If you haven’t heard of Scotland’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, you may be part of the minority. The New York Times reports the arts festival is the largest “in the known world,” with its organisers boasting that only the Olympics and World Cup have a bigger attendance. And it’s just finished with 53,000 performances taking place between Aug. 4 and Aug. 28.
It was the 1947 brainchild of 8 people who weren’t permitted to perform in a posher, state-supported theater fest, and while it still features plenty of theater, at least a third of the acts are now comedy. Esquire zeroes in on one such comedy feature, “Dave’s Funniest Joke of the Fringe,” which has for 10 years now let the public select the funniest one-liner from a judges’ shortlist. This year’s top 10 winners:
“I’m not a fan of the new pound coin, but then again, I hate all change.” (Ken Cheng)
“Trump’s nothing like Hitler. There’s no way he could write a book.” (Frankie Boyle)
“I’ve given up asking rhetorical questions. What’s the point?” (Alexei Sayle)
“I’m looking for the girl next door type. I’m just gonna keep moving house till I find her.” (Lew Fitz)
“I like to imagine the guy who invented the umbrella was going to call it the ‘brella’. But he hesitated.” (Andy Field)
