(But the Germans are even less funny)

Britons might pride themselves on their sense of humour… but it is not a view shared by the rest of the world.

The UK ranked a modest seventh place out of 15 in an international online poll asking 30,000 people to name the funniest country.

Americans topped the list of nationalities who are ‘funniest and/or best at making people laugh’ – but Spanish, Italian, Brazilian, French and Mexican people were all rated higher than Britain.

In a separate poll, people were asked to name the least funniest nation – and Britain came fourth. True to its stereotype, Germany topped this list, comfortably beating Russia and Turkey into second and third place.

Lloyd Price, director of marketing for dating site badoo.com, which commissioned the survey said: ‘I’m afraid that we don’t find some of the results very funny’ but he conceded that ‘Obama is definitely way funnier than either Angela Merkel or David Cameron.’

He added: ‘When we meet someone new, one of the first things we tend to notice is whether they make us laugh. Sometimes, it seems the most important thing. And research suggests that women find it even more important than do men.’

The Germans’ humourless image probably derives from the Prussian reputation for efficiency, punctuality and rationality, presumed to be at the expense of humour.

German comic Henning Wehn, pictured, plays with the stereotype in his stand-up, telling audiences: ‘The British always say that we Germans don’t have a sense of humour…I don’t find that funny.’

It has been suggested that English-language comedy sometimes gets lost in translation because German grammar forbids the usual joke structure of keeping back a key word until the end of the final sentence. Also, wordplay, puns and deliberate verbal confusion is harder to pull off in the more precise German language.

Comedy writer Simon Nye has had first-hand experience of material being lost in translation.

‘They made a German-language version of Men Behaving Badly, which I watched with interest and horror. They trusted the original material too much. They didn’t adapt it to local conditions and didn’t perform it in front an audience. It was all a bit drab.’

Germans, he suggest, can have a ‘schizoid approach to comedy. They don’t have a middle-ground between the big, Broad Comedy of cabaret and more low-key, delicate pieces like The Office’.

Published: 8 Jun 2011