The Semi-finals and the finals of the Laugh Factory’s Funniest Person in the World competition will take place in Helsinki, Finland and will be hosted by Finland’s own Ismo Leikola, the 2014 Funniest Person in the World winner. The mission of this event is to help bring peace to the world and bring people together through smiles and laughter. Over 27 million people from around the world have already voted and agree with this mission to accomplish world peace through laughter and smiles.
56 countries from around the world have taken part in 2016’s competition. The 20 comedians, each from a different country, with the highest vote count will be flown to Finland to compete and to start the celebration for Finland’s centennial birthday. The live Semi-finals will take place in Helsinki’s Teatteri Forum on December 5th. The top 5 will move on to the Finals, which will be held at Levi ski resort in Lapland on December 8th. The winner will be announced in the closing gala after Ismo Leikola’s show on December 10th. In addition to the title of “The Funniest Person in the World,” the winner gets the grand prize of $100,000 USD. The 2nd place winner will receive $10,000 USD and the 3rd place winner will receive $5,000 USD.
Here is the list of the 20 semi-finalists and the countries that they are representing:
- Alex Calleja (Philippines)
- Bianca Cristovao (Czech Republic)
- Christopher ‘Johnny’ Daley (Jamaica)
- Daniel Simonsen (Norway)
- David Kilimnick (Israel)
- Fakkah Fuzz (Singapore)
- Harith Iskander (Malaysia)
- Harri Soinila (Finland)
- Jimeoin (Ireland)
- Katerina Vrana (Greece)
- Melanie Maras (Indonesia)
- Michael Mittermeier (Germany)
- Mino Van Nassau (India)
- Murilo Couto (Brazil)
- Nikola Todoroski (Macedonia)
- Omar Ramzi (Saudi Arabia)
- Patrick Indringi (Uganda)
- Pedja Bajović (Croatia)
- Tin Vodopivec (Slovenia)
- Umar Rana (Pakistan)
Jamie Masada, the Founding Owner of the Laugh Factory, believes that, “Laughter brings people closer, succeeding where diplomacy and democracy have failed. It is a universal language. This event highlights an alternative ambassador – the kind that brings diplomacy through a belly laugh.”
Juha Wuolijoki, producer of the event and president of Snapper Films Oy, says, “I love this idea, using laughter and smiles to help people put aside their differences and connect on a more peaceful level. What better way to begin the celebration of our country’s centennial birthday than with a festival of laughter and smiles.
This entire historic event will be filmed by Snapper Films Oy for the international market. Advance tickets to Semi-finals in Helsinki will be sold by Ticketmaster. The language of the shows is English. Price: 25€/show + possible fees. A ticket package, which includes both shows, is 39€ + possible fees. Information about the final and closing gala in Levi will be announced later.
The Funniest Person in the World at Laugh Factory’s website: https://dev.laughfactory.com/fpiw
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