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Forward Freelancer Tapped as Funniest

Forward contributor Catie Lazarus won the “Funniest Reporter on the Planet” contest last week. But it seems that at least one person who attended the competition, held at the New York comedy club The Laugh Factory, needs to lighten up.

The New York Post’s famed gossip column, known as Page 6, quoted one of its spies as complaining about the results. “Lazarus is also a professional comedian,” the spy griped. “Is it fair that she won what was an amateur contest?”

Our humor champion makes no apologies for her victory, saying that she was not the only contestant who has experience in comedy.

“That said, I appreciate The New York Post kindly referring to me as a professional, or at least placing the word in spitting distance of my name,” Lazarus wrote in an e-mail to the Forward. “Maybe it will give Biff, who runs the 5 p.m. open mic in the basement of Charlie’s Chuckle Factory, the incentive to pay me accordingly. Until then, I will continue to write and, maybe one day, be able to afford health insurance.”

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