The woman behind the ‘funniest joke’ of the Fringe: Comic, 28, who admits her winning Edinburgh zookeeper gag was ‘naff’ grew up watching The Young Ones with her TV tech engineer father and shuns ‘identity’ comedy

• Lorna Rose Treen says she takes her comedy back into character-based ‘silliness’

As a schoolgirl Lorna Rose Treen would be allowed as a treat to watch anarchic BBC comedy The Young Ones with her father.

And while Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson might be unlikely heroes for some, for that eight-year-old girl they provided inspiration that would spark something incredible two decades later.

Today Lorna, 28, is the winner of the much-coveted Edinburgh Fringe’s best joke award – and her sell-out show Skin Pigeon has fetched plaudits across the board.

It marks an extraordinary story for a woman who admits she was once rejected from 24 jobs. 

Lorna – who is now represented by heavyweights United Agents –  was originally born in Redditch, West Midlands.

Her mother was a prison governor and her father was a television tech engineer who had worked on Blackadder and EastEnders.

Lorna Rose Treen who was voted the winner of the Dave Funniest Joke of the Festival fringe with her pun: ‘I started dating a zookeeper, but it turned out he was a cheetah’

Lorna Rose Treen would be allowed as a treat to watch anarchic BBC comedy The Young Ones with her father

She has a sister Jenny – who works for TfL in London –  and the family would move around the country due to the parents’ work.

In 2013 she went to the University of Edinburgh, leaving four years later with a Masters in Philosophy.

There she met her director boyfriend Jonathan Oldfield and began tentative steps in the comedy world with improv troupe the Impronauts.

She moved to London and spent a year on a BBC trainee scheme where she worked as a radio producer.

Her LinkedIn page says she continued working in the same area on a freelance basis, but also embarked on a more significant journey.

Lorna moved to France for a year and a half to study under the legendary Philippe Gaulier.

Lorna moved to London and spent a year on a BBC trainee scheme where she worked as a radio producer

She met her director boyfriend Jonathan Oldfield and began tentative steps in the comedy world with improv troupe the Impronauts at the University of Edinburgh

Gaulier – who runs a theatre school named after him – is known as the ‘Dumbledore of Clowning’.

But at first, Lorna found there was little to laugh about in the high-pressure environment.

She recalled: “It was a miserable time in a way. I’ve never laughed so much but also I was deeply unhappy.”

The comedian said the breakthrough came after Gaulier called her rubbish on stage while she was dressed as an ATM.

She started crying and then laughing, which prompted laughter from everyone else and she recalled to the Telegraph ‘it just clicked’.

Since then she has appeared in The Emily Atack Show on ITV as well as performing a voiceover role for a snake for a PETA advert.

Incredibly a week before she set off to the Fringe she and Jonathan were left homeless.

Lorna has appeared in The Emily Atack Show on ITV as well as performing a voiceover role for a snake for a PETA advert

Lorna puts her new-found popularity down to taking comedy to a place that has fallen out of favour in current times

She announced on Twitter: ‘I can’t stress enough how myself and my director boyfriend have no flat to return to in September because we were kicked out of our property guardianship one week before Fringe.

‘If anyone knows of a 2/3 bed London flat pls let us know.’

But her success now surely means a roof over her head is at least more likely than before the festival started.

She puts her new-found popularity down to taking comedy to a place that has fallen out of favour in current times.

Lorna added: “I think telly recently hasn’t invested so much in character comedy.

“There was a big push for people to do ‘identity’ – and I suppose that was the taste, wasn’t it? Identity comedy, stand-up about yourself. But I couldn’t think of anything more boring than talking about myself.”

Certainly the approach appears to have reaped dividends.

She told the BBC this morning: ‘I just couldn’t believe it.  It’s such a silly joke and I think every year I think a real, like, Christmas cracker-style joke wins.

‘It’s such a privilege. I was just walking down the Royal Mile and I just squealed on the phone to my team.

‘I couldn’t believe it. Legends have won it like Tim Vine and Ken Cheng and Zoe Lyons. It’s just outrageous – I loved it.’

Quite the rise for the Young Ones fan from Redditch. 

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