'Funny' is not an opinion

Now computers can judge comedy

A stand-up comic has invented a piece of software he claims can determine precisely how funny a comedian is.

According to Steve Roye's Comedy Evaluator Pro, Bill Cosby is 32 per cent funnier than Robin Williams, who in turn is 13 per cent funnier than Eddie Izzard.

His software records the ratio of audience laughter to the time taken to tell the joke, and produces a Positive Audience Response (PAR) rating.

The Texan claims: "Soon, agents and booking professionals will require a certain PAR level from comedy performers before you can even send out a tape. "

Roye, who has built up a thriving business selling software and books for aspiring comics called the Killer Stand-up Comedy System, said: "The evaluation of 'funny' has been a subjective affair until now.

"This software only evaluates results - easily quantifiable results. For example, we evaluated five randomly selected minutes of Bill Cosby's act. He had a PAR of 58. That means that almost 60 per cent of the time he was on stage, he was generating tremendous PAR."

According to his own software, Roye is funnier than Joan Rivers, Robin Williams and Eddie Izzard - even though he's an unknown.

He claims his software will allow people who book comedians to decide who is funny - even if they have no interest in comedy.

"Businesses make decisions based on numbers, not on how the organisation 'feels' about the project.

"They also want to be able to measure the results of any decision made that affects the business in real numbers. Comedy Evaluator Pro came into existence from those realisations.

"It is a definitive screening tool that requires no special knowledge of comedy. So an assistant could easily do the necessary objective evaluation of a comedy performer"

Roye's analysis of comics gave the following ratings: