Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
The Funniest Joke in the World
- This article describes the Monty Python sketch. For Dr. Richard Wiseman's research, see world's funniest joke.
The Funniest Joke in the World is the most frequent title used to refer to a Monty Python's Flying Circus comedy sketch, also known by two other phrases that appear within it, "joke warfare" and "killer joke". The premise of the sketch is fatal hilarity.
The sketch is set during World War II, when one Ernest Scribbler, a struggling British writer, creates the funniest joke in the world and then dies laughing. Numerous people attempting to investigate also die laughing upon reading the joke. It is finally retrieved by the British Army, and after careful testing, the joke is translated into German for use on the battlefield. Because the joke is so lethal, translators are only allowed to work on one word each; a translator who unfortunately sees two words has to be hospitalised.
The nonsensical German "translation" is (including words that are not real German):
- Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! ... Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.
The sketch appeared in the first episode of the television show Monty Python's Flying Circus, and was remade in a shorter version for the movie And Now for Something Completely Different; it is also available on the CD-ROM game of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.
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