World’s Funniest Joke

The World’s Funniest Joke — Official at Yahoo News gives us the end result of the “largest-ever scientific study into humor”. The study was based in Britain, and their home page is at Laugh Lab, which seems to be down at the moment. After “[m]ore than 40,000 jokes from 70 countries and two million critiques”, they came up with the following (which I think is pretty good…these studies tend to find the most lame jokes):

“Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other man pulls out his phone and calls emergency services.”

“He gasps to the operator: ‘My friend is dead! What can I do?’ The operator in a calm, soothing voice replies: ‘Take it easy. 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 hunter says, ‘Ok, now what?’”

Another nice one was a favorite in the States, where “[m]arriage-mocking” is big:

“A man and a friend are playing golf one day. One of the guys is about to chip onto the green when he sees a long funeral procession on the road next to the course.”

“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. You are truly a kind man.’”

“The man then replies: ‘Yeah, well, we were married 35 years.”