This Is The Funniest Joke In The World

In 2001, a British psychology professor named Richard Wiseman wanted to see if he could determine the funniest joke in the world.

With the help of his colleagues, he launched LaughLab, a website where people could submit jokes and anyone could rate other people’s submissions. LaughLab used a rating scale called the “Giggleometer.”

For the next year, the website received over 40,000 joke submissions and nearly 2 million ratings from members of 40 different countries.

The study earned a Guiness World Record for largest-ever scientific humor study.

On October 3, 2002, Wiseman announced they had come up with the world’s funniest joke.

Here’s the winning joke:

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 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 gunshot. Back on the phone, the guys says, “Okay, now what?”

What do you think of that joke? Is it the funniest you’ve ever heard?

Here’s the joke that came in second in Wiseman’s study.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were going camping. They pitched their tent under the stars and went to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes woke Watson up and said: “Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you see.” Watson replied: “I see millions and millions of stars.” Holmes said: “and what do you deduce from that?” Watson replied: “Well, if there are millions of stars, and if even a few of those have planets, it’s quite likely there are some planets like earth out there. And if there are a few planets like earth out there, there might also be life.” And Holmes said: “Watson, you idiot, it means that somebody stole our tent.”

Want to know more about humor? Here are some fun fact found by the LaughLab.

Photo credit: Wikipedia