Have you heard the one about Britain’s funniest joke?

Published on Thursday 20 December 2001 00:00

BRITAIN’S funniest joke has been unveiled by scientists studying the psychology of humour - to a collective groan from leading comedians.

The joke, about Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, won top rating from 47 per cent of those taking part in the Laughlab experiment on the internet.

Around 100,000 people rated jokes and were invited to submit their own as part of a year-long project which was launched at the British Association for Advancement of Science’s festival in Glasgow in September.

But the joke hardly raised a chuckle among comedians.

Veteran funnyman Bernard Manning said: "It would take a scientist to work that one out."

Andy Cameron added: "It’s all right, but it is certainly not the funniest joke in Britain."

Craig Hill, a regular at the Stand comedy club in Edinburgh, said: "I was quite surprised and very disappointed to read it - I so wanted to find it funny."

The experiment, which was devised by Dr Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, also identified Britain’s worst jokes.

Two chicken jokes were awarded the lowest ratings by 74 per cent of people taking part. One was: "Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side." The other was: "Why are chickens considered good employees? Because they work around the cluck."

The researchers found big differences emerged between the jokes most favoured by men and women.

Top male jokes involved aggression, putting women down and sexual innuendo, while women preferred jokes involving word play.

An example of a male joke was: "A guy walked into a psychiatrist’s office wearing only clingfilm underpants. The psychiatrist said: ‘Well, I can clearly see you’re nuts’."

Women preferred jokes such as: "A man walks into a bar with a piece of tarmac under his arm. He says to the barman: ‘A pint for me, and one for the road’."