 points between Jacob Dodson, Andy Balinksky, Eirik Ott and Judy Dean/June Morris. The tie was broken via the highly scientific method of judging crowd applause.
Second place was taken by Jacob Dodson, whose recitation of Austin street names was both complete and entertaining.
Third place was taken by the mom and daughter team of Judy Dean and June Morris, who performed their fairy tail routine, which was rained out last year.
Complete scoring was as follows:
| Contestant | Jim Ertner | Alan Combs | David Arnsberger | Stan Kegel | Steve Brooks | Jim Gramon | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Scratch | |||||||
| 2. Scratch | 3. Larry Branch | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 22 |
| 4. Jacob Dodson | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 35 |
| 5. Mary Bashara/Bobbie Oliveo | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 28 |
| 6. Darby Venza | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 28 |
| 7. Kirk Miller | 6 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 25 |
| 8. Benjamin Ziek | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 29 |
| 9. Joshua Seeberg | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 30 |
| 10. Doug Spector | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 30 |
| 11. Chad Wellington | 6 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 24 |
| 12. Andy Balinsky | 9 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 35 |
| 13. Justin Golbabai/Kelly Dupen | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 37 |
| 14. Athene Persaud | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 30 |
| 15. Joe Sabia | 7 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 30 |
| 16. Bob Dvorak | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 22 |
| 17. Joseph Poirier | 6 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 23 |
| 18. Geoff Hambrick | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 19 |
| 19. Linda Eldridge | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 24 |
| 20. Sundance Mitchell | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 31 |
| 21. Kate Galbraith | 6 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 26 |
| 22. Bertrand Piboin | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 18 |
| 23. Eirik Ott | 7 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 35 |
| 24. Kai Mantsch | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 17 |
| 25. Gy Odom | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 30 |
| 26. Pete Reid | 6 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 29 |
| 27. Jay Rosenberg | 6 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 19 |
| 28. Jason Epstein | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 26 |
| 29. Tom Mitchell | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 26 |
| 30. Charles Wukasch | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 24 |
| 31. Satya Manz | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 27 |
| 32. Judy Dean/June Morris | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 35 |
Clay Leben
/ May 23, 2010Thanks for putting all the names and scores online for reference. Everyone’s performances may be seen at http:///www.livestream.com/punoff2010.