A comedian from Luton has been crowned the winner of the Dave Joke of the Fringe 2026, while making history as the first comic with three entries in the coveted competition’s top 10.
Olaf Falafel claimed the title at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe with his joke: “I remember thinking, as I taped a piranha to my boomerang, this could come back to bite me.”
The win earns Falafel the coveted trophy and a £500 cash prize, but the comedian and author also had two more jokes in the competition’s Top 10, finishing first, second and 10th, the first comic to do so.
His second-placed joke was: “My paper manufacturing business has folded seven times so I’m pretty sure it can’t happen again.”
And rounding out his hat-trick at number 10 was: “I suffer from FOMO. Fear of messing up acronyms.”
Falafel previously won the award in 2019, when the competition was run by UKTV’s Dave. Seven years later, he has returned to the top of the rankings.
The 2026 Top 10 was drawn from jokes submitted by comedians performing at this year’s world-famous Fringe to one-liner judges and fellow funnymen Gary Delaney, Mark Simmons, Darren Walsh and Milton Jones.
Falafel, who has written and illustrated ’26 Minutes to Save Summer’, a comic being handed out to families travelling through the Luton Airport this summer, is currently performing two shows at the Fringe.
His Stupidest Super Stupid Show: This Time It’s Stupider! is being staged daily at 11.30am at The Counting House, while Olaf Falafel Presents: I Used to Work in a Helium Balloon Factory Until they Let Me Go is on daily at 2.30pm at The Pear Tree.
Be the first to comment