Boffins release 'world's best joke'October 04, 2002SCIENTISTS in Britain have unveiled the world's funniest joke at the end of the largest study of humour ever. For the past year, people around the globe were invited to judge jokes using a five-point "Giggleometer" on the internet, as well as to contribute quips of their own.The LaughLab experiment conducted by psychologist Richard Wiseman, from the University of Hertfordshire, attracted more than 40,000 jokes and almost two million ratings.As well as identifying the joke that appealed most to people around the world, the experiment - not surprisingly - revealed wide humour differences between nations.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 that received the highest global ratings was submitted by psychiatrist Gurpal Gosall from Manchester in northern England.Here it is: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 cellphone 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?""Many of the jokes submitted received higher ratings from certain groups of people," Wiseman said. "But this one had real universal appeal."LaughLab's Wiseman later admitted that not everyone would view the hunter's joke as the funniest in the world."Of course there are jokes which individuals find much, much funnier but I think the thing about this hunter's joke is that it appeals to a broad cross-section of people," he said.
