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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Dr. Emma Greening
Aired October 06, 2002 - 10:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Scientists in England have made a breakthrough, it's a big one.
RUDI BAKHTIAR, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, a big breakthrough.
O'BRIEN: After years and years, we're not talking about, you know, if they send a man to the moon kind of stuff, but if they can send a man to the moon, can't they find the world's funniest joke? Well, researchers have found it.
BAKHTIAR: Yes, they have. That's right. The joke that appeals to men and women, young and old, here and abroad, and I'm going to tell it.
O'BRIEN: I wish we had a drum roll. Here it is. Funniest joke in the world.
BAKHTIAR: I'm going to do my best. But I've read this and it wasn't that funny. So hopefully, you'll laugh. OK. "Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed over. The other man pulls out his phone and calls emergency services. He gasps to the operator, "my friend is dead, what an I do?" The operator in a very calm, soothing voice replies, "take it easy, I can help. First let's make sure he's dead." There's silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the hunter says, "OK, now what?"
Yeah, right. It could have been better, I think. I have a better joke.
O'BRIEN: Well, I suppose everybody out there would say, wait a minute, I got one that's better than that. So I think we need to go right to the source, shall we?
BAKHTIAR: Yeah, please.
O'BRIEN: With us on the line from Hertfordshire, England, is Dr. Emma Greening, who is one of the researchers who was a part of all of this. Dr. Greening, good to have you with us.
DR. EMMA GREENING, HERTFORDSHIRE UNIVERSITY: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Now, we were making a little bit of fun about your joke. And I hope you take that in good humor, if you know what I mean.
GREENING: Oh, yes. I will.
O'BRIEN: But I am very curious. Humor is a very subjective thing. How can one purport to offer up to the world the most funniest joke?
GREENING: Well, we did actually do the biggest survey of humor that's ever been done. We have set up a Web site, which is (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and invited people to submit their favorite jokes. And we got over 40,000 jokes submitted in the end. And then people looked on them, rated how funny they were, and we got two million ratings. So this is actually the joke that has been rated the funniest by everybody that logged on to the Web site.
O'BRIEN: OK, so, and how many people logged on?
GREENING: We had about 400,000 people logged on, so two million ratings because they all rated five jokes.
O'BRIEN: And these were mostly people from Great Britain, I trust?
GREENING: No, actually, America was the biggest source of people.
O'BRIEN: Really?
GREENING: Yeah.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. Now, so really, do you actually think this is the funniest joke in all the land?
GREENING: Actually, probably not. You have to bear in mind, we have to take out all the jokes that might be offensive or too rude to put on, because the children will be logging on to the Web site. So it might be the funniest clean joke.
O'BRIEN: The funniest clean joke in the world, OK. That makes a little more sense. Rudi, do you have any questions?
BAKHTIAR: Yeah, I was wondering what some of the other jokes were.
GREENING: Well, we have 40,000 jokes in total. So there were quite a lot that were submitted.
BAKHTIAR: How many different countries were involved in this?
GREENING: We have 70 different countries taking part in experiments.
O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this, and as a researcher, I know you have to, you know, double blind studies and all, but was this your personal favorite? Or would you have voted for something else? Or do you have to remain impartial?
GREENING: No, it wasn't my favorite. I would have voted for something else. But I think it does appeal to a lot of different ranges. This (UNINTELLIGIBLE) appeal specifically to different groups, but not to others. This one came out top across all the age ranges and countries and genders.
O'BRIEN: Is your joke, your personal favorite something you have on the tip of your tongue and could be shared with us briefly?
GREENING: Yes, I can share it with you.
O'BRIEN: Please do.
GREENING: A guy rings emergency services and says, "please, help me, my house is on fire." And the operator says, "OK, calm down. How can we get to you?" And the guy says, "do you not have those big red trucks anymore?"
O'BRIEN: That's pretty good.
BAKHTIAR: I think that's funnier.
O'BRIEN: I think I like that one better. Dr. Greening, it was a great pleasure to have you with us.
GREENING: Thank you very much.
O'BRIEN: And we appreciate you taking all of our ribbing in good humor as well.
GREENING: Thanks.
BAKHTIAR: Good luck this Sunday morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 6, 2002 - 10:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Scientists in England have made a breakthrough, it's a big one.
RUDI BAKHTIAR, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, a big breakthrough.
O'BRIEN: After years and years, we're not talking about, you know, if they send a man to the moon kind of stuff, but if they can send a man to the moon, can't they find the world's funniest joke? Well, researchers have found it.
BAKHTIAR: Yes, they have. That's right. The joke that appeals to men and women, young and old, here and abroad, and I'm going to tell it.
O'BRIEN: I wish we had a drum roll. Here it is. Funniest joke in the world.
BAKHTIAR: I'm going to do my best. But I've read this and it wasn't that funny. So hopefully, you'll laugh. OK. "Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed over. The other man pulls out his phone and calls emergency services. He gasps to the operator, "my friend is dead, what an I do?" The operator in a very calm, soothing voice replies, "take it easy, I can help. First let's make sure he's dead." There's silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the hunter says, "OK, now what?"
Yeah, right. It could have been better, I think. I have a better joke.
O'BRIEN: Well, I suppose everybody out there would say, wait a minute, I got one that's better than that. So I think we need to go right to the source, shall we?
BAKHTIAR: Yeah, please.
O'BRIEN: With us on the line from Hertfordshire, England, is Dr. Emma Greening, who is one of the researchers who was a part of all of this. Dr. Greening, good to have you with us.
DR. EMMA GREENING, HERTFORDSHIRE UNIVERSITY: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Now, we were making a little bit of fun about your joke. And I hope you take that in good humor, if you know what I mean.
GREENING: Oh, yes. I will.
O'BRIEN: But I am very curious. Humor is a very subjective thing. How can one purport to offer up to the world the most funniest joke?
GREENING: Well, we did actually do the biggest survey of humor that's ever been done. We have set up a Web site, which is (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and invited people to submit their favorite jokes. And we got over 40,000 jokes submitted in the end. And then people looked on them, rated how funny they were, and we got two million ratings. So this is actually the joke that has been rated the funniest by everybody that logged on to the Web site.
O'BRIEN: OK, so, and how many people logged on?
GREENING: We had about 400,000 people logged on, so two million ratings because they all rated five jokes.
O'BRIEN: And these were mostly people from Great Britain, I trust?
GREENING: No, actually, America was the biggest source of people.
O'BRIEN: Really?
GREENING: Yeah.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. Now, so really, do you actually think this is the funniest joke in all the land?
GREENING: Actually, probably not. You have to bear in mind, we have to take out all the jokes that might be offensive or too rude to put on, because the children will be logging on to the Web site. So it might be the funniest clean joke.
O'BRIEN: The funniest clean joke in the world, OK. That makes a little more sense. Rudi, do you have any questions?
BAKHTIAR: Yeah, I was wondering what some of the other jokes were.
GREENING: Well, we have 40,000 jokes in total. So there were quite a lot that were submitted.
BAKHTIAR: How many different countries were involved in this?
GREENING: We have 70 different countries taking part in experiments.
O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this, and as a researcher, I know you have to, you know, double blind studies and all, but was this your personal favorite? Or would you have voted for something else? Or do you have to remain impartial?
GREENING: No, it wasn't my favorite. I would have voted for something else. But I think it does appeal to a lot of different ranges. This (UNINTELLIGIBLE) appeal specifically to different groups, but not to others. This one came out top across all the age ranges and countries and genders.
O'BRIEN: Is your joke, your personal favorite something you have on the tip of your tongue and could be shared with us briefly?
GREENING: Yes, I can share it with you.
O'BRIEN: Please do.
GREENING: A guy rings emergency services and says, "please, help me, my house is on fire." And the operator says, "OK, calm down. How can we get to you?" And the guy says, "do you not have those big red trucks anymore?"
O'BRIEN: That's pretty good.
BAKHTIAR: I think that's funnier.
O'BRIEN: I think I like that one better. Dr. Greening, it was a great pleasure to have you with us.
GREENING: Thank you very much.
O'BRIEN: And we appreciate you taking all of our ribbing in good humor as well.
GREENING: Thanks.
BAKHTIAR: Good luck this Sunday morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
