Sarcasm is not the lowest form of wit - slapstick is.

A new survey has officially ranked different styles of humour, with slapstick and old-fashioned gagsters judged to be the least amusing.

Satire topped the poll of 3,500 people, though it was defined very broadly, from the political leanings of Rory Bremner to simply mocking the famous.

Sarcasm was the next favourite, with one in three people telling online bank smile.co.uk that it was the style they laughed at most.

Smutty and gross-out humour came next, followed by slapstick and straightforward gags as peddled by the likes of Bernard Manning and Bob Monkhouse.

The survey said television was influencing what made people laugh, and that the British sense of humour was becoming more refined.