Big Data Making an Appearance in Comedy

The big data comedy project (arguably) began in 2002 with the Laugh Lab experiment. They spent a year gathering data on about 40,000 jokes, and over 1.5 million ratings, to find the best joke.This is the joke that took home the gold.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 whips 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?”