Tactic 020. Storytell 140. World’s Funniest Joke
World’s Funniest Joke
I was planning to use the World’s Funniest Joke to launch Project Honeylight in 2023, but I don’t think it’s funny. Also, I’m three years behind my original plan so I’ve had time to reflect on this tactic.
The all-time winning lowest cost marketing message is iconic phrase “bless you” that was popularized during the plague in Rome around 590 CE by Pope Gregory. This phrase is repeated over 100 billion times per day at a cost of $0 per impression.
According to ChatGPT the phrase “bless you” has been repeated over 100 billion times in 2025. If you go back to 590 through 2025, “bless you” has been uttered between 3.1 trillion to ~39.4 trillion times.
People repeat “bless you” for $0 per transaction.
Therefore, it is the most energy efficient marketing tactic of all time.
Back around 2001, I thought it would be funny to go on a quest to find the World’s Funniest Joke. I imagined this deploying joke, along with other launch tactics, would give me the opportunity to spread a marketing message around the world at the lowest cost per person.
You don’t need to pay people to spread jokes so a joke is a way to spread a message at no cost.
While I don’t think the World’s Funniest Joke is funny, I’m keeping it here in case you are among the large group of people who enjoy this style of humor. I had it made into a cartoon to increase the funny vibes.
The joke below was rated the “funniest” out of 40,000 jokes, rated by more than 350,000 people from 70 countries. If you are interested in learning about the study that evaluated the jokes, click here to see the details from Richard Wiseman at LaughLab. A summary of the findings can be found in this paper.
Enjoy!
This is statistically the World’s Funniest Joke.
Stories spread ideas. The most viral stories are jokes. The most viral joke is the world’s funniest joke.
I’m trying to spread an idea around the planet. Funny stories spread faster than any other kind of story, so I thought it would be funny to use a joke to launch a new idea.
A pdf version of the model below can be found here: Humor Response
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Tactic Id | Tactic 20 |
| Story Id | Story 1 |
| Name | World's Funniest Joke |
| Attributes | Virality |
| Date Completed | September 2022 |
| Pattern | Word virus |
| Emotion | Humor |
| Timing | Launch sequence (October 2023) |
