Edinburgh, 19th August 2014

Top gags of the 2014 edinburgh festival fringe revealed

? TIM VINE scoops ?Dave?s Funniest Joke of The Fringe? Award as his wisecrack is voted top one-liner from a shortlist by a panel of UK?s foremost comedy critics

? 2014 marks the seventh anniversary of Dave?s Funniest Joke of the Fringe Award

Award-winning TV channel Dave has announced the winner of the seventh annual award for Dave?s Funniest Joke of the Fringe.

For the first time in Dave?s Funniest Joke of the Fringe?s seven-year history, the award has been presented to a previous victor. King of the one-liners Tim Vine has this year come top with nearly a fifth (19%) of respondents voting ?I decided to sell my hoover? well it was just collecting dust? their funniest joke of the Edinburgh Fringe. Tim also triumphed in 2010 with: ?I?ve just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I?ll tell you what, never again.?

Three female comedians also feature in this year?s Top 10 as jokes from Bec Hill, Ria Lina and Felicity Ward proved to tickle the nation?s funnybone, reflecting the overall reported 62% rise of women performing at this year?s Fringe since 2013.

In its mission to find the most hilarious one-liners, Dave enlisted the help of an expert panel of ten judges, consisting of the UK?s foremost comedy critics. They scoured venues at the world-famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe over a week-long period to nominate their three favourite jokes. The shortlisted gags were then put anonymously to the public vote, with 2,000 Brits selecting those that they found the funniest.

Dave?s Top 10 Funniest Jokes from the Fringe Festival 2014

1. ?I?ve decided to sell my hoover... well, it was just collecting dust.? ? Tim Vine

2. ?I've written a joke about a fat badger, but I couldn't fit it into my set.? ? Masai Graham

3. ?Always leave them wanting more, my uncle used to say to me. Which is why he lost his job in disaster relief.? ? Mark Watson

4. ?I was given some Sudoku toilet paper. It didn't work. You could only fill it in with number 1s and number 2s.? ? Bec Hill

5. ?I wanted to do a show about feminism. But my husband wouldn't let me.? ? Ria Lina

6. ?Money can't buy you happiness? Well, check this out, I bought myself a Happy Meal.? ? Paul F Taylor

7. ?Scotland had oil, but it's running out thanks to all that deep frying.? ? Scott Capurro

=8. ?I forgot my inflatable Michael Gove, which is a shame 'cause halfway through he disappears up his own arsehole.? ? Kevin Day

=8. ?I've been married for 10 years, I haven't made a decision for seven.? ? Jason Cook

1. ?This show is about perception and perspective. But it depends how you look at it.? ? Felicity Ward

Dave?s first two-time winner and regular fixture on the top-ten list, Tim Vine is a firmly established comedian, whose silly one-liners have helped him achieve great success in the world of comedy. As well as sold out tours and bestselling DVDs, he has appeared on various TV shows including Not Going Out and Blandings. He first performed at the Fringe in 1993 and was awarded Best Newcomer in 1995. His current Edinburgh Fringe show, ?Tim Timinee Tim Timinee Tim Tim To You,? is a sell-out success at the Pleasance Courtyard, and his first stand up tour in four years is also planned for next Spring.

Of being awarded the top spot, Tim Vine said: "I'm a little bit surprised but very delighted. This is the second time I've won this award but I guess nobody loves a repeat more than Dave.?

Honourable mentions ? Those one-liners that just missed out on the top spots:

?I go to the kebab shop so much that when they call me boss in there it's less a term of affection, more an economic reality.? ? Ed Gamble

?Leadership looks fun, but it's stressful. Just look at someone leading a conga.? ? James Acaster

?I bought myself some glasses. My observational comedy improved.? ? Sara Pascoe

Top of the Flops ? And some of the jokes voted the least laughable included:

?My mate sat on my pumpkin. He butternut squash it.? - Leo Kearse

?I had a friend call Iain. Two 'i's... to go with the face.? - John Kearns

?I'm lazy - my childhood ambition was to be an injured footballer.? - Mike Shephard

?This vodka is drunk by the rapper Sean Combs. P Diddy? Only when he drank a whole bottle.? - Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham

?I tried to Google endangered species. They were hard to find.? - Suns of Fred

?I'd like to start with the chimney jokes - I've got a stack of them. The first one is on the house.? - Tim Vine

In order to compile the shortlist, each of the judges sat through an average of 60 different comedy performances and sifted through more than 3,600 minutes of material. This meant they each had a potential pool of around 7,200* different jokes to choose from.

The Dave award, which is open to both established and up-and-coming comedians, pays homage to the wealth of talent on offer at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe whilst shining a spotlight on the individual jokes, not just the performances.

Steve North, General Manager of Dave commented: ?It?s great to see a range of established and new comedians in this year?s top 10. The award celebrated the fantastic range of comedy on offer at the Fringe, and Tim has once again proved he is king of the one-liners.?

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is widely acknowledged to be the biggest arts festival in the world and takes place every August for three weeks in Scotland?s capital city. Starting in 1947, it was seen as a post-war initiative to reunite Europe through culture, and was so successful that it inspired more performers than there was room for.

For an exclusive interview with winner Tim Vine, please head to www.joindave.co.uk. You can also follow Dave on Twitter at @join_dave and Facebook at facebook.com/davewittybanter.

This year marks the seventh anniversary of Dave?s Funniest Joke of the Fringe. To review the previous winners and highlights, visit http://www.facebook.com/davewittybanter

For more information contact Claire Howes or Toby Leston at Taylor Herring PR on 0208 206 5151 or email: CH@taylorherring.com or TL@taylorherring.com

ENDS

Notes to editors

*Calculated as 60 different comedy performances with an average running time of 60 mins per show totalling over 3,600 minutes of material, with the average comedian telling 2 jokes per minute = 7,200 jokes per judge.

The 2014 Edinburgh Fringe Festival takes place 1st - 25th August 2014.

The Dave Joke of the Fringe Panel

The Dave Panel is made up of Alex Hardy (Comedy Reviewer, The Times), Ben Williams (Comedy Editor, Time Out), Brian Donaldson (Comedy Critic, The Scotsman; Comedy Editor, The List), Bruce Dessau (Comedy Critic, Evening Standard; Chair of the 2008 if.comedy awards panel), Julian Hall (Author, The Rough Guide to Comedy; Comedy Critic, The Independent), Mark Boosey (Editor, British Comedy Guide), Mark Wareham (Comedy Reviewer, Mail on Sunday), Sarah Henley (Editor, ComComedy.com), Sharon Lougher (Comedy Reviewer, Metro) and Steve Bennett (Editor, Chortle.co.uk).

The Dave panel each submitted their three ?best jokes? and three ?worst jokes? nominations. These were then put up for the public vote with 2,000 people voting for their choice of the funniest one-liners.

About Dave HD

(Sky 111/232, Virgin 128, HD: 129, Freeview 12) (www.joindave.co.uk / @join_dave)

Dave proudly presents a plethora of original commissions; Crackanory, Ross Noble Freewheeling, Dave Gorman?s Modern Life is Goodish, and Dara O Briain: School of Hard Sums, all laden with the biggest names in British comedy. Not to mention a brand spanking new series with QI favourite Alan Davies in Alan Davies As Yet Untitled.

If that wasn't enough to whet your appetite we also have a stack of national treasures like QI, Red Dwarf X, Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You, not to mention the Red Bull trilogy of Cliff Diving, X-Fighters and the Soap Box races. And of course, we still have Top Gear.

Obviously we have to add, Dave is the UK?s most watched non-PSB channel broadcasting to over 27 million people per month, featuring hit US shows including the sharp-witted and sharp-suited Suits, the ludicrously addictive Lizard Lick Towing and the wonder that is Storage Hunters, the gift that keeps on giving.

About UKTV

UKTV is the multi-award winning media company that reaches over 42 million viewers per month.

UKTV's eleven imaginative brands - Watch, Dave, Gold, Alibi, Eden, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Good Food and UKTV Play - include the most watched non-PSB channel, the most watched channel in the Factual genre and the most watched channels in the Lifestyle genre (Pay and Free). The company?s most recent financial results showed a record-breaking year-end revenue of £262m, and operating profit at £71m.

UKTV has a truly innovative model, curating brand-defining commissions, high-profile acquisitions and the very best of BBC and Channel 4 content, and embracing technology to deliver inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT TV, TalkTalk, YouView, iOS and PC. The network distributes its highly valued programmes to 200 territories around the world and supplies Sky with more hours of HD content than anyone else.

Now celebrating its 21st year at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) - is proud to be the only British broadcaster to be recognised by Best Companies.

corporate.uktv.co.uk / pressoffice.uktv.co.uk / @uktv_press

Source: Guardian Online (01/08/14) http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/aug/01/edinburgh-fringe-number-female-standups-comics-women Source: Times Online (14/08/14) http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/stage/edinburgh-festival/article4175269.ece