# World's funniest joke. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 3, 2002, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686 "2002-10-03T15:27:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/1 "2002-10-03T15:27:08Z")
An experiment conducted in _Britain_? I though the British were renowned for an unusual sense of humor. [http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/10/03/joke.funniest/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/10/03/joke.funniest/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/2 "2002-10-03T15:34:15Z")
That hunter joke is not the funniest, and I can prove it. Replace the hunters with pirates. Replace the gun with a cannon. Have the first guy say “Yarrrr!” at some point. The result? A funnier joke. Example two: replace the hunters with monkeys. Funnier joke. QED. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/3 "2002-10-03T15:39:40Z")
Stupid stupid stupid ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/4 "2002-10-03T15:49:11Z")
Oop! Sorry—I started a thread on the same topic over in MPSIMS. The Mods can close mine, if they want. ---
**Author:** ![roadrunner70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@roadrunner70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roadrunner70)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/5 "2002-10-03T15:54:19Z")
Shouldn’t we make sure your thread is dead first, **Eve**? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/6 "2002-10-03T17:46:50Z")
Arrrrr, Sawbones, what happens now? Yeah, Pirates would be funnier. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/7 "2002-10-03T18:10:47Z")
But they did do some kind of poll to determine which of the jokes were funniest. If the poll was fair . . . then it is the funniest joke, isn’t it? Or it’s the joke that most people can get that’s funny? Seems like there’s a tongue-in-cheek aspect to this, as well. “The World’s Funniest Joke” reminds one of the Monty Python routine where the joke that can kill is used as a weapon. Finally, on a serious note . . . no. . . on a silly note . . . If I were at a party where everyone was telling their funniest jokes, I wouldn’t expect to hear that one. But then, no one expects the Spanish Inquisition . . . . ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/8 "2002-10-03T19:39:44Z")
The funniest joke in the world is of course burried in the Berkshire countryside, never to be told again. [Killer Joke](http://www.montypython.net/scripts/funniest.php) ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/9 "2002-10-03T19:41:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > **Oop! Sorry—I started a thread on the same topic over in MPSIMS.** And I started one in Cafe Society. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/10 "2002-10-04T00:34:51Z")
Didn’t they announce this already? I could swear I heard all sorts of news on this a year or so ago. Complete with the joke. Does anyone else remember this, or have I gone completely bonkers? (not that that’s a bad thing, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/11 "2002-10-04T02:20:05Z")
I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/12 "2002-10-04T11:16:05Z")
So, what happened to [this joke](http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2001/12/21/162314/99)? ---
**Author:** ![Jammers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@Jammers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jammers)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/13 "2002-10-04T12:20:58Z")
Yeah. Maybe it’s a yearly thing, and they’re measuring the evolution of humour. The end result will be that in 100 years time, the world’s funniest joke will be: Knock Knock Who’s there? Idunnop Idunnop who Arf Arf. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/14 "2002-10-04T16:38:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Legomancer \* > \*\*That hunter joke is not the funniest, and I can prove it. > > Replace the hunters with pirates. Replace the gun with a cannon. Have the first guy say “Yarrrr!” at some point. > > The result? A funnier joke.\*\* And what do you replace the phone with: tin cans and a wire? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/15 "2002-10-04T16:58:10Z")
Signal flags and a semaphore station, Matey, AAARRRRRR!!! ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/16 "2002-10-06T00:05:25Z")
**AlbertRose** : It’s not uncommon in hunting to bring down one’s quarry, and think it’s dead, only to have it suddenly jump up or thrash about, having been wounded and stunned rather than killed. So when hunters approach their downed quarry, they often shoot the beast in the head to make sure it’s then dead. **Floater** : Apparently this funniest joke study wasn’t complete when they announced the Holmes/Watson joke last year. Now it is in the number two postion. ---
**Author:** ![Anubis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Anubis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anubis)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/17 "2002-10-06T02:25:31Z")
**Degrance** , the link gave me this: > [@](#): > > Sorry, this page had to be removed temporarily. 2 major news sites simultaneously linked to it without giving me any advance notice and the sudden surge in traffic caused some problems. It’ll be back up soon, but I could not let one page endanger the operation of the rest of the site. I apologize for any inconvenience. I wonder if they consider this to be a news site… ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/18 "2002-10-06T05:08:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Legomancer \* > \*\*That hunter joke is not the funniest, and I can prove it. > > Replace the hunters with pirates. Replace the gun with a cannon. Have the first guy say “Yarrrr!” at some point. > > The result? A funnier joke. > > Example two: replace the hunters with monkeys. Funnier joke. > > QED. \*\* You’re not doing it scientifically. First; note the last 2 paragraphs of the article. > [@](#): > > Bizarrely, computer analysis of the data also showed that jokes containing 103 words were thought to be especially funny. The winning “hunters” joke was 102 words long. > > Many jokes submitted contained references to animals. Jokes mentioning ducks were considered particularly funny. Using the two facts (ducks and 103 words) I can create a jole that is mathematically provably funnier than the original hunter joke. Replace the first sentence of the joke > [@](#): > > Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. with the sentence > [@](#): > > Two duck hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. The resulting joke contains 103 words and mentions ducks. The pretender to the title has neither attribute. Since I have shown that it is possible to create a funnier joke it then follows that the original joke cannot be “the world’s funniest joke”. Whether or not the new joke qualifies for the title is open to question and further research is required to determine whether or not it can be improved upon even further. It may even be the case that, like prime numbers, there is no such thing as a funniest joke but that there is instead an infinity of funnier and funnier jokes. These questions may remain unanswered until a practical general purpose quantum computer is available to study the problem. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/19 "2002-10-06T15:33:04Z")
"…the duck looks down at Davidm and back at the bartender. ‘Doesn’t _everybody_ have one?’ " ---
**Author:** ![Kegg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Kegg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kegg)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2002, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686/20 "2002-10-07T07:55:31Z")
iIf that was the funiest, there are a lot of lame jokes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-funniest-joke/130686.md?page=2)