If you Google “The funniest joke in the world” you will be very disappointed. The internet can give you something like: “What has a lot of keys, but can’t open a single lock??” (Answer: A piano). Screw it. That’s not funny. Let’s play a game to find out once and for all: What is the funniest joke in the world. we interviewed a bunch of amazing comics, including Tig Notaro, Adam Conover, Dr. Jason Leong, Loni Love, as well as special guest Latif Nasser from Radiolab and, of course, some scientists: neuroscientist Professor Sophie Scott and psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman. Which joke will win???
Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsFunniestJoke
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) The mission begins
(08:40) Why laughing is important
(13:13) The scientific search for the world’s funniest joke
(17:40) Wow, charlatan or moo?
(21:33) The comedy K
(26:30) Do different cultures have different senses of humor?
(28:27) The winner!
(32:15) Scientific theories of humor (laughs)
(38:28) Why the winning joke isn’t funny
(40:26) How do you stop a dog from humping your leg?
(44:43) Meet the comedy gods
This episode was produced by Wendy Zukerman, with help from Michelle Dang, Joel Werner, Rose Rimler and Meryl Horn. We are edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact Check by Sarah Baum. Mixing and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Peter Leonard Bumi Hidaka, Emma Munger, So Wylie and Bobby Lord. Thank you to all the researchers we spoke to including Dr Andrew Farkas, Professor Penny MacDonald, Dr Maggie Prenger and a huge thank you to Professor Chris Westbury for sharing his amazing spreadsheet!! Thank you to all the comedians we interviewed in this episode, including Tig Notaro, Adam Conover, Loni Love, Takashi Wakasugi, Urooj Ashfaq, Dr. Jason Leong, Penny Greenhalgh, and Mohammed Magdi.
Another big thanks to Lindsay Farber, Roland Campos, Lauren LoGiudice, Andrea Jones-Rooy, and other comics at The Joke Lab; and all the comics we talked to who didn’t fit into the episode, we really appreciate you and your time! Thank you to Ben Milam, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Stupid Old Studios, Paige Ransbury, the Zukerman Family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.
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