Masai Graham's organ donor gag is Edinburgh fringe's funniest joke

He is a 35-year-old care worker from West Bromwich who is a diehard Newcastle United fan. But that’s not the joke.

Masai Graham’s gag, announced as winner of the 2016 Dave’s Funniest Joke of the Fringe award, is this: “My dad has suggested that I register for a donor card. He’s a man after my own heart.”

Comedy is subjective, of course, so if that’s not raising a chuckle then try the second-placed gag from Stuart Mitchell: “Why is it old people say ‘there’s no place like home’, yet when you put them in one ...”

Or two jokes that were voted most groan-worthy: “In France J-Lo is called ‘I have water’”, from Adam Hess; or this, from Darren Walsh: “What do you call three members of Abba in a French slaughterhouse? Abba trois.”

The winning jokes were revealed by the Dave TV channel in what are the ninth annual awards, a prize previously won by comics including Tim Vine, Zoe Lyons, Stewart Francis and Nick Helm.

Graham was runner-up in 2014 and fourth in 2015. “So to win it this year, I’m over-the-moon ... really happy,” he said.

Does he think it is his best joke? “No, not at all. I do a lot of darker material and dark one-liners, but only the clean material gets on the list.” But “who cares”, he added. “I got the trophy, I’m not going to complain. It’s always been an ambition to just get on the list so to win ... I don’t think it will sink in until tomorrow.”

A funnier joke, in Graham’s view, might be this: “I got ripped off in Ireland recently. I bought some cocaine from Limerick but the third and fourth lines were a lot shorter.”

Graham’s day job is helping care for young adults with autism and the gigging is a fun sideline, he said. “I have no ambitions of being famous or professional, I enjoy doing it and I suppose I’ll stop if I stop enjoying it.”

There is a particular circularity to his win in that seeing the 2010 list of top 10 jokes got him on the path to stand-up. “I wanted to enter some of my jokes into it but found out you had to be a stand-up at the Edinburgh festival to be considered. So that’s what started my journey.”

The best jokes were chosen by a panel of critics who sat through an average of 60 comedy performances at the fringe – about 3,600 minutes of material. Each member then submitted their five best jokes and three worst joke nominations, which were put to 2,000 people with no reference to the comedians who told them.

Graham’s joke was named funniest by 27% of the poll’s respondents.

Steve North, general manager of Dave, said: “The fringe is renowned for being the best place to spot new and emerging comedy talent and although there are some returning contenders in our top 10 this year, there is a high volume of new talent which is very exciting to see.”

Graham, who this year won the UK Pun Championships at the Leicester Comedy festival, does two free shows at the Fringe – 101 clean jokes in 30 minutes and 101 naughty jokes in 30 minutes – as well as hosting two other shows.

Winning will raise his profile and also invite the question: why is a boy from West Bromwich a Newcastle United fan? “The comedy answer is it’s because my dad’s black and my mum’s white.

“The real reason is I was sent to a different secondary school in ’92 and I didn’t know anyone and wasn’t into football ... I thought I’d support the next team to get promoted and that was Newcastle. It’s not worked out well.”Dave’s Top 15 funniest jokes from the 2016 fringe

1. “My dad has suggested that I register for a donor card. He’s a man after my own heart.” Masai Graham

2. “Why is it old people say ‘there’s no place like home’, yet when you put them in one …” Stuart Mitchell

3. “I’ve been happily married for four years – out of a total of 10.” Mark Watson

4. “Apparently one in three Britons are conceived in an IKEA bed which is mad because those places are really well lit.” Mark Smith

5. “I went to a pub quiz in Liverpool, had a few drinks so wasn’t much use. Just for a laugh I wrote The Beatles or Steven Gerrard for every answer … came second.” Will Duggan

6. “Brexit is a terrible name, sounds like cereal you eat when you are constipated.” Tiff Stevenson

7. “I often confuse Americans and Canadians. By using long words.” Gary Delaney

8. “Why is Henry’s wife covered in tooth marks? Because he’s Tudor.” Adele Cliff

9. “Don’t you hate it when people assume you’re rich because you sound posh and went to private school and have loads of money?” Annie McGrath

10. “Is it possible to mistake schizophrenia for telepathy, I hear you ask.” Jordan Brookes

11. “Hilary Clinton has shown that any woman can be president, as long as your husband did it first.” Michelle Wolf

12. “I spotted a Marmite van on the motorway. It was heading yeastbound.” Roger Swift

13. “Back in the day, Instagram just meant a really efficient drug dealer.” Arthur Smith

14. “I’ll tell you what’s unnatural in the eyes of God. Contact lenses.” Zoe Lyons

15 “Elton John hates ordering Chinese food. Soya seems to be the hardest word.” Phil Nichol