<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META content=text/html;charset=iso-8859-1 http-equiv=Content-Type> <META content='"MSHTML 4.72.3110.7"' name=GENERATOR> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><BR>Don't gag on it, but this is what has us all in stitches<BR>Scientists believe they have found the world's funniest joke<BR>Tim Radford, science editor<BR>Thursday October 03 2002<BR>The Guardian<BR><BR><BR>The search involved travel abroad, a website, 40,000 printable jests, more than two million giggleometer ratings from 70 countries, a year's exhaustive breakdown of humour by age, sex and nationality, and a brain scan of someone listening to jokes. Boom boom.  <BR><BR>Laughlab, an epic experiment set up more than a year ago, established that the British, Irish, New Zealanders and Australians prefer a play on words; that the French, Danes and Belgians have a taste for the surreal and Freudian; and that Americans and Canadians chuckle at jokes showing one group's superiority over another.  <BR><BR>(cut..............blah blah blah......)<BR></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The world's funniest joke?<BR><BR><BR>A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: "Just take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard.The guy's voice comes back on the line. He says: "OK, now what?"</DIV></BODY></HTML>