According to science, anyway

Scientists have revealed the world's funniest joke - and the worst.

They told 30,000 gags to almost two million people to determine the best in a year-long study.

And the most popular, approved by 65 per cent of the audience, was one submitted by 31 -year-old Manchester psychiatrist Gurpal Gosall

It goes:

"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?'"

Psychologist Richard Wiseman, who led the research at Hertfordshire University, said: "Many of the jokes submitted received higher ratings from certain groups of people, but this one had universal appeal.

"Also, we find jokes funny 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 hunters joke contains all three elements.

The Laugh Lab project, which has won a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the biggest scientific experiment, also discovered the world's worst joke was:

"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"Boo."
"Boo who?"
"Don't cry!"

The year-long study also found people from Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand preferred puns and wordplay - which may be of little surprise as all the gags were in English.

Europeans preferred surrealism, Americans and Canadians went for jokes at someone's expense, and Japanese struggled to understand the joke structure, the culture preferring visual humour.

In the UK, the Welsh were the most easily amused, followed by the English. Scots were least likely to laugh.

Many of the jokes were about animals, the team of academics to officially conclude that ducks are the funniest creatures.

The results have been published in a new book by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, available here.

Published: 4 Oct 2002