West Bromwich-based comic Masai Graham has won this year's Dave Award for the Funniest Joke of the Fringe.
His joke: "My dad has suggested that I register for a donor card. He's a man after my own heart."
The self-described "General Punochet" has been performing two free Fringe shows back to back under the Laughing Horse banner: "Aaaaah! It's 101 Clean Jokes in 30 Minutes – Free Show" at 1.15pm, and "Aaaaargh! It's 101 Naughty Jokes in 30 Minutes – Free Show" at 2pm at Dropkick Murphy's. He's continuing his shows til 28th August.
This is the ninth year that Dave has run the award for witty one-liners. A panel of 10 comedy aficionados, most professional critics, whittled the field down to a shortlist of jokes from a huge amount of material, which was then voted on by 2,000 members of the public.
It's estimated that each of the judges sat through an average of 60 different comedy shows or around 3,600 minutes of material. Using an average joke rate of two a minute, Dave estimates each judge had about 7,200 jokes to choose from.
"It's an incredible honour to land Joke of the Fringe. Not bad for someone from West Brom!" said Graham, on being declared the winner.
Dave's Shortlist of Top 15 Funniest Jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016
- "My dad has suggested that I register for a donor card. He's a man after my own heart." - Masai Graham- 27%
- "Why is it old people say "there's no place like home", yet when you put them in one..." - Stuart Mitchell - 25%
- "I've been happily married for four years - out of a total of 10." - Mark Watson - 21%
- "Apparently 1 in 3 Britons are conceived in an IKEA bed which is mad because those places are really well lit." - Mark Smith - 21%
- "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%
- "Brexit is a terrible name, sounds like cereal you eat when you are constipated." - Tiff Stevenson - 20%
- "I often confuse Americans and Canadians. By using long words." - Gary Delaney - 18%
- "Why is Henry's wife covered in tooth marks? Because he's Tudor." - Adele Cliff - 16%
- "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%
- "Is it possible to mistake schizophrenia for telepathy, I hear you ask." - Jordan Brookes - 15%
- "Hilary Clinton has shown that any woman can be President, as long as your husband did it first." - Michelle Wolf - 15%
- "I spotted a marmite van on the motorway. It was heading yeastbound." - Roger Swift - 14%
- "Back in the day, Instagram just meant a really efficient drug dealer." - Arthur Smith - 13%
- "I'll tell you what's unnatural in the eyes of God. Contact lenses." - Zoe Lyons - 13%
- "Elton John hates ordering Chinese food. Soya seems to be the hardest word." - Phil Nicol - 12%
Previous Winners of Dave's Funniest Joke of the Fringe Award
- 2015: “I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It’s Hans free.” - Darren Walsh
- 2014: “I’ve decided to sell my Hoover… well, it was just collecting dust.” - Tim Vine
- 2013: “I heard a rumour that Cadbury is bringing out an oriental chocolate bar. Could be a Chinese Wispa.” - Rob Auton
- 2012: “You know who really gives kids a bad name? Posh and Becks.” - Stewart Francis
- 2011: “I needed a password eight characters long, so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.” - Nick Helm
- 2010: “I’ve just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I’ll tell you what, never again.” - Tim Vine
- 2009: “Hedgehogs - why can’t they just share the hedge?” - Dan Antopolski
- 2008: “I can’t believe Amy Winehouse self-harms. She’s so irritating she must be able to find someone to do it for her.” - Zoe Lyons