NP scientific experiment proves world's funniest joke
Doug Millison
pynchonoid at yahoo.com
Thu Oct 3 09:19:32 CDT 2002
http://www.AlphaGalileo.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=readRelease&Releaseid=11084
The worlds largest experiment into humour has finally
ended. For more than a year, people in over 70
countries have submitted their best jokes and rated
the jokes sent in by others.
The experiment (hosted at www.laughlab.co.uk) captured
the worlds imagination, receiving more than 40,000
jokes and nearly 2 million ratings. In December 2001,
our preliminary results obtained international media
coverage. All of the data has now been analysed and we
are proud to announce our final findings, including:
The worlds funniest joke
The first ever brain scans of people listening
to the jokes
How peoples sense of humour is affected by
their nationality
Top jokes from around the world
Whether the English, Scottish, Welsh or
Northern Irish found the jokes funniest
A report, containing our main findings, is attached
with this release.
To celebrate these findings, a 6ft chicken will drive
a huge banner containing the worlds funniest joke
around the streets of London. In addition, a book
describing all of our findings will be launched today.
THE WINNING JOKE
After much careful scrutiny, we are proud to announce
our winning joke. This joke received higher ratings
than any other gag.
Drum roll
..
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?
This winning joke was submitted by Gurpal Gosall, a 31
year old psychiatrist from Manchester in the UK. He
told LaughLab that:
I like the joke as it makes people feel better,
because it reminds them that there is always someone
out there who is doing something more stupid than
themselves.
So why did this joke perform so well? Dr Richard
Wiseman, the psychologist behind the LaughLab project,
said:
This joke is interesting because it works across many
different countries, appeals to men and women, and
young and old alike. Many of the jokes submitted
received higher ratings from certain groups of people,
but this one had real universal appeal."
http://www.the-ba.net
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