Summary: Good jokes found and shared (Thanks to Laughlab). Bonus: Not only are well told jokes great fun, they can enhance understanding of the personal and social construction of reality. In short, while not a beginner's tool -- learning to understand humour generally and the social function of particular jokes can be an important knowledge-making tool for the analyst of human experience.

Dr. Richard Wiseman shares the best jokes of more than 25,000 submitted to Laughlab from around the world.

The world's best joke?

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?

This winning joke was submitted by Gurpal Gosall, a 31 year old psychiatrist from Manchester in the UK. He told LaughLab that: I like the joke as it makes people feel better, because it reminds them that there is always someone out there who is doing something more stupid than themselves.

So why did the hunters joke perform so well? Dr.Richard Wiseman, the psychologist behind the LaughLab project, said:

This joke is interesting because it works across many different countries, appeals to men and women, and young and old alike. Many of the jokes submitted received higher ratings from certain groups of people, but this one had real universal appeal. Also, we find jokes funny for lots of different reasons [^] they sometimes make us feel superior to others, reduce the emotional impact of anxiety-provoking events, or surprise us because of some kind of incongruity. The hunters joke contains all three elements [^] we feel superior to the stupid hunter, realise the incongruity of him misunderstanding the operator and the joke helps us to laugh about our concerns about our own mortality.

Other winning laugh-makers include:

Sherlock and Watson demonstrate that bright is not equivalent to perceptive.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson go on a camping trip. After a good dinner and a bottle of wine, they retire for the night, and go to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes wakes up and nudges his faithful friend. Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see. I see millions and millions of stars, Holmes replies Watson. And what do you deduce from that? Watson ponders for a minute. Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the universe. What does it tell you, Holmes?

Holmes is silent for a moment. Watson, you idiot! he says. Someone has stolen our tent!

Middle European Surrealistic humor(my fave):

An Alsatian went to a telegram office, took out a blank form and wrote: Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. The clerk examined the paper and politely told the dog: There are only nine words here. You could send another Woof for the same price. But, the dog replied, that would make no sense at all.

The Australian Favorite:

This woman rushed to see her doctor, looking very much worried and all strung out. She rattles off: Doctor, take a look at me. When I woke up this morning, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw my hair all wiry and frazzled up, my skin was all wrinkled and pasty, my eyes were bloodshot and bugging out, and I had this corpse-like look on my face! What's WRONG with me, Doctor!?

The doctor looks her over for a couple of minutes, then calmly says: Well, I can tell you that there ain't nothing wrong with your eyesight....

The German Favorite:

A general noticed one of his soldiers behaving oddly. The soldier would pick up any piece of paper he found, frown and say: That's not it! and put it down again. This went on for some time, until the general arranged to have the soldier psychologically tested. The psychologist concluded that the soldier was deranged, and wrote out his discharge from the army.

The soldier picked it up, smiled and said: That's it!

Not only do jokes generate laughter (which generally releases tension) but to the perceptive observer they tell about 'frames of reference' which are in conflict. If humour (the laugh) is a [sudden] perception of superiority (see above) then the audience and the joke teller of collaborated in this pecking-order-based structuring of existence. A careful analysis of situation will give the perceptive knowledge-maker the superior-inferior matrix . If the laugh is the result of the perception [sudden, again] of incongruity then insightful and introspective analysis may well yield insight into the beliefs and values of self, group re certain areas of experience.

In short, teasing out the inconguous dimensions and/or pecking order that meet at the moment of the punchline delivery is a knowledge-making technique.

See Arthur Koestler, (1964) The Act of Creation, London: Hutchinson & Co for further reading about the incongruity notion.