Four In Ten People Will Laugh At Anything

Scientists at Washington State University have found that about four in ten of us will laugh at a bad joke, while less than one in 100 will voice displeasure. Researchers believe that we may be amused at being let down by the humor, and that we laugh at how bad a joke can actually be. Dr Nancy Bell made her findings after a team of colleagues told this joke to almost 200 people: "What did the big chimney say to the little chimney? Nothing. Chimneys can't talk." At last I understand how Dane Cook and Carrot Top have careers.

Tag

[s1lverl0rd]

I tagged this 'Funny'. Don't know why.

Aristocrats

[Thelasko]

Ironically, I thought Carrot Top was the funniest person in the whole movie.

She should start by definging "funny"

[Deathdonut]

The joke that she used as a baseline test could easily be considered funny in the context it was given. Context such as expectations of the audience, empathy with the teller and private musings are all reasonable circumstances that can move a joke from "meh" to "lol".

Re:

[moderatorrater]

Exactly. That joke has everything that it needs to be funny and could easily be taken as such. Humor is all about context and subtleties, the sorts of things that experiments would have a hard time quantifying. How to you quantify if someone's in a bad mood? Did they tell it to people in a group or individually? How would that affect the outcome?

So I would go so far as to say that most experiments which analyze humor are worthless.

bad != not funny

[qwertphobia]

Yeah, bad jokes can still be funny. Ask my kids, they hear them all the time!

Humor- Ar Ar

[KHAAAAAAAAAN]

Umm, that joke was funny.

This just in...

[SeNtM]

This just in, 2 in 5 people can't reduce fractions. In a similar story, 10 in 25 people are mindless-twits and 40 in 100 people found this /. post amusing.

Re:

[denzacar]

If you shoot 10 people, but only kill 2 out of those 10, did you really only kill 1 out of 5?
Or if you ask out 10 girls on a date, but end up having sex with 2 - would that be 4 dates you paid for dinner and a movie and just got a peck on the cheek in return or 8?

You can't always reduce fractions if the size of the subset and superset are statistically of importance too.

I disagree with her premise that this joke is bad.

[Roger Wilcox]

What did the big chimney say to the little chimney? Nothing. Chimneys can't talk.

This is not a bad joke. It is funny not because it is bad, but because the performer has exploited the audience's expectation that they are going to hear a joking response involving a conversation between chimneys. Instead, they hear a response that mocks them for buying into the ridiculous premise of the opener.

A good deal of any joke's impact is in how it is delivered. This joke is no different. The key here is this: delivering the punchline with a heavy air of incredulity that the audience would t

Re:I disagree with her premise that this joke is b

[pushing-robot]

The key here is this: delivering the punchline with a heavy air of incredulity that the audience would take the prospect of conversing chimneys remotely seriously, even in the context of a joke. Add to that a hint of disdain at their gullibility, and it really is funny.

Nah, that could never work. [youtube.com]

At anything? No, but...

[VirusHead]

A lot depends on the delivery. One method of comedy involves foiling expections, especially within the genre of the existential joke. Here's another: Why did the monkey fall out of the tree? Because it was dead.

Hah-hah!

[happy_place]

Haha!!!

Humor is Relative

[FenrirIII]

If there's anything I've learn in my life it's that humor is relative. Depending on your age, race, and background you might find one comedian funnier than another. For me, humor is in the presentation and expectations.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah. After all, if you can't laugh at your relatives, you're an orphan.