Comedian Andrew Maxwell famously once called the Edinburgh Festival Fringe ‘exams for clowns’, and each year it’s the comics with the best jokes who get the ‘A’ grades.
The Edinburgh Comedy Award (formerly the Perrier Award) is handed out each year to the top clown in the class, and in 2008 it was joined by The Funniest Joke of the Fringe Award.
Presented by television channel Dave, each year a shortlist of 10-15 jokes was drawn up by some of the leading comedy critics and comedians in the UK.
Designed to celebrate “the art of joke writing” and making people laugh, the general public then voted for the eventual winner.
Last month it was announced that ‘U&Dave’s Funniest Joke Of The Fringe’ would be scrapped from the 2025 Fringe, with the TV station behind the gong saying it is “resting”.
But both the ISH Comedy Awards and the new ‘(Some Guy Called) Dave Joke of the Fringe’ have stepped into the vacuum to find the finest wisecracks in the Capital’s comedy clubs, lecture hall and pub basements.
Here are the 19 deemed good enough to be shortlisted.
9. Amanda Hursy
I had a one night stand and in the morning we went to Starbucks. I had to find out his name. | Contributed
10. Andy Gleeks (again)
I used to hate darts but recently I've done a real 180. | Contributed
11. Alex Bertulis-Fernandes
I present my naked body like I'm presenting Art Attack. I'm like, here's something I prepared earlier, there was a lot of macaroni involved. | Contributed
12. Jo Caulfield
Last time I got really drunk I woke up in this filthy bedroom, vomit all down me, some fat, naked bloke snoring next to me. I was like - oh right, at least I got home ok. | Contributed