Laughlab: announcing the ‘world’s funniest joke’
Did you hear the one about the lady on the bus?
Laughlab was a scientific search for the ‘world’s funniest joke’. In 2003, psychologist Richard Wiseman asked me to created soundtrack to announce the results of this worldwide, online experiment. This was blasted through the streets on London from a Routemaster bus, on the day the top-rated jokes were unveilled.
Hear the soundtrack
The soundtrack includes the ‘world’s funniest joke’ and some of the best runners-up. My favourite jokes on the recording are the one about the cannibals and the one about the lady on the bus. Apparently, the bus joke was voted top joke in the UK. According to the Laughlab website, the winning joke was submitted by Gurpal Gosall, a 31-year-old psychiatrist from Manchester, UK.
Voice-over
Richard Hodder, voice-over artist, provided a slightly seedy comic reading, in Max Miller style. I mixed this with other sounds to create the feeling of an early, live BBC radio show (a ‘light programme’ special). Richard also announced the World’s Funniest Joke in an appropriately stiff, Leslie Mitchel voice.
Laughlab was sponsored by Science Year (now Planet Science) and the British Association.
