Termite walks up to the bar and asks, “Is the bar tender here?”
Is the bar tender here?
Huh? Amiright?
Oh well. I’m obviously not a comedian. But a fair percentage of Atlantans are. According to a recent study by the Humor Research Lab (HuRL) at the University of Colorado, Atlanta, along with Washington D.C., gives birth to the most top comedians per capita among major U.S. cities. That fact helped us reach No. 3 on the on lab’s list of the 50 Funniest Cities in America. The study was conducted as research for the new book The Humor Code: A Global Search For What Makes Things Funny (Simon & Schuster).
Other factors in the rankings included number of comedy clubs per square mile, live comedy attendance rates, and a survey of residents asking what websites they visit and which TV shows and movies they watch. Weight was also given to more authoritative data like city-by-city ratings from actual, touring comedians. Researchers found that the birthplace of both Jeff Foxworthy and Chris Tucker produced a more racially charged jocularity, which the study attributed to our diversity. A representative joke:
What do call a black pilot? A pilot, you racist.
I still think mine is better. Is the bar TENDER here?
Yeah?
Ahem, is this thing on?