Jokes are all part of the parcel at Christmas time, but as anyone who has ever pulled a cracker will attest, not all are created equally and some are a lot funnier than others.

But this year, you don't have to fret if you get a dud inside your cracker, because a huge scientific study has revealed the world's funniest joke.

While the study itself was conducted nearly 20 years ago, it is still very much relevant today, and it began when Psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman set up LaughLab in 2001.

Storing over 40,000 jokes, 1.5 million people from around the world took part and were asked to rate five randomly selected jokes on a five-point scale.

Gregory Brown discusses the world's funniest joke in the video below: 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was not a knock-knock joke that snagged the top place, instead, it was this:

"Two hunters are out in the woods 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?'"

So, what do you think of it? We at VT reckon the best way to really gauge its ability is to try it out with another person or persons.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Pexels]]

Wiseman told The Guardian that the joke was voted the finest because it has so much universal appeal.

He said: "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 situations or surprise us because of some kind of incongruity. The hunters joke contained all three elements."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Pexels]]

Five years after the study, Dr. Wiseman discovered a documentary film about British comedy legend Spike Milligan contained a very early version of the winning joke.

He explains: "The documentary (I Told You I Was Ill) contained a brief clip from a 1951 BBC program called London Entertains with the following early Goon sketch."

In the show, the joke was played out as follows:

Michael Bentine: I just came in and found him lying on the carpet there. 
Peter Sellers: Oh, is he dead? 
Michael Bentine: I think so. 
Peter Sellers: Hadn’t you better make sure? 
Michael Bentine: Alright. Just a minute. 
*Sound of two gun shots*
Michael Bentine: He’s dead.

According to Scott Weems, the author of Ha! The Science of When We Laugh and Why, the element of surprise is what is key to a good joke.

Discussing the study in the HuffPost, he said: "I believe comedy tastes vary so widely because humor isn't about setups or punchlines. Instead, it's about the 'kick of the discovery', thinking one way and then suddenly turning that thinking around.

"Shock and surprise are needed for that turn, but there must be a destination too. The reason dead baby jokes are so unappealing is that the same ingredient providing the shock also leaves us with some unfortunate imagery once the joke is over.

"Of the thousands of jokes analyzed in Wiseman's study, the ones rated highest by everybody included some shock or surprise, but not so much that they became the centerpiece of the joke.

"More important was a sense of false expectations being overturned. My personal favorite involved two ducks sitting on a pond. One of the ducks says, 'Quack'. The other quickly responds, 'I was going to say that!'. It's hard to be offended by that."

Jokes are all part of the parcel at Christmas time, but as anyone who has ever pulled a cracker will attest, not all are created equally and some are a lot funnier than others.

But this year, you don't have to fret if you get a dud inside your cracker, because a huge scientific study has revealed the world's funniest joke.

While the study itself was conducted nearly 20 years ago, it is still very much relevant today, and it began when Psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman set up LaughLab in 2001.

Storing over 40,000 jokes, 1.5 million people from around the world took part and were asked to rate five randomly selected jokes on a five-point scale.

Gregory Brown discusses the world's funniest joke in the video below: 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was not a knock-knock joke that snagged the top place, instead, it was this:

"Two hunters are out in the woods 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?'"

So, what do you think of it? We at VT reckon the best way to really gauge its ability is to try it out with another person or persons.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Pexels]]

Wiseman told The Guardian that the joke was voted the finest because it has so much universal appeal.

He said: "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 situations or surprise us because of some kind of incongruity. The hunters joke contained all three elements."

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Pexels]]

Five years after the study, Dr. Wiseman discovered a documentary film about British comedy legend Spike Milligan contained a very early version of the winning joke.

He explains: "The documentary (I Told You I Was Ill) contained a brief clip from a 1951 BBC program called London Entertains with the following early Goon sketch."

In the show, the joke was played out as follows:

Michael Bentine: I just came in and found him lying on the carpet there. 
Peter Sellers: Oh, is he dead? 
Michael Bentine: I think so. 
Peter Sellers: Hadn’t you better make sure? 
Michael Bentine: Alright. Just a minute. 
*Sound of two gun shots*
Michael Bentine: He’s dead.

According to Scott Weems, the author of Ha! The Science of When We Laugh and Why, the element of surprise is what is key to a good joke.

Discussing the study in the HuffPost, he said: "I believe comedy tastes vary so widely because humor isn't about setups or punchlines. Instead, it's about the 'kick of the discovery', thinking one way and then suddenly turning that thinking around.

"Shock and surprise are needed for that turn, but there must be a destination too. The reason dead baby jokes are so unappealing is that the same ingredient providing the shock also leaves us with some unfortunate imagery once the joke is over.

"Of the thousands of jokes analyzed in Wiseman's study, the ones rated highest by everybody included some shock or surprise, but not so much that they became the centerpiece of the joke.

"More important was a sense of false expectations being overturned. My personal favorite involved two ducks sitting on a pond. One of the ducks says, 'Quack'. The other quickly responds, 'I was going to say that!'. It's hard to be offended by that."