'Hans free' mobe gag crowned Fringe's funniest Peterborough funny man Darren Walsh has secured the 2015 "Funniest Joke of The Fringe" title with the splendid: "I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It's Hans free." Ten experts engaged by comedy channel Dave spent a week at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the look-out for the best quips, which were then put …
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Tom wrote: Was that "2011 winner Nick Helm" by any chance?
You replied: I think so. Thought it was hilarious. Obviously there are a few commentards that have had a humour bypass operation.
*woosh*
Too subtle for you that Tom quoted other detail from the article, along with the *facepalm* icon?
The number of upvotes he got, compared to your downvotes should have been another clue.
So rather than 'obviously having humour bypass operations', it's 'obviously' more likely that they RTFA which already mentioned that very joke you repeated here.
"Ten experts engaged by comedy channel Dave"
Did anyone else feel their heart sink when reading that phrase? Oh, the humanity.
And then, again, when I saw the downvote.
Looking at the Beeb article, there are some not in the category the best response to which is "weak" IMHO.
"The first time I met my wife, I knew she was a keeper. She was wearing massive gloves" - Alun Cochrane
I see the people of Thailand have elected their first female Prime Minister.
OR HAVE THEY?!?
"Police finds two grams of Persil detergent on a man in Ivanovo," the comedians of @Lie_News tweeted. "In court, the defendant tried unsuccessfully to prove that the washing powder was merely cocaine."
(reported on bbc.com)
As is widely known in cabaret circles, this winning joke has been in the regular repertoire of cabaret performer Frank Sanazi (www.franksanazi.com) for some years. He performs in the satirical character of a cabaret compere who is a cross between Frank Sinatra and Adolf Hitler. When he uses the joke, it gains comedic value because of the context. He freely admits it's a throw away line and hardly something worthy of a prize.
That it should win a comedy prize at what is supposed to be a festival for the best of contemporary, alternative theatre is bad enough. That it is known to be old and stolen material shows just how out of touch the mainstream media and their supposed 'experts' actually are.
Not trying to say that the winner isn't funny, but Hans/hands puns is/are utterly ancient, the 'Hans free' doesn't just have to be about mobiles...
Similar punanity from the dusty archive: "Hans that does dishes is as soft as Gervaise with Mike's green hairy-lipped squid".
The 'custardy battle' was the only one on that page that got a titter. The others don't work so well in writing.
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