Do you like a laugh?
What tickles your funnybone? Is it TV shows like Blackadder or Mock The Week laced with sarcasm?
Maybe you just like good clean family fun like Miranda or Outnumbered?
What about comedians? Do you like to see them live? Do you giggle to the madcap high-energy antics of Lee Evans or the droll one liners of Tim Vine or Stewart Francis?
Your sense of humour could be an indicator of how truly happy you are – and whether you could be at risk of suicidal thoughts. No laughing matter.
In a study by researchers at Oklahoma State University they revealed four types of fun.
First up an ‘affiliative’ sense of humour means light teasing and joking to build relationships.
A ‘self-enhancing’ sense of fun involves having a positive outlook on life and being able to joke even when under stress.
The third class is ‘aggressive’ humour which sounds the most British – making fun of others using sarcasm, ridicule and ‘hostile teasing’.
The last category is self-defeating humour which means making others laugh at your expense.
Researchers discovered that those who use self-defeating humour are at more of a risk for suicidal thinking when experiencing common stresses, such as feelings of ‘thwarted belongingness’ or ‘perceived burdensomeness’.
I’m not quite sure what those common stresses are but I feel unhappy just writing them.
The researchers also found that it was the ‘affiliative’ sense of humour which stopped people in the survey feeling suicidal.
Of all four of the humours it was only the ‘affiliative’ sense of humour that did this – and it may even help to stave off depression.
That’s the audience dealt with but another piece of research put forward that it’s comedians who are most at risk from depression, suggesting that they need to think funny thoughts in order to try and alleviate their own depressive moods.
The study compared more than 500 comedians against in excess of 350 actors, and found comedians behaved like other creative groups in showing high levels of psychotic personality traits.
The research also revealed the unusual personality profile of comedians which included, and forgive me for this, ‘introverted anhedonia’ and ‘extraverted impulsiveness’.
Basically inward looking and uncertain combined with being a manic bundle of energy.
Female comedians scored even higher than their male counterparts for ‘non impulsive conformity’ which means impulsive anti-social actions.
That’s enough of the science – let’s have a laugh!
Last year Yorkshire comedian Rob Auton won the award for the funniest joke of the Edinburgh Fringe. He had recently quit his job selling paintbrushes to be a full-time comedian. Well, now he’s laughing!
The 30-year-old was handed the prize by digital TV channel Dave, whose panel chose a selection which then went to a public vote.
King of the one-liners for this year was Tim Vine who was presented with the Dave Funniest Joke of the Fringe 2014 award.
Here is the rest of the top 10 from this year’s festival.
1. “I’ve decided to sell my Hoover … well, it was just collecting dust.” – Tim Vine
2. “I’ve written a joke about a fat badger, but I couldn’t fit it into my set.” – Masai Graham
3. “Always leave them wanting more, my uncle used to say to me. Which is why he lost his job in disaster relief.” – Mark Watson
4. “I was given some sudoku toilet paper. It didn’t work. You could only fill it in with number 1s and number 2s.” – Bec Hill
5. “I wanted to do a show about feminism. But my husband wouldn’t let me.” – Ria Lina
6. “Money can’t buy you happiness? Well, check this out, I bought myself a Happy Meal.” – Paul F Taylor
7. “Scotland had oil, but it’s running out thanks to all that deep frying.” – Scott Capurro
8. “I forgot my inflatable Michael Gove, which is a shame ‘cause halfway through he disappears up his own arsehole.” – Kevin Day
9. “I’ve been married for 10 years, I haven’t made a decision for seven.” – Jason Cook
10. “This show is about perception and perspective. But it depends how you look at it.” – Felicity Ward
