Stewart Francis

Canadian one-line merchant Stewart Francis has announced his farewell comedy tour.

The comic, who won Dave’s Funniest Joke Of The Fringe in 2012 and has made a dozen appearances on Mock The Week, will go on the road with Into The Punset this autumn.

Francis has been speaking about quitting comedy since 2013, saying he wanted to pursue his first love of being a cartoonist.

In an interview with Chortle he said: ‘Plan A was always to be a syndicated cartoonist but after getting rejection letters I shifted to Plan B

‘But stand-up – I've been there and done it now. I'm grateful for everything it's given me, including the chance to be what I always wanted to be – a cartoonist. It'll be a step back financially but personality-wise and creatively, a step forward as far as I'm concerned.’

He released his first book of illustrations, Pun Direction, in 2013 It was billed as a collection of '500 jokes, 30 cartoons and one recipe’.