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 pun-dit Darren Walsh has this year come top with 23% of respondents voting “I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It's Hans free” their funniest joke of the Edinburgh Fringe. Previous acclaimed winners include Tim Vine, Rob Auton, Stewart Francis, Zoe Lyons and Nick Helm.
The youngest ever comedian in the history of the award was featured in this year's shortlist. 12-year-old ‘Grace The Child’ claimed 10th place.
An expert panel of ten judges scoured venues at the Edinburgh Fringe over a week-long period to nominate their five favourite jokes. The shortlisted gags were then put to 2000 Brits, with no reference to the comedians who told them, who then voted for the jokes they found the funniest. The results are as follows:
Dave’s Top 10 Funniest Jokes from the Fringe Festival 2015
1. “I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It's Hans free” – Darren Walsh
2. “Kim Kardashian is saddled with a huge arse... but enough about Kanye West” – Stewart Francis
3. “Surely every car is a people carrier?” – Adam Hess
4. “What's the difference between a 'hippo' and a 'Zippo'? One is really heavy, the other is a little lighter” – Masai Graham
5. “If I could take just one thing to a desert island I probably wouldn't go” – Dave Green
6. “Jesus fed 5,000 people with two fishes and a loaf of bread. That's not a miracle. That's tapas” – Mark Nelson
7. “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
Walsh, 39, from Peterborough, was the winner of the first UK Pun Championship at the Leicester Comedy Festival. He has also published a book of puns entitled Cheap Laughs and 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. He is performing his show Punderbolt at the Pleasance Courtyard until August 31. Tickets here.
On being awarded the top spot, 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.
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.”
