For the past year people around the world have been invited to judge jokes on an Internet site as well as contribute quips of their own. The LaughLab experiment conducted by psychologist Dr Richard Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire, attracted more than 40,000 jokes and almost two million ratings. As well as identifying the joke which appealed most to people around the world, the experiment revealed wide humour differences between
nations.  A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says: “That's the ugliest baby that I've ever seen. Ugh!” The woman goes to the rear of the bus and sits down, fuming. She says to a man next to her: “The driver just insulted me!” The man says: “You go right up there and tell him off – go ahead, I'll hold your monkey for you.”  | Top joke in UK |
Scans conducted on people being told jokes also identified the brain's laughter centre - a region near the back of the frontal lobes. The joke which received the highest global ratings was submitted by 31-year-old psychiatrist Gurpal Gosall, from Manchester. It reads as follows: 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 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 said the joke was interesting because it worked across many different countries and appealed to men and women and young and old alike. He says many of the jokes submitted received higher ratings from certain groups of people, but this one had real universal appeal. People logging onto the LaughLab website were invited to rate jokes using a "Giggleometer" which had a five-point scale ranging from "not very
funny" to "very funny". One intriguing result was that Germans - not renowned for their sense of humour - found just about everything funny. They did not express a
strong preference for any type of joke. People from the Republic of Ireland, the UK, Australia and New Zealand most enjoyed jokes involving word plays. | A man and a friend are playing golf one day at their local golf course. 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 truly are a kind man.” The man then replies: “Yeah, well we were married 35 years.” | Top joke in US |
One example was as follows. Patient: "Doctor, I've got a strawberry stuck up my bottom." Doctor: "I've got some cream for that!" Americans and Canadians, on the other hand, preferred jokes where there was a strong sense of superiority - either because a character looks stupid or is made to look stupid by someone else. Many jokes submitted contained references to animals. Jokes mentioning ducks were seen as funnier than other jokes. The researchers were also able to pinpoint the funniest moment of the
year. People found the jokes funniest at 6.03pm on 7 October. Dr Wiseman's team is launching a book describing their findings today. To celebrate the occasion, a man in a 6ft chicken costume will drive a huge
banner inscribed with the winning joke around the streets of London. Do you think it's the funniest joke or have you got a cracker you want to share with us? Email us at [email protected]and let us share them with the world. | 
