BBC New Comedy Awards finalists pick their funniest jokes

Across six side-splitting heats, Britain's funniest upcoming stand-up comics have made us LOL in London, snigger in Sunderland and belly laugh in Ballymena.

Now, the six BBC New Comedy Award 2023 finalists are preparing to take to the stage one last time for the chance to be crowned the BBC New Comedian of 2023.

As a warm-up act, BBC Three has asked finalists Dean T. Beirne, Hester Ectomy, Jin Hao Li, Frankie Monroe, Chantal Nash and Paddy Young to select their favourite joke from their regional heat set. Watch the video below to get the full experience of each joke.

You can catch the full set from each of the comedians in the BBC New Comedy Awards final on Wednesday 15 November on BBC iPlayer and BBC One.

Paddy Young

Winner of the northern heat

"The injustice of the property market, that's what gets me down. I found out recently, our landlady owns eight properties. I think that's terrible. To think, if she was a landlord she'd own 12. It's tough."

Dean T. Beirne

Winner of the Scottish heat

"I got adopted and then my dad decided to bring us into Dubai when I was very young and Dubai is a really beautiful city man. You know, I can't slag it off too much. Aesthetically somewhere between Star Trek and Aladdin but politically between Henry VIII and Handmaid's Tale."

Hester Ectomy aka Kit Rees

Winner of the Northern Ireland heat

"[holding a trumpet] It's weird, an instrument I learned when I was so young is so unintentionally horny, pun intended. Because on the trumpet you've got fingering, which is this [fingers keys of trumpet]. You've got tonguing which is this [plays notes on trumpet]. And you've got slurring, which is the opposite of tonguing, which is this: [shouts at trumpet] 'Bloody queers!'"

READ MORE: BBC New Comedy Awards 2022 winner Dan Tiernan: 'It is the biggest, maddest thing I've done'

Chantel Nash

Winner of the southern heat

"When I was growing up, we had a dog. We had a West Highland White Terrier. Remember the Cesar dog food advert, the little white dogs? And we named that dog Bounty. And we named her Bounty because she was the white centre to our chocolate family. So, so cute. White stepdad... furious!"

Jin Hao Li

Winner of the Midlands heat

"When I was young, my mother used to say to me, 'Jin Hao, believe in yourself, nothing is impossible. The word impossible spells I'm possible.' And recently I figured out that I'm possible spells impossible. So I'm a shell of a man.

"But my mother saved my life. She did, she did. Believe it or not, I was one of those boys who was at risk of getting expelled. This is when I was a sperm. She really gave me a chance and I've been growing ever since, you know."

Frankie Monroe aka Joe Kent-Walters

Winner of the Wales and west heat

Frankie: "[With a face painted ghostly white, walking into the audience] Oh no, he's coming down.

"[To a man in the audience] Pull my finger. Now give me your wallet. Have you got a wallet? It's for a trick. [Man hands him his wallet] Round of applause!

"So, for my next trick...

"No, I'm joking you can have your wallet back... at the end of the show."

The final of the BBC New Comedy Awards 2023 airs on Wednesday 15 November at 10.40pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The heats are streaming now on BBC iPlayer.