The Serious Side Of Humor

Richard Wiseman is a researcher and professor at University of Hertfordshire, and did a study to find the world's funniest joke. According to the research, which involved thousands of people, the time of the month and the day made a difference as to how funny the joke was perceived to be. It turns out, the best time to tell a joke is on the 15th of the month at 6:03 in the evening. According to the research this is the world's funniest joke:

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 cell phone and calls 911. 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?"

This, I didn't find very funny because a) it's not the 15th of the month b) It's not 6:03pm, and c) I've heard this joke before.

For maximum effect, do not read beyond this point until the 15th of July at around 6:00pm.
This is the funniest joke I've heard recently:

A horse breeder wants to buy a filly so he calls a friend who sells horses. The horse breeder says "I'm real busy so I'll send my employee over to look at the horse. The seller asks how he'll know this person. "That's easy, it's a midget with a speech impediment."

The midget arrives and the seller takes him over to look at the filly. The midget says "can you wift me up so I can see the fiwwies teef?" The seller rolls his eyes and lifts the midget up to take a look and puts him back on the ground. The midget says "can you wift me up so I can take a wook a the fiwwies eyes?" The seller lifts him up again so he can take a look. Finally the midget says "can I see the fiwwies twat?" The seller has had enough and he picks the midget up and sticks the midget's head in the filly's rear end and sets him back on the ground. The midget spits, sputters and says,
"Perhaps I should re-phwase that, can I see her wun awound a widdle bit?"

Humor had a serious purpose in World War II.