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So funny I forgot to laugh . . .

According to scientists in England (at the University of Hertfordshire's "LaughLab"), the world's funniest joke has been discovered after a year-long search. People around the world were invited to judge jokes on an Internet site as well as contribute their own. From 40,000 jokes and two million ratings, this one was deemed the funniest:

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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 takes out his phone and calls
the emergency services.

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 gunshot is heard.
Back on the phone, the guy says: "OK, now what?"
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Amusing, yes. Laugh out loud hilarious? No. (Not for me anyway. Maybe I'm out of touch with the rest of humanity.)

Read more about this at World's Funniest Joke.

A friend writes:

"Hmmm ...funny, maybe. But funniest? Nah.

Reminds me of an old Monty Python sketch where British scientists during WWII were trying to come up with the world's funniest joke, to use it as a weapon. They came upon one so funny -- and so lethal -- that they had to use several translators who would translate just one word of the joke apiece into German. One translator came across three consecutive words and was hospitalized. The soldiers would each be given a single word to shout out in German until they got through the whole thing, and you'd hear German soldiers laughing in the bushes until they fell out, dead. It continues on in that vein. Now *that* was funny."