No joke! Stand up comedy king Harith Iskander, 50, has been judged as the world's funniest person in Helsinki, Finland, today.

Harith, who was announced as the champion of Laugh Factory Funniest Person in the World (LFFPITW), laughed his way ahead of four other contenders namely Alex Calleja (Phillipines) who was runner-up, followed by Katerina Vrana (Greece) in third place, Mino Van Nassau (India) was fourth while David Kilimnick (Israel) was fifth.

"Congratulations @HarithIskander- #LaughFactory's Funniest Person in the World for 2016," said the organiser Laugh Factory via their official Twitter account today.

As the winner of the coveted title, Harith bagged US$100,000 (RM443,000) and a comedy tour in the United States while Calleja won US$10,000 and Vrana received US$5,000.

The LFFPITW competition consists of three rounds namely Round One, whereby 89 comedians from 56 countries battled to earn top 20 place in Round Two (Semi Final) before five lucky winners competed in Round Three (Final).

Another comedian from Malaysia, Dr Jason Leong, also took part in the competition but Lady Luck was not on Jason’s side as he went out in Round One.

- Bernama