Did you hear the one about the Cambridge drop-out winning Fringe’s best joke award?
● Professional poker player wins with pound gag
A Cambridge University dropout has won the coveted honour of coming with the best joke at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year.
Ken Cheng’s gag about the new pound coin edged out other contenders about Donald Trump, Wimbledon, veganism and camping for the prestigious title.
Cheng, who left his mathematics course to pursue a career as a professional poker player, took the title with the joke: “I’m not a fan of the new pound coin, but then again, I hate all change.”
The 28-year-old has triumphed in his first solo show at the Fringe after a ten-strong panel of comedy experts picked their six favourite gigs.
Cheng admitted that the joke was dropped from his first few shows at the Pleasance after receiving a lukewarm reaction from audiences at preview performances.
However the comic, who has been performing for the last seven years, revealed he had deliberately written several one-line jokes in a bid to grab a share of the Fringe limelight this year.
The “Funniest Joke on the Fringe Award was awarded for the tenth time by entertainment channel Dave. Cheng, born in the UK to Chinese immigrants, beat a host of bigname comics to the title this year, including Frankie Boyle, Jimeoin, Alexei Sayle and previous winner Tim Vine.
Cheng, who reached the final of the BBC New Comedy Award two years ago, said: “I’d heard of the award before and follow it every year, so I was a bit shocked to hear I’d won this award.
“I’ve actually got about four one-line jokes in my show. I actually subconsciously put them in to try to get something like this. The joke wasn’t in the first few shows. It didn’t get much of a reaction when I put it in my previews. It was lucky I brought it back in. It’s actually been a massive groaner with my audiences so far.
“I use power point in my show and after I tell the joke I show a Facebook status I’ve made of it when I tell people that 47 likes show they’re all wrong about it. It’s only in there for that reason. He said: “I dropped out of Cambridge after
the first year. It was so hard. I also wanted to play poker full time.
“Comedy was very much a fun thing on the side until a couple of years ago, but it’s shifted towards it since I did well in the BBC competition, which really changed things for me, although I’m not at the stage where I can make a
living off yet. I’m still pretty new to it.
“I’d dropped out of Cambridge by the time I started doing comedy. I had grown up in Cambridge so I was still living there and went to a comedy gig, which was very well organised and Chris Addison headlined. I thought it was really cool and it made me think I should give it a go. I signed up for a college gig after that and wrote seven minutes of material. I’ve been gigging since then.
“I’ve been coming to the Fringe for the last seven years, performing in small slots, but this is the first time I’ve had my own show. It’s a big chal- lenge, especially in your first year. There’s a lot of pressure if it’s your debut. Then there’s the physical challenge of performing every day, but I’ve really enjoyed it.
In The Scotsman’s review of Cheng’s Fringe show, he was praised for his “cerebral personal and pedantic wit.” Critic Jay Richardson wrote: “He is clearly a fiercely accomplished talent.”
Steve North, general manager of Dave, said: “It’s fantastic to see that, even after te years of the award, there is no shortage of brilliant one-liners delivered at the Fringe.”