Does this joke make them the funniest class in Britain?
A n E d i n b u r g h p r i m a r y school class is the only S cottish school group shortlisted in the top ten of a competition to find Britain’s funniest class.
The P6 class at ESMS Junior School was shortlisted in the contest held by Dundee-based comic B eano, with the joke: “How do you fr y a black and white bear? With a pan-duh!”
Nine other UK schools were a l s o s h o r t l i s t e d , i n c l u d i n g one group of youngsters from West Sussex with the gag “At the bank a lady asked me to check her balance, so I pushed her over” and another from Kent: “What is green and not heavy? Light green”.
The news comes as the Beano announced a poll which found that seeing people tripping or slipping over, hearing someone passing wind in public and internet memes have been voted as the biggest everyday laughter triggers.
Animals acting like humans, rude sounding names – including road and place names such as Scratchy Bottom and Piddle River in Dorset – and bad haircuts also feature highly on the list.
Oldies and parents trying to be cool was also found to be a big source of kids’ amuse - me n t w i t h c h i l d r e n s ay i n g they found it funny when their elders tryied to use kids’ slang, showed off their dance moves, or attempted to use technology or social media.
Mike Stirling, editorial director at Beano, said: “Everyone at Beano has been left in stiches by the entries to our national joke competition to find the funniest primary class in Britain and we can’t wait to see which school the public will vote the ultimate comedy genius.”
The shortlisted top ten jokes we r e c h o s e n b y c o m e d i a n Har r y Hi l l a n d B e a n o’s g a g makers and are now open to a public vote on Beano.com to decide who will be named Britain’s Funniest Class.
Robert Cowie, P6 class teacher at ESMS, said: “As a class we do ‘Worst Joke Wednesdays’ most weeks. The benchmark was set very low by me at the s t a r t o f t h e ye a r. T h e mor e groans elicited by the jokes, the better. However, the children enjoyed creating jokes of a much higher quality for this competition and are delighted to be shortlisted.”