Dave's Joke Of The Fringe isn't entirely original... again

The gag that won this year's Dave Joke Of The Fringe is at least eight years old.

Livepudlian comic Adam Rowe took the prize yesterday for his line: 'Working at the Jobcentre has to be a tense job - knowing that if you get fired, you still have to come in the next day.'

But trawls of social media have found instances of the joke dating back to at least 2010.

RT @DjFirestarr: RT @kaykingPDT: Never would I work in a jobcentre. Imagine if you got fired! You will still (cont) http://tl.gd/63bh41

— Scottie B (@ScottieBUk) September 17, 2010

I could never work in the Job centre. Imagine if you got fired! You'd still have to show up the next day...

— Darren Watson (@dazzakermie) October 16, 2010

I could never work in the Job centre. Imagine if you got fired! You'd still have to show up the next day...

— Darren Watson (@dazzakermie) October 16, 2010

Rowe said he come up with the gag while chatting to a member of the audience at a club, who did actually work in a JobCentre.

He said: 'It’s not uncommon that ideas and jokes develop in parallel... clearly others have come up with something similar independently.'

Given the nature of jokes, it's not the first time the Dave accolade has been accused of rewarding an old line.

In 2015, Darren Walsh scooped the award for the gag: 'I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It’s Hans free', which he was accused of lifting from fellow comedy act Frank Sanazi. However, Walsh had tweeted it first, back in 2011.

And last year, Ken Cheng's joke: 'I'm not a fan of the new pound coin, but then again, I hate all change' had previously been cracked by Dave Gorman on Modern Life Is Goodish.

Click here for all the jokes that made Dave's top ten this year.

Published: 21 Aug 2018