Laughlab: announcing the ‘world’s funniest joke’
Did you hear the one about the lady on the bus?
Laughlab was a scientific search for the ‘world’s funniest joke’. In 2003, psychologist Richard Wiseman asked me to created soundtrack to announce the results of this worldwide, online experiment. This was blasted through the streets on London from a Routemaster bus, on the day the top-rated jokes were unveilled.
Hear the soundtrack
The soundtrack includes the ‘world’s funniest joke’ and some of the best runners-up. My favourite jokes on the recording are the one about the cannibals and the one about the lady on the bus. Apparently, the bus joke was voted top joke in the UK. According to the Laughlab website, the winning joke was submitted by Gurpal Gosall, a 31-year-old psychiatrist from Manchester, UK.
Voice-over
Richard Hodder, voice-over artist, provided a slightly seedy comic reading, in Max Miller style. I mixed this with other sounds to create the feeling of an early, live BBC radio show (a ‘light programme’ special). Richard also announced the World’s Funniest Joke in an appropriately stiff, Leslie Mitchel voice.
Laughlab was sponsored by Science Year (now Planet Science) and the British Association.
See also
Posted in Sounds
Tags: jokes, Laughlab, psychology of humour, Richard Wiseman, Sarah Angliss, science of humour, science of jokes, world's funniest joke
Comments (1)
Allan Chapple
7 May 2009 at 06:13
Your theories of how humour works or why things are funny are amusing but inaccurate.
All humour is based on confrontation – with the ‘barb’ taken out or the edge slightly blunted. Describe any situation that is potentially dangerous or embarrassing and you have a subject for humour.
This explains why humour changes because of culture, age, sex and intelligence, and why the difference between a cold or uproarious response are often so close. The more confronting the joke the greater the potential reaction. That’s why if you get the giggles at a funeral or other important event it is going to be harder to control.
It also encapsulates your theories but explains why incongruity is funnier if it involves greater embarrassment. I have a lot more evidence but not time at this moment.
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