(And apparently children actually like 'dad jokes')

The children have spoken! And they have ruled that the funniest joke of all time is: ‘Why was the sand wet? Because the sea weed!’

Beano asked 2,000 British children aged 7 to12 years old on which classic jokes have stood the test of time,

And they said the top ten were:

1.  Why was the sand wet? Because the sea weed!
2. What do you call a blind dinosaur? Doyouthinkhesaurus
3.  What did the policeman say to his tummy? Freeze you’re under a vest
4.  Doctor, Doctor! Help, I feel like a pair of curtains! Pull yourself together then
5.  What’s the fastest vegetable? A runner bean! 
6. What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire? Frostbite
7.  What’s brown and sticky? A stick
8.  What do you call a blind deer? No eye deer
9. Why should you be careful when it's raining cats and dogs? You might step in a poodle
10. Do you want to hear a joke about pizza? Never mind, it’s too cheesy

And despite the reputation for cheesy ‘dad jokes’, two-thirds of the children chose their father  as the funniest person in their family.

The research was commissioned to mark the launch of Beano’s new joke competition to find the funniest primary school class in Britain. Details are here.   

Mike Stirling, Beano’s editorial director, said: ‘Beano has always known how naturally funny kids are, so this national competition is the perfect way to shine a spotlight on the comedians of tomorrow.’

Beano also offers a free SPAG LOLZ programme for primary schools, using joke-writing techniques to teach Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar for Key Stages 1 and 2 of the curriculum.

Published: 31 Jan 2019