HEARD the one about the trainee psychiatrist from Manchester? He’s just cracked the world’s funniest joke.
A year-long scientific experiment involving two million internet hits and 40,000 jokes has concluded that a joke heard at medical school left the most people in stitches.
However, Dr Richard Wiseman, a psychologist from the University of Hertford
shire who led the LaughLab project, admitted not everyone would find the joke funny.
He said it appealed to a cross-section of people, of both sexes, different ages and 70 countries.
The joke, submitted by Dr Gurpal Gosall, 31, a Manchester psychiatrist, reads: Two hunters are out in the woods when one collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says: "Calm down, I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says: "OK, now what?"
Dr Wiseman explained that the joke had been successful because it contained different elements of what made people laugh - making them feel superior to others, reducing the impact of anxiety-provoking situations, and providing an incongruous surprise.
He said: "The hunters joke contains all three - we feel superior to the hunter, realise the incongruity of him misunderstanding the operator, and the joke helps us laugh at our concerns about our own mortality."
The LaughLab project, which was launched last year at the British Association for the Advancement of Science’s festival in Glasgow, involved people submitting jokes and assessing how funny they found five that had been randomly selected.
The largest-ever study of jokes found major differences in what was perceived as funny. The Germans laughed at almost everything, but researchers found it almost impossible to find any Japanese who told jokes.
The British, Irish, Australians and New Zealanders prefer word-play jokes, while Americans and Canadians are keen on jokes with strong put-downs. The French, Danish and Belgians enjoy surreal humour.
Dr Wiseman said European countries enjoyed jokes that made light of subjects such as death, illness and marriage.
One such favourite was: A patient says: "Doctor, last night I made a Freudian slip. I was having dinner with my mother-in-law and wanted to say, ‘Could you please pass the butter?’ But instead, I said: ‘You silly cow, you have completely ruined my life’."
Rose Evison, an occupational psychologist based in Pitlochry, who specialises in the study of humour, said people found those jokes funny that reminded them of distressing situations from which they were now at a safe distance.
However, Dr Wiseman may have overdosed on humour during the project. "It’s been a fascinating year," he said, "but if I hear one more joke, I think I’ll punch somebody."
Humour to please the worldTHE top-rated jokes from across the world reflect a wide diversity in what different people find funny.
SCOTLAND: I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming in terror like his passengers.
ENGLAND: Two weasels are sitting in a bar. One screams: "I slept with your mother!" The bar gets quiet as everyone listens to see what the other weasel will do. The first again yells: "I slept with your mother!" The other says: "Go home, dad, you’re drunk."
USA: A man and a friend are playing golf . One of the guys is about to chip onto the green when he sees a long funeral procession . He stops in mid-swing, takes off his golf cap, closes his eyes, and bows down in prayer. His friend says: "Wow, that is the most thoughtful and touching thing I have ever seen. " The man replies: "Yeah, well, we were married 35 years."
AUSTRALIA: A woman rushes to see her doctor, looking very worried . She rattles off: "Doctor, when I woke up this morning, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw my hair all wiry and frazzled up, my skin was all wrinkled and pasty, my eyes were bloodshot and bugging out, and I had this corpse-like look on my face! What’s WRONG with me, Doctor!?" The doctor looks her over for a couple of minutes, then says: "Well, I can tell you that there ain’t nothing wrong with your eyesight ..."
The full article contains 766 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
