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Edinburgh Fringe funniest joke: Vegetable gag wins top prize

Dave Olaf FalafelDave

A joke about vegetables has made it to the top of the menu as this year's funniest at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Swedish comedian Olaf Falafel has won Dave's "Funniest Joke of The Fringe" award with the niche culinary pun.

He took the title with the gag: "I keep randomly shouting out 'Broccoli' and 'Cauliflower' - I think I might have florets".

It is from Falafel's show It's One Giant Leek For Mankind at the Pear Tree.

In its 12th year, the prize rewards the funniest one-liner to grace the venues of the festival and celebrates the pool of talent the Fringe has to offer.

The goal of finding the wittiest one-liners fell to an expert panel of 10 judges, comprising the UK's leading comedy critics.

Getty Images cauliflower and BroccoliGetty Images
Vegetable inspiration: cauliflower and broccoli

After scouring hundreds of venues and shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the panel submitted their favourite six jokes.

Without naming the comics behind each one, 2,000 members of the British public were invited to choose the funniest.

Falafel's gag won 41% of the vote.

Dave Olaf FalafelDave
Olaf Falafel boasts that he is the "8th funniest" comedian in Sweden

Olaf Falafel claims to be "Sweden's 8th funniest" comedian. He is a surrealist comedian and illustrator and also works as a children's book author.

He has performed two shows this year in Edinburgh, the first was It's One Giant Leek for Mankind. His second show is called Knitting with Maracas.

On his joke claiming the top spot, Falafel said: "This is a fantastic honour but it's like I've always said, jokes about white sugar are rare, jokes about brown sugar... demerara."

However, a charity for people with Tourette's syndrome has asked the comedian to apologise for his award-winning joke.

Tourettes Action said it was "so disappointed" by Falafel's gag.

Best of the rest

Ten jokes made the 2019 shortlist. Here are the next nine:

  • "Someone stole my antidepressants. Whoever they are, I hope they're happy" - Richard Stott
  • "What's driving Brexit? From here it looks like it's probably the Duke of Edinburgh" - Milton Jones
  • "A cowboy asked me if I could help him round up 18 cows. I said, 'Yes, of course. - That's 20 cows'" - Jake Lambert
  • "A thesaurus is great. There's no other word for it" - Ross Smith
  • "Sleep is my favourite thing in the world. It's the reason I get up in the morning" - Ross Smith
  • "I accidentally booked myself onto an escapology course; I'm really struggling to get out of it" - Adele Cliff
  • "After learning six hours of basic semaphore, I was flagging - Richard Pulsford
  • "To be or not to be a horse rider, that is Equestrian" - Mark Simmons
  • "I've got an Eton-themed advent calendar, where all the doors are opened for me by my dad's contacts" - Ivo Graham
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Getty Images/PA Media Nick Helm, Masai Graham and Tim VineGetty Images/PA Media

Complete the punchline...

Can you remember the winning lines from Dave's Funniest Joke Of The Fringe over the last decade?

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'A good laugh'

Previous winners of the coveted award include Ken Cheng, Masai Graham, Tim Vine, Rob Auton, Stewart Francis, Zoe Lyons and Nick Helm.

Luke Hales, Dave channel director, said: "What a year it's been for current affairs and British eccentricities.

"The comedic opportunities to be creative are endless and above all we've all needed a good laugh in 2019.

"We have really enjoyed the great anecdotes and one liners submitted this year and we couldn't be happier to crown Olaf Falafel as the winner of this year's Dave's Funniest Joke of the Fringe Award."

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe 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.