A zoo-based pun has been named the best of this year's Edinburgh Fringe festival.
Comedian Lorna Rose Treen took nearly half of the vote in a poll by television channel Dave for her gag: "I started dating a zookeeper, but it turned out he was a cheetah.”
The joke, taken from her show Skin Pigeon at Pleasance Courtyard, topped the list of funniest of the Fringe with 44% of Brits surveyed voting it the best.
A shortlist of jokes were chosen by a panel of UK comedy critics from shows at this year’s Fringe and anonymously voted for by the British public.
These panellists attended hundreds of shows across the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, listening out for those jokes which tickled them the most, then submitted their ten favourites. This shortlist was then submitted anonymously - without the name of the comic involved - to a public vote of 2,000 Brits, after which the funniest was revealed.
Speaking about her joke claiming the top spot, Ms Rose Treen said: “I am blooming chuffed to have won Dave's best joke of the fringe! Are you kidding! I can't wait to tell my mum!
"It is already such a wonderful joy to be debuting at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, and this is a lovely thing on top. A huge thank you for awarding my stupid joke with this title!”
Now in its fourteenth year, previous winners of the coveted Joke of the Fringe Award include Masai Graham, Ken Cheng, Olaf Falafel, Tim Vine, Rob Auton, Stewart Francis, Zoe Lyons and Nick Helm.
Read More: Our pick of the best things to see at the Edinburgh Fringe
Ms Rose Treen is the reigning winner of the Funny Women award, and a mentee of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared creators Becky Sloan, Joe Pelling, and Baker Terry.
Her off-beat show features bizarre characters and flamboyant costumes and was highly-anticipated at this year's fringe.
Other jokes in the Top 10 include one-liners from the likes of Liz Guterbock, Amos Gill and Masai Graham, featuring subjects such as the inflation crisis, apologetic British people and podcasting.
The Top 10 funniest jokes at the Edinburgh Fringe according to Dave:
- "I started dating a zookeeper, but it turned out he was a cheetah." Lorna Rose Treen - 44%
- "The most British thing I've ever heard? A lady who said 'Well I'm sorry, but I don't apologise.’" Liz Guterbock - 41%
- "Last year I had a great joke about inflation. But it’s hardly worth it now." Amos Gill - 40%
- "When women gossip we get called bitchy; but when men do it’s called a podcast." Sikisa - 34%
- "I thought I'd start off with a joke about The Titanic - just to break the ice." Masai Graham - 33%
- "How do coeliac Germans greet each other? Gluten tag." Frank Lavender - 32%
- "My friend got locked in a coffee place overnight. Now he only ever goes into Starbucks, not the rivals. He’s Costa-phobic." Roger Swift - 29%
- "I entered the 'How not to surrender' competition and I won hands down." Bennett Arron -29%
- "Nationwide must have looked pretty silly when they opened their first branch." William Stone - 28%
- "My grandma describes herself as being in her 'twilight years' which I love because they’re great films." Daniel Foxx - 26%
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