A London-based website has polled 30,000 people across 15 countries to find out which countries are perceived to make participants laugh the most often, and which nations fell flat in the humor department.
Americans came out on top, with Germans bringing up the rear in the poll conducted by UK media and dating site Badoo.com. Spain came in second, and Italy at number three. The UK itself was only seventh in the poll- which makes one wonder if Father Ted was distributed all that well outside Britain.
The poll controlled for bunches of Americans who think they are incredibly funny skewing the results, although the effect of pervasive American media worldwide probably influenced the response. Participants were asked:
“Which nationality — excluding your own — do you feel is the funniest and/or best at making people laugh?” and “Which nationality do you feel is the LEAST funny and/or good at making people laugh?”
Badoo’s Marketing Director Lloyd Price commented in a press release on the findings:
America is a worthy poll winner, says Price. “It’s the world’s only comedy superpower.” Americans are the folks who gave us sitcoms including Friends, The Simpsons, Frasier and Seinfeld, plus any number of great comedians.
The British, who brought us Monty Python and The Office, pride themselves on their humor but learn from the Badoo poll that they’re not as funny as they think. They placed just seventh of 15 – behind the Brazilians, French and Mexicans.
If you’re not American, do you find Americans to be the funniest country? (Excepting our politics and politicians.) Which nation makes you laugh the most?
