Lincolnshire Echo picture editor Stuart Wilde could soon be laughing all the way to the bank, after winning through to the final of a stand-up comedy competition.

Stuart, (38), has only been performing on the comedy circuit for 14 months, but has scooped himself a place in the last 12 of The Midlands Stands-up competition – which has a top prize of £1,000.

He will perform on the last day of the Leicester Stands-Up comedy festival on February 18, after going joke-for-joke against more than 60 fellow comedians from around the country, all of whom have been getting up on stage for less than two years.

Stuart said: “I certainly won’t win the final, genuinely, as there are so many good acts out there.

“But to get to the final is amazing – I didn’t even expect to get out of my heat – and it’s something to add to my comedy CV.”

Stuart in action

Stuart, who worked at the Derby Evening Telegraph before joining the Echo, began performing after a short comedy course at Lincoln’s Bishop Grosseteste College.

He has now done more than 60 gigs, travelling to venues all over the country after work or at weekends.

He said: “My first gig was a bit nervy, to a room full of people in Birmingham.

“It’s a big commitment. I finish work and grab a shower and then sometimes have to drive for two hours to do a 10 or 20 minute show.

“But when I have a really good gig it makes me realise why I do it.”

Rather than telling jokes, Stuart describes his act as more of “observations and stories”, and draws inspiration from the “ridiculous things” that happen to him.

He said: “I’ve certainly got two or three stories from my career that I drop in. I like the stupid things in life that make me laugh and the situations you find yourself in.”

Stuart’s favourite gag at the moment: “A 13 year old son asks his dad to explain the difference between ‘theoretically’ and ‘realistically’. The dad says ‘Right son. Go and ask your mother if she’d sleep with the milkman for a million quid.’ he does and says that ‘mum said she would’. ‘Right’ said the father, ‘now go and ask your big sister if she’d sleep with the postman for two million quid’. He goes and asks her ‘she said she would dad’. The dad says ‘right son, there’s your answer. Theoretically, we’re three million quid better off…..But realistically…..we’re living with a couple of s****!'”