Comic Tim Vine cleans up with classic one-liner at Fringe Festival

Comedian Tim Vine dusted off his joke book and cleaned up at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe when his one-liner was voted the funniest wisecrack of the festival.

Vine, 47, saw his joke scoop almost a fifth of the votes in the competition run by comedy television channel Dave.

He won with the one-liner: “I decided to sell my Hoover ... well it was just collecting dust.”

It is the first time the award has been presented to a previous winner. Vine triumphed in 2010 with the joke: “I’ve just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I’ll tell you what, never again.”

He was also runner up in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

On being crowned this year’s winner, Vine said: “I’m a little bit surprised but very delighted. This is the second time I’ve won this award but I guess nobody loves a repeat more than Dave.”

Ten judges scoured the festival’s venues before nominating their three favourite jokes. They were then put to a public vote.

Three female comedians also feature in this year’s top 10 as jokes from Bec Hill, Ria Lina and Felicity Ward tickled the nation’s funny bone, reflecting the overall reported 62% rise of women performing at this year’s Fringe on last year.

The 10 funniest jokes from Fringe were:

1. “I’ve decided to sell my Hoover ... well, it was just collecting dust” — Tim Vine.

2. “I’ve written a joke about a fat badger, but I couldn’t fit it into my set” — Masai Graham.

3. “Always leave them wanting more, my uncle used to say to me. Which is why he lost his job in disaster relief” — Mark Watson.

4. “I was given some Sudoku toilet paper. It didn’t work. You could only fill it in with number 1s and number 2s” — Bec Hill.

5. “I wanted to do a show about feminism. But my husband wouldn’t let me” — Ria Lina.

6. “Money can’t buy you happiness? Well, check this out, I bought myself a Happy Meal” — Paul F Taylor.

7. “Scotland had oil, but it’s running out thanks to all that deep frying” — Scott Capurro.

8. “I forgot my inflatable Michael Gove, which is a shame ’cause halfway through he disappears up his own a***hole” — Kevin Day.

8. “I’ve been married for 10 years, I haven’t made a decision for seven” — Jason Cook.

10. “This show is about perception and perspective. But it depends how you look at it” — Felicity Ward.