In the words of Sylvia Plath, f**king Hell. And you think I'm shit. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/aug/22/comedian-lorna-rose-treen-funniest-joke-fringe?fbclid=IwAR3a0m-YJlFZuHZsZZ1VH72H37VoJHqYB8obcLl9-nulG6cLgpSTcMWrAKg

Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 22nd August 2023, 11:21 AM

In the words of Sylvia Plath, f**king Hell. And you think I'm shit. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/aug/22/comedian-lorna-rose-treen-funniest-joke-fringe?fbclid=IwAR3a0m-YJlFZuHZsZZ1VH72H37VoJHqYB8obcLl9-nulG6cLgpSTcMWrAKg

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I never said you were shit - I said you were crap, but I do agree (again FFS!!) with your condemnation of the childish pun

Crap, innit?
The problem with these things is most comedians do elaborate routines so oneliners don't work out of context. So they go for cheesy gags.
Plus it's been done to death. One of the first jokes I ever heard was about not playing cards in the jungle cos of the cheetahs. Awesome.

Claudia Winkelman

Jack Dee. Is this a game?

That is an atrocious joke. It doesn't work because a zookeeper wouldn't be a cheetah, it would be a human. I'm happy for gags to utilise well established puns, but this one is fundamentally flawed.

I guess if people in the room laughed, it's a successful joke, but I don't like it at all.

Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 22nd August 2023, 12:40 PM

Jack Dee. Is this a game?

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No, Claudia Winkelman's is definitely a funnier fringe than Jack Dee's.

Winkelman is a name used in Ingmar Bergman's film Passion. And Ingmar Bergman is funnier.

I'm more annoyed by the fact that, as a joke, it simply doesn't work. It isn't a pun or play on words, it doesn't make sense.

It drags down the whole festival when an old and stale one liner wins best joke. There should be more categories such as anecdotes and categories that specifically apply to being there like 'best use of call back' and 'best audience member insult' and of course 'best heckler response'. Most of the humour comes from delivery and the build-up so single sentence, deadpan jokes need to be extra funny to avoid being painfully unfunny.

If the competition is Graham Linehan ranting about trans people I can see the appeal of a cheesy pun.

To be fair when you've got such a humourless bunch of woke twats you have to say something that doesn't offend anyone.

What did Graham Lineham have to say?

Quote: Chappers @ 22nd August 2023, 3:21 PM

To be fair when you've got such a humourless bunch of woke twats you have to say something that doesn't offend anyone.

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You have a good point there, Dave - British humour is going down the pan

Lorna Rose Treen was voted winner of the annual competition with: "I started dating a zookeeper, but it turned out he was a cheetah."

The moment I saw it, I rewrote it in my head. This would be my version (and it's topical):

"I'm a big fan of women's football and I dated a Lioness once . . . but she turned out to be a cheater."

I started dating Jarvis Cocker, but he is a c**t and Pulp are shit.