World's Funniest Joke Is Named

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Current News - Homefront Preparations : One Thread

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press Writer

October 3, 2002, 10:02 AM EDT

LONDON -- Drum roll, please -- an online search for the world's funniest joke has produced a winner.

In a year-long experiment called LaughLab, a British psychology professor asked thousands of people around the world to rate the humor value of a list of jokes; they could also add their own favorites.

In December, Richard Wiseman and his associates announced the front-runner, a hoary old gag involving fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick, Dr. Watson. But in the final tally of some 2 million votes for 40,000 jokes, announced Thursday, a new joke emerged as a round-the-world rib-tickler:

"A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head.

"The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: 'My friend is dead! What can I do?'

"The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: 'Just take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead.'

"There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy's voice comes back on the line. He says: 'OK, now what?'"

"Many of the jokes submitted received higher ratings from certain groups of people, but this one had real universal appeal," said Wiseman, who has published a book based on the experiment.

Wiseman, who teaches at the University of Hertfordshire in southern England, said the research revealed that different countries preferred different types of jokes. Respondents were asked to rate jokes on a five-point scale from "not very funny" to "very funny."

Germans were the most likely to find all types of jokes funny, while Canadians were the least amused of the 10 top responding nations.

The British, Irish, Australians and New Zealanders favored jokes involving wordplay, while continental Europeans liked jokes with a surreal bent. Americans and Canadians preferred jokes invoking a strong sense of superiority -- either because a character looks stupid or is made to look stupid by someone else.

Among the jokes favored by Americans:

"Texan: 'Where are you from?'

"Harvard graduate: 'I come from a place where we do not end our sentences with prepositions.'

"Texan: 'OK, where are you from, jackass?'"

Wiseman said jokes work "for lots of different reasons. They sometimes make us feel superior to others, reduce the emotional impact of anxiety-provoking situations or surprise us because of some kind of incongruity."

The winning joke about the hunters, he said, "contained all three elements."

Computer analysis also threw up a number of arcane humor "facts." Not all animal jokes, for example, are created equal -- jokes mentioning ducks were rated as funnier than other jokes.

And length matters. Jokes containing 103 words were thought to be especially funny. The winning joke is 102 words long.

* _

On the Net:

Laughlab: www.laughlab.co.uk

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2002

Answers

"Jokes mentioning ducks were rated as funnier than other jokes."

I, Peter S. Errington, your humor czar, have explicitly made this point, and on this very forum. As you will doubtless recall, I have pointed out that jokes involving animals in bars are usually extremely funny, especially involving ducks.

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2002


What about stealth geese?

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2002

Geese, you're roight, ducks.

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2002

HA!

when i saw this subject line...

the first thing that popped into my head was that "deadly joke" skit that monty python did

was almost afraid to open the thread, but figured out that if i pushed the window down to where i had to actively scroll to see the bottom of the page.....i'd be able to get out of the thread in safety if i began laughing TOO hard

; )

hehehe

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2002


My vote goes to the Reagan and the Queen joke. I STILL think that's an underwear-changer after all these many years.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2002


OG, lay that joke upon us. I don't recall it.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2002

You remember when Reagan went to visit the Queen and there was video of the two riding in an open carriage? Well, while they were riding, all of a sudden one of the horses broke wind with simply alarming ferocity.

The Queen turned to Reagan and said, "Oh, my goodness, I'm terribly sorry."

That's quite all right, Your Majesty," replied Reagan. "If you hadn't said anything I would have thought it was the horse."

[OG is reeling with peals of laughter. This is, allegedly, a true story but concerns an African diplomat. I changed it to Reagan and used it to great effect when I was doing stand-up comedy in the French Quarter.]

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2002


P.S. I don't think it would be as funny if you used a duck instead of a horse.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2002

Using a duck would be too messy. can you imagine how many ducks it would take to pull the carriage? The line of duck shit on the road would be alarmingly deep, and the ducks in the rear would hardly have any traction. oh my, and if they were flying while pulling....?

LOL

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2002


There was the Seinfeld episode where George tried to impress his future inlaws by giving them a carriage ride around Central Park. Would have been a good idea except he used a carriage team that Kramer had invested in and Kramer had the horses on a new diet. Beans, or something.

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2002


Talk about your funny ducks... Check this out!

http://www.celebriducks.com/

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2002


http://www.celebriducks.com/

LOL

Not gonna ask why you came across that!

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2002


Wow, thanks, Yerfs. Now I know what to get Sweetie for Christmas--he does a WICKED James Brown impression:



-- Anonymous, October 07, 2002


Moderation questions? read the FAQ