Drum  roll
..
A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of  them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled  back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency  services. He gasps to the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The  operator, in a calm soothing voice says: "Just take it easy. I can help. First,  let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy's  voice comes back on the line. He says: "OK, now what?"
This winning  joke was submitted by Gurpal Gosall, a 31 year old psychiatrist from Manchester  in the UK. He told LaughLab that:
"I like the joke as it makes people  feel better, because it reminds them that there is always someone out there who  is doing something more stupid than themselves."
So why did the hunters  joke perform so well? Dr Richard Wiseman, the psychologist behind the LaughLab  project, said:
"This joke is interesting because it works across many  different countries, appeals to men and women, and young and old alike. 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 events, or surprise us because of some  kind of incongruity. The hunters joke contains all three elements  we feel  superior to the stupid hunter, realise the incongruity of him misunderstanding  the operator and the joke helps us to laugh about our concerns about our own  mortality."



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