Funny men seen as 'more intelligent'

Having trouble impressing the ladies? Try telling them a joke or two.

A sense of humour makes men seem more intelligent, trustworthy - and a better bet for a relationship, a study found.

Psychologist Kristofor McCarty said it appeared that men really can laugh women into bed.

He said: 'A quick browse of lonely hearts ads will confirm that women look for a good sense of humour in a potential partner - our research may explain why this is the case.'

Mr McCarty asked 45 women to rate the personalities behind a selection of lonely hearts ads drawn up especially for the study.

Some of the ads had been chosen because they were funny, others were entirely factual.

The funny men were rated as more intelligent, despite the ads containing no clues on IQ.

They were also seen as more honest and better material for a relationship and for friendship, the British Psychological Society's annual conference heard.

via Funny men laugh ladies into bed because they're seen as 'more intelligent' | Mail Online.

Not always true, of course, but in general, funny people are more intelligent:

HAVE you heard the one about the stupid comedian? No? Well, you’re not likely to. A Mensa test organised by The Times suggests that intelligence is a prerequisite for a career as a stand-up comic.

We asked 12 comedians at the Edinburgh Fringe — including Stewart Lee, who co-wrote Jerry Springer — the Opera — to sit a formal test and found that they were overwhelmingly smarter than average.

Four were automatically invited to join Mensa and three were told that they were borderline candidates who would probably gain membership after a second test. Half of the comedians were in the top 3 per cent of brainboxes in Britain and one, Natalie Haynes, was in the top 1 per cent.

On the most common scale for measuring IQ, a score of 130 or more puts a candidate in the top 2 per cent in the country. Haynes, whose show Run or Die involves a rapidly spoken monologue about an urban dystopia and parrots’ IQ, came top of the 12 with a score of 134.

She believes that high intelligence is important for the Fringe, where cerebral comedy is rewarded, but it can be a hindrance on the club circuit. “It would be difficult to do a show without coming from a clever base point,” she said, “but when I started out people would say ‘You’re too clever’.

via Times On Line.

My day-to-day life is way too serious. The older people around me rarely laugh, but the younger people laugh fairly often. I'm resolving tonight to laugh more this week ... but the problem is, I don't find much to be genuinely funny.   I hate comedy clubs. I go, I laugh, but I still hate them because the jokes are predictable. I'd go see Steven Wright.  See him on the Late Show.  Some people have high IQs, some people have low IQs but Steven Wright's IQ is in another dimension. Instead of high or low, it is far.