First Annual HumorQ.com Humor Demographics Report

Greetings and welcome to the first published humorq.com study brought to you by yours truly... Bob DiPasquale.  I'm an application developer and a humor enthusiast.  Like many humor enthusiasts I enjoy contests like the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest but I continued to get frustrated with their winner selections and I was convinced that most people would agree that mine were better.  I set out to prove that and that's what brings us here.

In 2010 I created a website called humorq.com where I host my own cartoon caption contest and I insist that entrants act as judges of a sampling of prior contest captions before being allowed to enter their caption for the latest contest.  This means every caption sees a sampling of judges and based on their selection percentage I'm able to give every caption a score and every member maintains an overall all time score called their humorq.  We give bonus points when a member is able to select what will eventually become the most popular of the captions on their list of five choices presented to them during voting.  This prevents bias and keeps players from rushing through the voting portion.  The site and contest is growing in modest popularity as it gets ramped up in it's current noncommercial mode.

So let me give you a brief summary of the data before we get going.  At summary time we have 3928 caption entries from 238 humorq members.  Each caption was presented an average of 15 times on a list of 5 choices so what we have here already is mass judgements of over 50000 caption presentations.  Humorq scores are scaled on a distribution between 0 and 200 so a Median humorq score Is 100.  During humorq.com registration members are asked as an option to provide a number of demographics.  Most chose not to provide all of them and no doubt some members don't take the demographic questions seriously (we are talking about funny people after all). So below I will try to provide my opinions of where the data was telling even with these considerations.

Since being interested in this topic it seems I've noticed there's an article per month printed somewhere about whether men are really funnier than women.  A recent study from the University of San Diego was done and actually used methods similar to ours at humorq.com although theirs was on a considerably smaller scale.  Our results are similar to theirs though and shows men with a slight edge. My wife is a very important person in my life so I have no plans to expand on this data ( so many people do anyway ).  I think women are much better looking than men.  I'll shut up on this one now. 

Moving on...quickly... I have some good news for us baby boomers... grey haired people are the funniest. That's right young people, you can mountain climb and all that but while you're up there we will be down here making people laugh.  Blonds did not finish last by the way probably because they have overheard many good jokes.




Its an election year right?  Seems like an important time to note that democrats are funniest.  Apparently they don't take anything seriously.  Republicans ...well.. they made a showing but frankly I'm surprised many could stomach our member agreement.  Funny thinking and conservative thinking...how well should that go together anyway?

Hey Lefties!!!  Way to go!  Clearly more creative as has been a theory in a number of circles.  In case some of you righties plan to start entering captions left handed,  I don't think that's going to help.


The class demographic is very interesting with the 20 to 80K coming out on top, followed by the upper middle class, followed by the wealthy, followed by those under 20k.  Since I'm a member of the leading demographic I will conclude that the reason for us rising to the top is our familiarity with both tragedy and part time happiness.


For fun one of the demographics I ask for upon registration is a simple NASCAR yes or no.  NASCAR no scored significantly higher.  I should probably be more cautious not to offend offensives drivers but how creative can people watching cars go around an oval 200 times be?  I invite additional NASCAR fans to join humorq.com to correct the data when they're done watching wrestling.


I find the Marital Status demographic an interesting result too.  Apparently if your spouse dies there's an eventual enlightenment on what true humor is.  My mom was a widow with six kids and never shot a gun at any of us so I'm sure her sense of humor was pretty high.  The 'Other' marital status...well... it's fun just imagining the possible scenarios there.  They don't classify themselves as single so I guess they are in the sort of relationship where they are free to make certain choices and that untethered spirit breeds funny captions.... yeah, let's go with that.  The single people are apparently preoccupied with their marital status.


Congratulations self proclaimed spazzy nerdy people.  You are the funniest.  I would assume this includes Steve Martin, Will Ferrell,  Jim Parsons and several more of my favorites although if one of the personality choices would have been "God Like" I'm guessing that would have been chosen by the funniest of the Spaz and Nerd demographics. Special and Freaky people continue to be misunderstood by the masses but quite possibly may be OK with that.


There are some additional demographics not charted here due to their lack of data points so far including funniest states, cities, universities... but I'm hopeful our membership will grow large enough to include these demographics in the 2013 report.

I mentioned at the start of this report that my motivation was to prove myself funnier than most so I'm sure you're all wondering where I fit in.  What's my humorq?  I'm afraid I don't know.  I unfortunately haven't grown this marvelous little exercise enough to step away and let others take the controls.  A man with a good suit does not measure it himself nor will I.  So please help us grow and spread the word about HumorQ.com if you plan to use this data and maybe I can get a new suit... if you know what I mean.

Here's what I plan to do from here about this study ... I'm going to see if anyone with a recognized reputation will either publish or comment on it.  Below is a list of people/organizations I will be sending this study to and ask for them to comment on the study itself and their interest in it.  I can provide more details about the data upon request.


Peter McGraw / Joel Warner - Humor Research Laboratory - University of Colorado at Boulder
-

Hi, Bob.

Thanks for the note. It looks like you are having a good time with your humorq study. At this time, I cannot commit to critiquing your work, but we (Joel and I) will keep you in mind as we pursue our humor code project. In the meantime, good luck with your project.

All the best,

pete

Janice McIntire-Strassburg - Exec Director of American Humor Studies Assoc - Saint Louis University
- So far no comment

Cathleen Moore - Department of Psychology - University of Iowa
- So far no comment

Willibald Ruch - President of International Society for Humor Studies - University of Zurich
- Alternate Response

Bob:

     Your enterprise looks like it might have potential, but I don't have time to look into the details.  Sorry about that.

Don Nilsen, Co-Chair
Emeritus College Humanities Faculty
Arizona State University
Co-Founder
International Society for Humor Studies

A Christmas Poem - Somewhat Stolen By Many - Just Taking My Turn

Season's Greetings!

In appreciation for hitting 400 members and in celebration of the holiday season I offer the following Uncle Bob original ... 

Twas the week before Christmas and all 'cross the webs.
We was all eatin snack cakes - most better than Little Deb's.
The flockings had started to HumorQ on a dare,
In hopes that high humor scores soon would be there.

The cartoons were nestled all snug in their spot,
While four hundred captioners wondered a lot.
With me at the 'puter, and Mom at the TV,
We both kept on yellin' "Come here and see."

Some say I am jolly and lively and quick,
Please make no mistake I'm far from St. Nick.
But for those that are loyal to my fun little game,
I will take this moment to call some by name.

On Rita, On Joey, On Myrna and Cary
On Ashley, On Janet, On Sirrob and Barry.
And lots more names that are real hard to rhyme,
It's great that our website and you have shared time.

In two thousand twelve I hope you remain,
And thousands of others climb on our train.
That HumorQ grows bigger in need of a staff,
But most of all I wish you all a good laugh!

Merry Christmas! And thanks for being part of http://HumorQ.com .

Uncle Bob

Dear Will Ferrell Haters

Dear Will Ferrell Haters,

I'm sorry but it's you that is wrong with the world of humor.  You criticize a man that has mastered performance of the silly.  Silly - Exhibiting a lack of wisdom or good sense; foolish.  Silly my friends goes back to the days of court jesters and has been one of the purest forms of humor for many centuries.  My guess is Will could tell you stories of his great great great great great great granduncle Willius Ferrelldom the redundantly great court Jester of Laughious the III.  Alas, you find this not funny.

I'm guessing the root of your hatred grows from the definition of arrogance - making claims or pretensions to superior importance or rights; overbearingly assuming; insolently proud.  Do you share the same feelings toward the Stooges, or perhaps Lucille Ball?  Your intelligence my friends is serving as your enemy.  You see it as deserving of some humor exclusivity when in fact exclusivity is what narrows your humor score.  Laughter is our bond with an intelligent universe and foolishness bridges the masses.  In addition, laughing at the same things our children laugh at is an important connection we have with them and finding the humor in a character like Will Ferrell's Buddy the Elf is one of the greatest connections you can share with your children.

I can appreciate that the subject matter of some Will Ferrell films is adolescent and perhaps reminds you of a period in your life that is important to put behind you.  It's just more exclusion though and a barrier between yourself and a large group of people.  I ask you  - "How big are the rooms you laugh in?", "How hearty a laugh comes from your body?", "When is the last time you shared a laugh with a child or a stranger?".  I am proud of my answers to these questions and I hope you come over to my side someday.  Times a wastin'.

Got your nose.

Bob DiPasuale
Http://HumorQ.com Founder

Thanks to Dictionary.com for the definitions mentioned above.

It's Allgood People

A discussion with frequent HumorQ Winner Joey Allgood... 

So, you’re a HumorQ champion.  To what do you credit such an impressive sense of humor?

My wife is my harshest critic, so I’m under constant pressure to meet her standard of funny. Once while we were dating, I uttered a mediocre pun and spent the next month sleeping on the couch. We weren’t even living together!

Do you have some sort of ritual that you do that helps you submit champion caliber captions?

I usually log in pretty early in the day and see what the new caption is, then maul it over in my head for a while until I come up with something that makes me laugh. That should be everyone’s barometer of funniness.

Are there certain people you’d like to approach and say “Remember that day you said I wasn’t funny?  Well my humorq is (fill in your humorq here)” ?

There’s a couple, but it would be in poor taste to gloat and mock at this point. Does that make me a better person than Elisha Allgood or Russ Clinton? I’ll let you decide.

Let’s say you realized a tiny goat family has been living in the glove compartment of your car, what would you say to them?

Nothing. I’d let the vacuum do the talking.

Fair is fair.  Do you have a question for me?

Nope, I have two. Is there a way to provide an edit option on a caption you submitted on that day? I get why editing your caption after it’s been voted on would be a bad idea, but sometimes you misspell a word or think of a funnier way to phrase something. Also, would it be possible to add an option to add bold, italics, underlines, etc. to captions?

Yes there’s a way.  But you asked two questions so I can’t help you until some penalty period passes.

In case you happen to write one liner jokes too, what (tasteful) one liner joke of yours would you like me to try out for you at my next open mic visit? (which I would put on youtube so you could see if it worked)

I’m just curious, does anyone here know if bulimics prefer finger food?

Joey, you should be ashamed.  Bulimic finger jokes are in ‘bad taste’.

Is there another website (besides HumorQ.com where we put a number on how funny people are), that you would like the world to know about?

Sure! My lovely and talented wife helped set up a place for me to put my creations (mostly caption wins and fake news articles at the moment)… it’s at https://joeyallgood.wordpress.com/

Finally, is there anything else you would like to share with the people learning about HumorQ? 

If you’re anything like me when I first joined, the first few weeks were brutal. Give it time and don’t lose heart. It takes a while familiarize yourself with the type of entries that win. Scroll through past winners and get a feel for the kind of humor voters appreciate. And above all, BE PATIENT! There are a lot of talented captioneers out there. Just when you think you’ve written a “sure thing”, people like Cary Antebi, Rita Welegala, and Ted Rivera will come up with something that makes you embarrassed by what you submitted. And if you think you deserved a name check in the previous sentence, win next month’s contest and prove me wrong… :)

An Interview with Our August Champion - Ashley Schweiger

So, you’re a HumorQ champion.  To what do you credit such an impressive sense of humor?

My dad and Husband. They are the masters of puns and dancing. 

I'm not familiar with pun dancing but it sounds incredibly entertaining.  I'm smelling new reality TV show.

Do you have some sort of ritual that you do that helps you submit champion caliber captions?

I drink a Pepsi, crack my fingers and type whatever comes to mind.

Are there certain people you’d like to approach and say “Remember that day you said I wasn’t funny?  Well my humorq is (fill in your humorq here)” ?

Oh yeah. I can’t wait to tell my brother. He said I would never be as funny as our dad. I don’t see my dad with the title of HumorQ Champion. Don’t worry, I rubbed it in my dad’s face. And my husband’s.

Let’s say you realized a tiny goat family has been living in the glove compartment of your car, what would you say to them?

Well that would explain the funny smell....I would ask if this was the new entryway to Narnia.

Fair is fair.  Do you have a question for me?

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

There's that GEICO commercial now I think with the woodchucks actually chucking wood, so we're closer to the answer with them being caught on film but there's probably no end to it really.  It's like asking how much jibberish could I type.

Is there another website (besides HumorQ.com where we put a number oh how funny people are), that you would like the world to know about?

Well there’s a site called reddit, and it has a bunch of subreddits such as Funny, Jokes, Humor. You can submit stuff and get karma.

Finally, is there anything else you would like to share with the people learning about HumorQ?  

Don’t try to hard. If you can’t think of a caption just walk away. Or close the tab. 

Personally I think trying too hard is exactly what you should do, and never close the tab.  Just short of cranial explosion is when I would give up....but that's just me.

Newest HumorQ Caption Prototype Accdentally Left In Bar

In what appears to be a complete breakdown of caption security a HumorQ.com member has claimed to have left a bar in Austin Texas while failing to retain the cartoon caption prototype he had been working on for the latest contest.  The HumorQ member wished to remain anonymous but had this to say.

"I had the cartoon in my head all day.  There were some mediocre captions that came to my head, but we're talking humorq scores of 110, 120 at the most.  Then, right as I'm finishing my first Mexican martini, it came to me.  I jotted it down on my napkin.  And then I guess I just left it there like a suitcase that should have been handcuffed to my wrist.  I'm just beside myself.  Not in a there's me, and there's another me right here kind of way.  I mean I'm upset.  The caption had something about an anchor and a three dollar calculator, but that's all I remember.  I know it was at least a humorq of 180, and now it's gone."

Skeptics believe this could be an intentional copycat leak to try and stir excitement about the caption contest at http://humorq.com .  Whatever.


 

Introducing July's HumorQ Champion - Janet Williams

So, you’re a HumorQ champion.  To what do you credit such an impressive sense of humor?

I have a very dry sense of humor and I rarely laugh out loud. I attribute this to my upbringing in an extended family full of folks who use satire, irony and snideness (is that a word?) in their everyday language. It’s our family’s way of showing affection.

Do you have some sort of ritual that you do that helps you submit champion caliber captions?

Staring at the monitor until something comes to me, discarding the obvious caption (usually the first thing that comese to me) and waiting for something not so predictable to come into my head. Sometimes this is an excruciating experience.

Are there certain people you’d like to approach and say “Remember that day you said I wasn’t funny?  Well my humorq is (fill in your humorq here)” ?

Not really, but I have enjoyed telling my older sister Gayle Williams that I have had the winning caption on so many occasions. She is a new HumorQ contributor and has recently had two winning captions in less than a week. She is a formidable opponent.(And, by the way, is the only person who has ever beat me at Trivial Pursuit.)

Let’s say you realized a tiny goat family has been living in the glove compartment of your car, what would you say to them?

“So that’s what happened to my auto insurance verification card!”

Fair is fair.  Do you have a question for me?

Are you planning any modifications to the website? It would be nice, for example, to be able to have an archive of winning entries.

I have many big ideas.  I also plan to organize the garage.  Right now,  I'm going to make a sandwich.  Actually I'm hopeful further development efforts will be picking up very soon.

Is there another website (besides HumorQ.com where we put a number oh how funny people are), that you would like the world to know about?

I love www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com and for the adults in the crowd, http://textsfromlastnight.com.

Finally, is there anything else you would like to share with the people learning about HumorQ?  

“Funny” is in the mind of the reader. Some prefer cornpone humor; others get a kick out of puns. I’m not a fan of sophomoric humor but I realize there are a lot of folks who laugh at loud at what I consider “teenage idiocy.” For me, HumorQ is not about being the funniest; it’s about challenging myself to be creative every day.