Are you a quick wit or a master of irony? Have you got good craic or enough comedic timing to get a laugh even out of the cringiest dad jokes? Chances are that you’re a funny person.
Humour is both universal and incredibly local. It varies enormously between generations, communities and across cultures, but you can bet every nation has its own comedic identity – even if that means not really having one at all.
But, which nation is the funniest? Well, Remitly asked more than 6,000 people from 30 different countries to fill out the Humour Styles Questionnaire, which is a study developed back in 2003 by a guy called Rod Martin. It essentially helps researchers and psychologists understand how humour is used by different people in their day-to-day, not just if they’re funny but also how they’re funny.
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So, was it the Brits, with their dry use of irony, or the Irish, famous for their good craic, who claimed the crown? The answer is neither – the title of the funniest country in the world was actually awarded to (slapstick drum roll, please) ...Czechia (aka the Czech Republic).
Scoring 72.33 out of 100, Czechs apparently excel at self-defeating humour and also, according to the study, rank well for aggressive humour (this includes jokes that come at another person’s expense, such as sarcasm or ridicule).
Portugal came second with a score of 71.42. The Portuguese are characterised by affiliative humour – that’s the kind of funny which is warm and helps people bond – and in a close third place was Ireland, which scored 71.18.
These are the world’s 20 funniest countries, according to Remitly
- Czech Republic
- Portugal
- Ireland
- Belgium
- Chile
- Greece
- Australia
- Poland
- Denmark
- Hungary
- Switzerland
- Netherlands
- France
- Mexico
- Austria
- Estonia
- Canada
- UK
- South Africa
- Norway
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