Sarcasm? I bet that's SO popular... | 'Lowest form of wit' actually tops poll © Tom Van Schelven/Comic Relief

Sarcasm? I bet that's SO popular...

'Lowest form of wit' actually tops poll

comedyThey say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit… but it turns out to be the most popular type of comedy in the UK.

In a new survey for Comic Relief, 26 per cent of Britons said they liked such irony, ahead of stand-up and one-liners at 23 per cent each.

And the lowest form of humour? Topical humour and pranks, which were a hit with just 11 per cent of those who responded.

The full rundown was:

  1. Sarcasm (26%)
  2. Stand up (23%)
  3. One liners (23%)
  4. Observational (23%)
  5. Dry (22%)
  6. Wit-wordplay (14%)
  7. Dark (12%)
  8. Subtle (12%)
  9. Pranks (11%)
  10. Topical (11%)

The charity quizzed 2,000 peope about their comedy preferences ahead of this year’s Red Nose Day on March 19.

Three-quarters of those surveyed  said that humour was important to them during lockdown.

A total of 85 per cent of Britons also rated themselves as having a good sense of humour, while more than one in 10 people claim to be the funniest person they know.

And 64 per cent reckon they are funnier than their partner - even though that  is mathematically impossible to be true.

Liverpudlians were deemed to have the best sense of humour, followed by London Newcastle, Manchester and Glasgow respectively.

Published: 22 Feb 2021

Live comedy picks

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.