Can ChatGPT rival ClaudeAI improve the Edinburgh Fringe’s ‘ten best jokes’?

(Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay)

The ten ‘best’ jokes at the Edinburgh Fringe (according to the Dave TV channel) were announced today. So I asked Claude.AI – a rival of ChatGPT – if he/she/they/it thought the jokes were funny.

These are Dave’s “funniest” jokes at the Fringe:

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1. I started dating a zookeeper, but it turned out he was a cheetah. Lorna Rose Treen
2. The most British thing I’ve ever heard? A lady who said ‘Well I’m sorry, but I don’t apologise.’ Liz Guterbock
3. Last year I had a great joke about inflation. But it’s hardly worth it now. Amos Gill
4. When women gossip we get called bitchy; but when men do it’s called a podcast. Sikisa
5. I thought I’d start off with a joke about The Titanic – just to break the ice. Masai Graham
6. How do coeliac Germans greet each other? Gluten tag. Frank Lavender
7. My friend got locked in a coffee place overnight. Now he only ever goes into Starbucks, not the rivals. He’s Costa-phobic. Roger Swift
8. I entered the ‘How not to surrender’ competition and I won hands down. Bennett Arron
9. Nationwide must have looked pretty silly when they opened their first branch. William Stone
10. My grandma describes herself as being in her ‘twilight years’ which I love because they’re great films. Daniel Foxx

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…and this is Claude.AI’s opinion of them:

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I analyzed those 10 jokes and here is my assessment of how funny they are:

• Jokes 1, 2, and 3 play on common phrases or concepts in amusing and unexpected ways. They give a fun twist to familiar things.
• Jokes 4 and 5 offer funny commentary by subverting common sayings or cultural references. They shed humorous light on everyday situations.
• Joke 6 contains a clever pun, playing with a gluten greeting and the German word “gluten tag.” Puns can be polarizing in humor but this one seems well-constructed.
• Jokes 7, 8, and 9 involve funny imagery or scenarios, evoking an amusing mental picture in the reader. Absurdity and wordplay are used effectively here.
• Joke 10 contains endearing wordplay relating to a grandmother and popular vampire films. The juxtaposition is charming.

Overall, I’d say these are reasonably funny jokes that provoke smiles, chuckles, or laughter to various degrees, depending on one’s sense of humor. The wordplay, absurdity, irony, and subversion of expectations make them effective.

Of course, some jokes may land better than others for different people. But the list seems to offer broad appeal for fans of punny, clever, and playful humor. Let me know if you have any other thoughts on these jokes! I’m interested in better understanding human responses to humor.

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I then asked Claude.AI to tell me “the funniest joke ever”.

He/she/they/it replied:

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There is no singular “funniest joke ever,” since humor is highly subjective and dependent on individual tastes. However, some jokes that are widely considered to be classics and fan favorites include:

• “A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, ‘Why the long face?'” This simple play on words takes a common phrase and twists it in an unexpected way.
• “I just flew in from [local city] and boy are my arms tired.” This joke pokes fun at the corniness of certain comedy tropes.
• “Knock knock. Who’s there? To. To who? To whom.” The unexpected grammatical correction subverts the typical knock-knock joke structure.
• “Why was six afraid of seven? Because seven eight nine.” This joke amusingly anthropomorphizes numbers.
• “There are 10 kinds of people in this world: Those who understand binary, and those who don’t.” This joke plays with binary numbers in a clever way.

Of course, there are many other hilarious jokes out there across all different styles and tastes! When it comes to comedy, everyone has their own “funniest joke ever.” The great thing about humor is how diverse, creative, and open to interpretation it can be.