Yes:
Posted on 06/12/2006 9:27:43 AM PDT by aculeus
Detective work by a professor investigating the psychology of humour has revealed that Spike Milligan was the author of the world's funniest joke.
Five years ago, Prof Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, did an online experiment in which 300,000 people from around the world took part in LaughLab, where they voted for the best gag.
Yesterday, at the Cheltenham Science Festival, Prof Wiseman said he has now discovered that it was almost certainly written by Milligan.
The joke runs as follows: Two hunters are out in the woods in New Jersey when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed.
The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps 'My friend is dead! What can I do?' The operator says: 'Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead.' There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says 'OK, now what?'
"It is very rare to be able to track down the origin of any joke but this is an exception," said Prof Wiseman. "There is some very rare footage from 1951 showing the Goons in their first TV appearance. Just by chance I saw it on a documentary and saw a version of the very same joke."
The material would have been written by Spike Milligan and the script reads:
Michael Bentine: I just came in and found him lying on the carpet there.
Peter Sellers: Oh, is he dead?
Bentine: I think so.
Sellers: Hadn't you better make sure?
Bentine: All right. Just a minute.
Sound of two gun shots.
Bentine: He's dead.
Prof Wiseman contacted Milligan's daughter, Sile, and she is as certain as she can be that he would have written the gag. She said she was "delighted that dad wrote the world's funniest joke".
Prof Wiseman said: "I think what is interesting here is that a joke from the 1950s still works, and how it has transformed over time from a cosy sitting room to hunters in New Jersey."
He added: "Spike Milligan was clearly into surreal humour. The sort of people who like his stuff will be people with a high tolerance for ambiguity because the sketches don't really have a sense of closure."
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I'm personally rather fond of the Pakistani Dalek sketch.
A lot that this guy knows.The world's funniest joke is yachting off of Martha's Vineyard as I type.
still waiting to ROTFLMAO
Two Irishmen walk out of a bar............
"So, you thing shooting people is funny? Shooting a FRIEND is funny? How could shooting a seriously hurt, defenseless friend of yours possibly be funny to you"
Comedian: "It's a joke."
Lib: "I just dont think guns are funny and nobody should own one."
touche'
PUT HIM IN THE CUR-RY
No jokes compares to anyone stumbling and falling down imo.
Everyone knows the funniest joke in the world was written by Ernest Scribbler, RIP.
The Goons were a major influence on the young lads who would later become Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Nope,
It's the duck in the movie theater joke.
"Dalek" as in Doctor Who Daleks?
"Wenn ist das Nunstrück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!".
(In German accent:) Two peanuts were walking down the strasser and one of them was assulted.
Yes:
1.) A cab driver picks up a nun. She gets into the cab, and the cab driver won't stop staring at her. She asks him why he's staring and he replies, "I have a question to ask you but I don't want to offend you."
She answers: "My dear son, you cannot offend me. When you're as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I'm sure that there's nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive."
"Well," says the cabbie, "I've always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me."
She responds, "Well, let's see what we can do about that. But I have two conditions: #1, you have to be single, and #2, you must be a Catholic."
The cab driver is very excited and says, "Yes, I'm single and I'm Catholic, too!"
The nun says, "O.K., pull into the next alley." He does and the nun fulfills his fantasy. But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying.
"My dear child," said the nun. "Why are you crying?"
"Forgive me sister, but I have sinned. I lied. I must confess: I'm married and I'm a Baptist."
The nun says, "That's O.K. I'm on the way to a Halloween party, and my name is Kevin."
*******
2.) Duck walks into a hardware store. "Got any duck food?" he quacks. "Sorry, no," says the proprietor. Duck leaves.
Next day the duck is back. "Got any duck food?" "No," says the proprietor. "I told you before. We don't carry it."
Next day he's back again: "Got any duck food?" The proprietor glares at him. "Look, buddy, we don't sell duck food. We never have and never will. And if you ask me that one more time, I'll nail your little webbed feet to the floor."
Next day the duck is back. "Got any nails?"
"We're out of nails today," says the proprietor.
"Got any duck food?"
"A lot that this guy knows.The world's funniest joke is yachting off of Martha's Vineyard as I type."
I thought the funniest joke was the people who keep reelecting him.
A Roman Catholic priest, a Jewish Rabbi, and a Muslim imam walk into a bar.
The bartender looks at them for a moment, then asks, "What is this, some kind of joke?"
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