Meet the funniest man in Cumbria - and possibly the UK right now.

Joby Mageean, of Workington, has just scooped the national title of Leicester Square New Comedian of the Year.

The 26-year-old headed to London for the final last week and battled it out against 10 others to win the title.

He said: "I won. I can't really believe it but I walked away with the title and £1,000. It was a brilliant feeling."

Joby, who uses comedy as a coping mechanism to deal with a disease which left him without an immune system, was the first person from the north ever to win the competition.

He said: "There were some really good people on stage. Some really funny people. I watched all of them and I didn't expect to win."

Joby said only three people were placed in the end and it was a really high standard.

He said: "Winning the title will help immensely. It will be very helpful to my career. It means I can put the title on posters and hopefully get more gigs.

"There were a few industry professionals in the audience and we had a few pints afterwards and people were offering me gigs. It was a great feeling."

The competition takes place at the Leicester Square Theatre with places for 300 acts.

It started in 2009 and organisers say its aim is to have "a competition that's equally enjoyable for contestant and audience alike."

Contestants must stick to five minutes of material or risk disqualification.

In second place was Stanley Brooks and third place was Micky Overman.

Joby, who is a part time actor and runs acting and comedy workshops, started trying out gags in a pub in Newcastle, where he is originally from.

He works a lot with schools now and likes to try out some of his jokes with his pupils.

He won the Uke of Edinburgh comedy award in 2012.

He added: "A lot of my gags are personal anecdotes. The Edinburgh show was called Billy No Immune System. I was born without an immune system which means I have to give myself injections every week so I can stay immune."