25 August 2015
Award-winning TV channel Dave has announced the winner of the eighth annual award for Dave's Funniest Joke of the Fringe.
In his first ever full length show, Edinburgh comedy pun-dit Darren Walsh has this year come top with 23% of respondents voting this their funniest joke of the Edinburgh Fringe:
I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It's Hans free.
The youngest ever comedian in the history of the award was featured in the shortlist this year as 12-year-old 'Grace The Child' claimed 10th place. Previous acclaimed winners include Tim Vine, Rob Auton, Stewart Francis and Nick Helm.
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 five favourite jokes. The shortlisted gags were then put to 2,000 Brits, with no reference to the comedians who told them, who then voted for the jokes they found the funniest.
Dave's Top 10 Funniest Jokes from the Fringe Festival 2015
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"I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It's Hans free" - Darren Walsh
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"Kim Kardashian is saddled with a huge arse... but enough about Kanye West" - Stewart Francis
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"Surely every car is a people carrier?" - Adam Hess
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"What's the difference between a 'hippo' and a 'Zippo'? One is really heavy, the other is a little lighter" - Masai Graham
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"If I could take just one thing to a desert island I probably wouldn't go" - Dave Green
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"Jesus fed 5,000 people with two fishes and a loaf of bread. That's not a miracle. That's tapas" - Mark Nelson
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"Red sky at night. Shepherd's delight. Blue sky at night. Day" - Tom Parry
=8. "The first time I met my wife, I knew she was a keeper. She was wearing massive gloves" - Alun Cochrane
=8. "Clowns divorce. Custardy battle" - Simon Munnery
10. "They're always telling me to live my dreams. But I don't want to be naked in an exam I haven't revised for..." - Grace The Child
Hailing from "a place called Peterborough", this isn't Walsh's first time at the Fringe, but his show Punderbolt is the first time he's taken on an hour-long performance. Winner of the first UK Pun Championship at the Leicester Comedy Festival in 2013, the 39 year old is no stranger to an award or two and boasts a published book of puns entitled 'Cheap Laughs'. He even created a 'Pun Guide to the Fringe' for this year's Festival; an animated video punning the name of 'almost' every comedian performing in Edinburgh 2015.
On being awarded the top spot, punny-man Darren Walsh said,
I am delighted to win this award. What a punderful feeling. Thanks Dave.
Honourable mentions
Those one-liners that missed out:
"I never lie on my CV...because it creases it." - Jenny Collier
"If you don't know what introspection is you need to take a long, hard look at yourself" - Ian Smith
"I usually meet my girlfriend at 12:59 because I like that one to one time" - Tom Ward
"Whenever I get to Edinburgh, I'm reminded of the definition of a gentleman. It's someone who knows how to play the bagpipes, but doesn't" - Gyles Brandreth
"Let me tell you a little about myself. It's a reflexive pronoun that means 'me'" - Ally Houston
"Earlier this year I saw "The Theory of Everything" - loved it. Should've been called "Look Who's Hawking", that's my only criticism" - James Acaster
Top of the Flops
And some of the jokes voted most groan-worthy included:
"What do honeymooners eat for breakfast? Wedded Wheat" - Lou Sanders
"I am Canadian. But if you think I'm Russian, Soviet" - Steward Francis
"I suffer from PMS. My wife gets it and I suffer" - Jeff Green
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. In fact, so as to ensure the jokes are ranked fairly, the comedian's name or show are not revealed during the voting process - it is purely down to the jokes themselves!
Steve North, General Manager of Dave commented,
The Fringe is renowned for being the best place to spot new and emerging comedy talent, and although there are some returning contenders in our top 10 this year, there is a high volume of new talent which is very exciting to see.
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.
This year marks the eighth anniversary of Dave's Funniest Joke of the Fringe. You can also follow Dave on Twitter at @join_dave and Facebook at facebook.com/davewittybanter.
For further information please contact:
Claire Howes - CH@taylorherring.com - 0208 206 5151
Lora Martyr - LM2@taylorherring.com - 0208 206 5151
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 two okes per minute = 7,200 jokes per judge.
The 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival takes place 7th - 31st August 2015.
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 comedy awards panel), Mark Boosey (Editor, British Comedy Guide), Mark Wareham (Comedy Reviewer, Mail on Sunday), Sarah Henley and Dan Berg (Directors, ComComedy.com), Sharon Lougher (Comedy Reviewer, Metro), Mark Monahan (Arts Critic, Daily Telegraph) and Steve Bennett (Editor, Chortle.co.uk).
The Dave panel each submitted their five '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.
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