Frankie Boyle voted 'most offensive'

Comedians have named Frankie Boyle as the nation's most offensive stand-up in a poll commissioned by television channel Dave.

The comedian, who was recently cleared for his joke about Katie Price's disabled son Harvey, beat US-born comic and magician Jerry Sadowitz into second place. Jim Davidson and Roy Chubby Brown were also on the list of controversial performers.

Daniel Kitson, who rarely appears on TV, was named the favourite "comedian's comedian", just ahead of Billy Connolly, Eddie Izzard and Tommy Cooper, who died in 1984.

The survey of 112 comedians, including Bill Bailey, Jo Brand, Mark Watson and Rhod Gilbert, revealed that Liverpool was considered the toughest city to perform to, followed by Nottingham. In contrast, the Midlands was chosen as the place most receptive to stand-up comedy.

Just under a third (31%) of comics said they'd been so nervous before going on stage they'd been physically sick, while 55% claimed to have had their jokes stolen at some point.