Pound coin joke voted Edinburgh Fringe's funniest

Ken Cheng one-liner beat off competition from Frankie Boyle and Tim Vine

Ken Cheng
Ken Cheng with his award for the Fringe's Funniest Joke
(Image credit: Dave)

A gag about the new pound coins has taken top spot in the annual Dave's Funniest Joke of the Fringe award.

"Proving that even money can be funny," says The Guardian, Ken Cheng has won this year's accolade with his one-liner on the UK's redesigned currency: "I'm not a fan of the new pound coin, but then again, I hate all change."

Cheng's one-liner, taken from his show Ken Cheng: Chinese comedian, "topped a list of 15 jokes, compiled by a panel of 10 comedy critics, and then voted on by 2,000 members of the public, who did not know the identity of the comedians", says the Daily Telegraph.

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Coming in a close second was Frankie Boyle's evisceration of President Trump: "Trump's nothing like Hitler. There's no way he could write a book." While veteran Liverpool comedian Alexei Sayle came third with: "I've given up asking rhetorical questions. What's the point?"

Cheng told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was surprised the joke won the award because it had been a "groaner".

"Audiences tends to groan at it a lot," he said. "I'm generally going after laughs, but I'll take the groan."

"I am very proud to have won," he added. "As a tribute, I will name my first-born son after this award and call him 'Joke of the Fringe'."

Here's the full-list of Dave’s top 15 funniest jokes of the fringe 2017

1. "I’m not a fan of the new pound coin, but then again, I hate all change." - Ken Cheng 2. "Trump’s nothing like Hitler. There’s no way he could write a book." - Frankie Boyle 3."I’ve given up asking rhetorical questions. What’s the point?" - Alexei Sayle 4. "I’m looking for the girl-next-door type. I’m just gonna keep moving house till I find her." - Lew Fitz5. "I like to imagine the guy who invented the umbrella was going to call it the ‘brella’. But he hesitated." Andy Field 6. "Combine Harvesters. And you’ll have a really big restaurant." - Mark Simmons 7. "I'm rubbish with names. It's not my fault, it's a condition. There’s a name for it …" - Jimeoin 8. "I have two boys, five and six. We're no good at naming things in our house." - Ed Byrne 9. "I wasn't particularly close to my dad before he died ... which was lucky, because he trod on a landmine." - Olaf Falafel 10. "Whenever someone says, 'I don't believe in coincidences', I say, 'Oh my God, me neither!'" - Alasdair Beckett-King 11. "A friend tricked me into going to Wimbledon by telling me it was a men's singles event."- Angela Barnes 12. "As a vegan, I think people who sell meat are disgusting, but apparently people who sell fruit and veg are grocer." - Adele Cliff 13. "For me, dying is a lot like going camping. I don't want to do it." - Phil Wang 14. "I wonder how many chameleons snuck on to the Ark." - Adam Hess 15. "I went to a Pretenders gig. It was a tribute act." - Tim Vine

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