August 22, 2022
A stand-up who specialises in quickfire puns has joined a select band of comedians who have won the high-profile Joke of the Fringe award more than once.Masai Graham, who has been playing to crowds at the Laughing Horse at Dropkick Murphys this month, secured the award thanks to one of more than 100 jokes he reels out over the space of his half hour show.The joke in question, ‘I tried to steal spaghetti from the shop, but the female guard saw me and I couldn’t get pasta’, secured more than half the votes (52 per cent) in a survey of more than 2,000 people.It means that Mr Graham joins another veteran punner, Tim Vine, in winning the award, sponsored by the comedy channel, Dave, multiple times.The comedian, from West Bromwich, won in 2016 thanks to his gag about organ donation: ‘My dad suggested I register for a donor card, he’s a man after my own heart.”Mr Graham, whose current show is entitled ‘Aaaaaaaaaargh! It's 101 Clean Jokes in 30 minutes’, said: “It's great to see the Edinburgh Fringe festival back up and running again, it's my spiritual home.“I was so delighted to find out I'd won the Dave’s Funniest Joke of the Fringe award for a second time - I thought, ‘this is getting pasta joke’.”