The 10 best jokes of 2026 Edinburgh Fringe – from vanishing magicians to boomerang gag

THE top 10 best jokes at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival have been revealed – from vanishing magicians to a boomerang gag. Every year, hundreds of comedians flock to the Scottish city to deliver their best gags – but 2026 hasn’t come without controversy. Adele Cliff is a multi award-winning comedian who is performing her work-in-progress show at the Fringe Credit: Karla Gowlett Alex Kitson already had two critically acclaimed shows in 2024 and 2025 Credit: James Smileham Amanda Knox raised eyebrows after she controversially joked about the murder trial that saw her wrongly convicted of killing flatmate Meredith Kercher. The 39-year-old made the remarks during her Edinburgh Fringe debut, where she branded key evidence against her “just vibes”. Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter Thank you! Knox spent four years behind bars before Italy’s highest court acquitted her in 2015 but her debut set, Cartwheel, sparked outrage. But controversy aside, this year’s festival has so far delivered some one-line zingers that had punters crying with laughter. Olaf Falafel’s gag is one of the funniest Jenny Gorelick’s flirty debut hour is about bad dates and decisions Credit: Getty Here are The Guardian’s top 10 gags of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe to give you a giggle. Olaf Falafel’s show, I Used to Work in a Helium Balloon Factory Until they Let Me Go, was shortlisted for the Best Show Award in 2025. And this year didn’t disappoint with one line standing out in particular. “I remember thinking, as I taped a piranha to my boomerang, this could come back to bite me,” he said. Most read in Showbiz Richard Stott’s, Streets Won’t Forget, also delivered a zinger and previously made the Guardian’s Top 10 Jokes of the Fringe in 2023. This year’s was: “To the person who stole my bank card and spent all my money on ancestry.com – you know who you are.” Scout Boxall’s raw show, God’s Favourite, also delivered the goods with her following one-liner. “I like my men like I like my passwords – weak, easily compromised, barely distinguishable from each other.” Li Jin Hao was nomianted for best newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards in 2024. The comic is performing his show, Falling From a Moon, which contains the following gag: “A friend said to me: ‘The last thing I wanna be is racist,’ and I was like: ‘Oh, so it’s on your list?’ Jenny Gorelick’s show Sorry is a flirty debut hour about bad dates and decisions, and includes the joke: “I dated a magician – I was seeing him, now I don’t”. Adele Cliff is a multi award-winning comedian who is performing her work-in-progress show at the Fringe. One of the jokes performed is: “I hate AI because it keeps trying to steal the jobs I love, like creative writing and being confidently wrong.” Superstore actor Chris Grace performs the gag: “The Trump administration is like the movie Oppenheimer – it’s full of weird white guys and halfway through you wish it would end early.” Anna Thomas’ How To Juggle A Ferret tour sees her perform the joke: “I’m having an awful time at the moment. “The back of my car fell off and you’ll never guess what you can’t buy at a car boot sale.” Bella Hull’s Mad Cow Disease show sees her crack the joke: “I lost my nail file, so I’ve just been using the pavement. As a method, it’s concrete.” After two critically acclaimed shows in 2024 and 2025, multi award-winning comedian Alex Kitson has been performing his brand-new hour of stand-up comedy at the Fringe. In his show, he performs the joke: “I spent all day writing a joke about margarine and I can’t believe it’s not better.” Comment now