Mackems laugh more than rest of UK, report reveals
A new scientific study has revealed that people in Sunderland laugh more than anyone else in the UK each day.
According to ‘The Hilarity Report’ Mackems laugh 33 times a day, which is 43% more than the national average.
The study, by children’s comic Beano co-authored with neuroscientist and laughter expert Professor Sophie Scott, identifies the places people laugh like no other in the UK.
Sunderland topped the table laughing 33 times a day followed by
Wrexham with 32 times a day and Bath with 31 times a day.
The average Brit laughs 23 times a day, with an average of 25 minutes spent laughing each day, with people in the North laughing for a solid seven minutes more a week than in the South of the UK.
It also found men laughed an average of 14 more times than women over the course of a week and a whopping 730 times a year, although women’s laughter lasts longer equalling typically three minutes more than men per day.
Accents were also found to add to the comedic delivery of jokes with the London Cockney accent being named top followed by Scouse and Glaswegian.
British adults also said that they go out of their way to make other people laugh 17 times a day.
Internet memes have been keeping the nation laughing the most over the last year alongside taking pleasure in witnessing bad DIY haircuts and Zoom fails.
The study was specially commissioned by Beano who is on the hunt to find Britain’s Funniest Class in partnership with Youngminds, the children and young people’s mental health charity.
Classes can submit jokes which will be shortlisted by a panel and the ten finalists will be revealed at the end of May with the nation having the deciding vote on Beano.com on who will ultimately be Britain’s Funniest Class 2021. The winning class will be turned into characters and feature in the iconic Beano comic, as well as winning comic subscriptions and Beano books courtesy of Studio Press for the whole class.
They will also enjoy a special VIP Beano assembly for their whole school and will receive an official Beano trophy crowning them Britain’s Funniest Class.
Mike Stirling, Head of Beano Studios, said: “At Beano we’ve always known the power of laughter and the findings of our new Hilarity Report shows the nation really does have a funny bone. We know it’s been a very tough year across the country, so we’d love to give something back to teachers and help bring the laughter back to classrooms. We are already giggling in anticipation of the entries for this year’s Britain’s Funniest Class competition!”
Professor Sophie Scott said: “When we think about laughter and humour, we often think about jokes and comedy, but most of the time we laugh, we are laughing because of social reasons – who we are with or where we are. Although laughter is innate, it is also a behaviour we learn to use to communicate, to aid our work, to show who our friends are and to help make new friends, to deal with stress, to put people at their ease and to defuse difficult situations.”
Classes can submit their jokes at beano.com/schools until May 20, 2021.