The 10 funniest gags from this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival have been ranked.
London-based comedian Lorna Rose Treen scooped first place in the annual list, compiled by entertainment channel Dave, with a one-liner about a zookeeper taken from her debut Fringe show Skin Pigeon at Pleasance Courtyard.
Themes such as overly apologetic Brits and inflation also feature in the winning list, which recognises comics both established and up-and-coming, and celebrates the art of joke-writing.
The top 10 list:
1. I started dating a zookeeper, but it turned out he was a cheetah. — Lorna Rose Treen
2. The most British thing I’ve ever heard? A lady who said ‘Well I’m sorry, but I don’t apologise.’ — Liz Guterbock
3. Last year I had a great joke about inflation. But it’s hardly worth it now. — Amos Gill
4. When women gossip we get called bitchy; but when men do it’s called a podcast. — Sikisa
5. I thought I’d start off with a joke about The Titanic — just to break the ice. — Masai Graham, who won the funniest joke award last year.
6. How do coeliac Germans greet each other? Gluten tag. — Frank Lavender
7. My friend got locked in a coffee place overnight. Now he only ever goes into Starbucks, not the rivals. He’s Costa-phobic. — Roger Swift
8. I entered the ‘How not to surrender’ competition and I won hands down. — Bennett Arron
9. Nationwide must have looked pretty silly when they opened their first branch. — William Stone
10. My grandma describes herself as being in her ‘twilight years’ which I love because they’re great films. — Daniel Foxx
Taking place across three weeks each August in Scotland’s capital city, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the biggest arts festival in the world.
Dave recruited an expert panel of comedy critics who attended hundreds of Fringe shows before submitting their favourite jokes.
This shortlist was then anonymised — with comics’ names removed from the jokes to ensure no bias — and 2,000 Brits voted for their favourite, resulting in the final top 10 list.
Ms Treen said she was “blooming chuffed” to win Dave’s Funniest Joke of the Fringe award.
She said: “Are you kidding? I can’t wait to tell my mum!”
“It is already such a wonderful joy to be debuting at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, and this is a lovely thing on top.
“A huge thank you for awarding my stupid joke with this title!”
Now in its 14th year, previous winners of the coveted Joke of the Fringe Award include Graham, Ken Cheng, Olaf Falafel, Tim Vine, Rob Auton, Stewart Francis, Zoe Lyons and Nick Helm.
Dave channel director Cherie Hall said: “This year we are thrilled to award Lorna Rose Treen’s joke with the win.
“We’ve got an amazing mix of jokes and comedians in our top 10 list this year. The quality of submissions will keep us laughing until next year!
“This is the 14th year of our sponsorship of the Joke of the Fringe, and Dave remains as committed as ever to showcasing the best in new comedy on the channel.
“We are really excited for the return of Outsiders and Big Zuu’s Big Eats in the next few months.”
