Heard the one about the first female graduate with a degree in stand-up comedy? Her name`s Hannah George, and she knows how to be funny.

The 21-year-old is the first woman to take the course at Southampton Solent University, itself the first in the world where having a laugh is the point of the exercise.

Her 2:1 includes the history of comedy, scriptwriting and ethics, and she is now looking forward to appearing at the Edinburgh festival.

Says Miss George, from Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight: "People don't see stand-up comedy as a male thing any more. I don`t think people are surprised to see a woman doing it.

"People are now used to women in comedy, and are not shocked when a woman actually has something to say and is funny with it."

She says that as well as the Edinburgh gig, she plans to use her new degree as a launchpad into the industry, possibly writing for television.

And says course leader Dr Chris Richie, himself a former stand-up: "Hannah has done fantastically, is a great advert for women in comedy and thoroughly deserves her degree."