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Mark Simmons' ship joke named funniest of Edinburgh fringe

Comedian was in top 10 on three previous occasions – here are this year’s best gags, as voted for by a public panel

Simmons, who got into comedy more than a decade ago after his friend convinced him to do an open mic night, won the television channel U&Dave’s funniest joke of the fringe award with “I was going to sail around the globe in the world’s smallest ship but I bottled it”. Forty per cent of those surveyed voted for his gag as their number one, meaning Simmons joins the likes of Tim Vine, Stewart Francis and Zoe Lyons as a winner of an award now in its 15th year. Sophie Duker’s joke comparing Keir Starmer to an AI-generated image of a substitute teacher was also recognised, as was this Arthur Smith gag: “I sailed through my driving test.

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