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Fringe Wispa

Copywriters set to gain inspiration from top Edinburgh Fringe jokes

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By John Glenday, Reporter

August 20, 2013 | 3 min read

Copywriters seeking inspiration for a good one-liner have hit a rich vein of inspiration at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, if a top 10 list of the best gags at the Festival is representative.

The annual compilation is this year headed by Rob Auton who dreamed up a sweet one-liner: ‘I heard a rumour that Cadbury is bringing out an oriental chocolate bar. Could be a Chinese Wispa.’

At the other end of the scale was a list of shame featuring groan inducing material such as ‘I thought ex-pats were people who used to be called Pat’.

Compiled by television channel Dave the list was compiled from 60 shows which presented more than 7,200 gags between them.

These were whittled down to a short list of 30 which were then put to a public vote.

This saw Auton, a former SoHo paintbrush salesman, walk away with 24 per cent of the 2,570 votes cast along with a cash prize.

Commenting on his accolade he said: “I am honoured to receive this award and just pleased that a joke that tackles the serious issue of the invention of a new chocolate bar can be laughed at by the people of Britain.”

The top 10 quips

1 Rob Auton “I heard a rumour that Cadbury is bringing out an oriental chocolate bar. Could be a Chinese Wispa.”

2 Alex Horne “I used to work in a shoe-recycling shop. It was sole-destroying.”

3 Alfie Moore “I’m in a same-sex marriage... the sex is always the same.”

4 Tim Vine “My friend told me he was going to a fancy dress party as an Italian island. I said to him ‘Don’t be Sicily’.”

5 Gary Delaney “I can give you the cause of anaphylactic shock in a nutshell.”

6 Phil Wang “The Pope is a lot like Doctor Who. He never dies, just keeps being replaced by white men.”

7 Marcus Brigstocke “You know you are fat when you hug a child and it gets lost.”

8 Liam Williams “The universe implodes. No matter.”

9 Bobby Mair “I was adopted at birth and have never met my mum. That makes it very difficult to enjoy any lapdance.”

10 Chris Coltrane “The good thing about lending someone your time machine is that you basically get it back immediately.”

Fringe Wispa

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