The Funniest Joke in the World

19 snips

May 2, 2024

Guest

Comedians and scientists team up to find the funniest joke in the world. They explore the science of humor, cultural differences in comedy, and why certain jokes are universally funny. The quest for laughter leads to surprising discoveries and shared moments of joy.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Unsuccessful Joke Search

Wendy Zukerman googled "funniest joke in the world" and found disappointing results.
Jokes like "What has many keys but can't open a single lock?" (A piano) made her feel worse.

INSIGHT

The Science of Laughter

Humans, like rats and chimps, laugh, but human laughter is unique.
We laugh loudly, broadcast our laughter, and have contagious laughter, connecting us.

ANECDOTE

Laughter's Influence

Sophie Scott's study showed laughter's power.
Adding laughter to "stinker" jokes made people rate them as funnier.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

If you Google "The Funniest Joke in the World," you'll be very disappointed. The internet might serve you something like, "What has many keys but can't open a single lock??” (Answer: A piano). Screw that. That's not funny. Enter Science Vs. We’re going on a romp to find out once and for all: What is the funniest joke in the world. According to science. And for this quest we've interviewed a bunch of amazing comics including Tig Notaro, Adam Conover, Dr Jason Leong, Loni Love, as well as special guest Latif Nasser of 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 Quest Begins

(08:40) Why laughing matters

(13:13) The scientific search for the world's funniest joke

(17:40) Woof, quack or moo?

(21:33) The comedy K

(26:30) Do different cultures have different senses of humour?

(28:27) The winner!

(32:15) Scientific theories of humour (lol)

(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’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Sarah Baum. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Peter Leonard, Bumi Hidaka, Emma Munger, So Wylie, and Bobby Lord. Thanks 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 your amazing spreadsheet!! Thanks 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 the other comics at Ha! or Nah!: A Joke Lab; and all the comics that we spoke to and couldn't fit into the episode, we really really appreciate you and your time! Thanks to Ben Milam, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Stupid Old Studios, Paige Ransbury, the Zukerman Family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.

Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices