Glasgow beat Edinburgh and Aberdeen for the country’s funniest city.
Not only is Glasgow kind and friendly, it can now add funny to its list of why the city is great. In the lead up to Red Nose Day on March 19, Comic Relief commissioned a poll to find out just how funny some of the UK’s biggest cities are, and it seems Glasgow has one of the best senses of humour in Scotland. Glasgow managed to beat the likes of Edinburgh and Aberdeen for the top spot in Scotland, and came in fifth place overall for the funniest city in the UK.
The survey found that Liverpool was the city that most thought would tickle your funny bone, followed by London and Newcastle. The charity’s poll discovered the top comedians to have come out of each city, with The Big Yin (Billy Connelly) rated number one comedian in Glasgow. The two other famous and funny local faces who made it to the top three were Kevin Bridges and Frankie Boyle.
Responses to the Comic Relief poll also found that we love laughing at our own jokes and that the typical adult laughs nine times a day – and makes others giggle on six occasions. The study also found 83% agree ‘laughter is the best medicine’, while 76% revealed humour has been especially important to them during lockdown. Thank you Netflix for supplying us with plenty of comedy shows to help see us through lockdown!
Birmingham-born Comic Relief co-founder, Sir Lenny Henry, said: “This year Red Nose Day will be a bit different. We all need cheering up, and of course, we want to raise as much money as possible for people who really need it in the UK and around the world, but we also want to make you smile and bring you some laughter over the coming weeks.”
Here’s how some of the UK’s biggest cities faired:
- Liverpool
- London
- Newcastle
- Manchester
- Glasgow
- Birmingham
- Leeds
- Edinburgh
- Belfast
- Cardiff
- Sheffield
- Brighton and Hove
- Bristol
- York
- Aberdeen
- Swansea
- Wolverhampton
- Oxford
- Plymouth
- Leicester
The study also found sarcasm is the UK’s favourite form of humour – despite often being referred to as the lowest form of wit, more than a quarter (26%) of participants selected sarcasm. Plus, more than eight in 10 adults (85%) consider themselves to have a good sense of humour, rating themselves a three out of five on average when it comes to how funny they are. However, more than one in 10 claim to be the funniest person they know and nearly half of people surveyed (48%) reckon they are funnier than their partner.
Red Nose Day has launched its ‘Share a Smile’ campaign which is encouraging people to put their favourite joke in their window – and you can download the poster here.