Dave's Joke of the Fringe 2016

Dave Joke Of The Fringe 2016

22 August 2016

TOP GAGS OF THE 2016 EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE REVEALED

  • Midlands based pun-master Masai Graham scoops 'Dave's Funniest Joke of The Fringe' Award with donor-card one liner
  • Jokes shortlisted by a panel of UK's foremost comedy critics
  • Shortlist features top comedy talent including Mark Watson, Tiff Stevenson, Arthur Smith and previous winner Zoe Lyons
  • 2016 marks the ninth anniversary of Dave's Funniest Joke of the Fringe Award

Edinburgh, 23rd August 2016: Award-winning entertainment channel Dave has announced the winner of the ninth annual award for Dave's Funniest Joke of the Fringe.

In a brand new show for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, West Bromwich-based comic Masai Graham produced the joke which 27% of the respondents voted their funniest joke of the Fringe; 'My dad suggested I register for a donor card, he's a man after my own heart.' The announcement is the ninth year for the coveted award whose previous winners include Tim Vine, Rob Auton, Stewart Francis, Zoe Lyons 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.

  1. "My dad has suggested that I register for a donor card.  He's a man after my own heart." - Masai Graham- 27%
  2. "Why is it old people say "there's no place like home", yet when you put them in one..." - Stuart Mitchell - 25%
  3. "I've been happily married for four years - out of a total of 10." - Mark Watson - 21%
  4. "Apparently 1 in 3 Britons are conceived in an IKEA bed which is mad because those places are really well lit." - Mark Smith - 21%
  5. "I went to a pub quiz in Liverpool, had a few drinks so wasn't much use.  Just for a laugh I wrote The Beatles or Steven Gerrard for every answer... came second." - Will Duggan - 20%
  6. "Brexit is a terrible name, sounds like cereal you eat when you are constipated." - Tiff Stevenson - 20%
  7. "I often confuse Americans and Canadians.  By using long words." - Gary Delaney - 18%
  8. "Why is Henry's wife covered in tooth marks?  Because he's Tudor." - Adele Cliff - 16%
  9. "Don't you hate it when people assume you're rich because you sound posh and went to private school and have loads of money?" - Annie McGrath - 15%
  10. "Is it possible to mistake schizophrenia for telepathy, I hear you ask." - Jordan Brookes - 15%
  11. "Hilary Clinton has shown that any woman can be President, as long as your husband did it first." - Michelle Wolf - 15%
  12. "I spotted a marmite van on the motorway. It was heading yeastbound." - Roger Swift - 14%
  13. "Back in the day, Instagram just meant a really efficient drug dealer." - Arthur Smith - 13%
  14. "I'll tell you what's unnatural in the eyes of God. Contact lenses." - Zoe Lyons - 13%
  15. "Elton John hates ordering Chinese food. Soya seems to be the hardest word." - Phil Nicol - 12%

On being awarded the top spot, Masai Graham, self-proclaimed "General Punochet", said

It's an incredible honour to land Joke of the Fringe. Not bad for someone from West Brom!

And some of the jokes voted most groan-worthy:

"In France J-Lo is called 'I have water'" - Adam Hess

"What do you call three members of ABBA in a French slaughterhouse? ABBA trois" - Darren Walsh

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.

2016 marks the ninth year of Dave's Funniest Joke of the Fringe. You can also follow Dave on Twitter at www.joindave.co.uk / @join_dave and Facebook at facebook.com/davewittybanter.

For more information contact Max Downton or Katie Fox at Taylor Herring PR on 0208 206 5151 or email: max@taylorherring.com or kf@taylorherring.com

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 jokes per minute = 7,200 jokes per judge.

The 2016 Edinburgh Fringe Festival takes place 5th - 29th August 2016.

The Dave Joke of the Fringe Panel

The Dave Panel is made up of Mark Monahan (Arts Critic, Daily Telegraph), 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), John Dingwall (Entertainment Editor, Daily Record) Mark Wareham (Comedy Reviewer, Mail on Sunday), Sarah Henley (Director, ComComedy.com), Sharon Lougher (Comedy Reviewer, Metro), Dominic Maxwell (Theatre Critic, The Times) 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.

About Dave

Sky 111/246, Virgin 128/194, Freeview 12, BT & TalkTalk 12 On demand on Sky, Virgin and UKTV Play Dave's had a haircut and shave in recent years as it grows from awkward teenager to fully-fledged commissioner of new and original shows. And it's not just comedy these days but entertainment and even some knock-out live sport.  Hit UKTV Original commissions include Taskmaster, Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish, Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled and Crackanory, all laden with the biggest names in British comedy.  Dave enjoyed critical success with two series of Hoff the Record, a mockumentary ensemble comedy led by the living legend David Hasselhoff.   As well as home-grown delights Dave also goes stateside, cherry-picking cult US Shows including the sharp-witted and sharp-suited Suits and much-loved Parks and Recreation along with Emmy-nominated The Last Man on Earth. This all contributed to Dave's award win at the 2016 Broadcast Digital Awards for Best Entertainment Channel. Dave is the UK's most watched non-PSB channel broadcasting to over 27 million people per month, and viewers continue to enjoy the ludicrously addictive American Pickers and UK remake of Storage Hunters.   The channel continues to grow its original commissioning slate with political show Unspun With Matt Forde, Red Dwarf XI, Dara O Briain's Go 8 Bit, fantasy comedy Zapped! and Celebrity Storage Hunters airing later this year

www.joindave.co.uk / @join_dave

About UKTV

UKTV is the biggest multichannel broadcaster in the UK.

The award-winning independent has eleven imaginative brands - UKTV Play, Dave, W, Gold, Alibi, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Eden and Good Food. These include the two most popular non-PSB channels in the UK and account for 9.31% of the British commercial TV market. The company's most recent financial results showed record-breaking year-end revenue of £319m and EBITDA of £82m. It invested £148m in programming and related launches last year, and is becoming an increasingly significant investor in UK creativity.

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