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Watashii

Guest

Funny numbers

According to Douglas Adams, the idea that the answer to "the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything" in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is 42 is funny because it is an "ordinary, smallish" number.

In the 1996 video Caesar's Writers, former writers for Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows discuss a skit in which Imogene Coca places a bet on a roulette wheel. The writers tried out several numbers before deciding "thirty-two" was the funniest number Coca could say. Neil Simon, one of the writers, went on to write Laughter on the 23rd Floor, based on his experiences writing for Caesar. He claimed the 23 in the play's title was a transposition of 32. Carl Reiner created the **** Van **** Show based on his experiences as a writer for "Your Show of Shows." In a first season episode, "The Curious Thing About Women," Morey Amsterdam's character, Buddy, explains that a package in a comedy skit they are writing should contain 32 pounds of hair, rather than 15, because "32 has always been a funnier number. I hear 32, I get hysterical!"

Comedian and singer-songwriter "Weird Al" Yankovic uses the number 27 prominently in his parody songs and videos because, according to him, "twenty-seven is a funny number."

On the DVD commentary for the British sitcom I'm Alan Partridge, its writers put forward their own theory of funny numbers, going against the more common view that smaller, specific numbers are funny and instead employing large, round numbers (e.g. "a million pounds"). Steve Coogan, creator and star of the sitcom, said in an interview: "... like the number 37. Everyone uses that as a funny number. It's used quite a lot as a random comedy number, like 'that's the 37th time this has happened.' People should use random numbers more. Like 'fifty.' Alan Partridge's assistant is fifty. That was her age. And it sounded funny; I would say, 'this is my assistant Lynn, fifty.' "

The title Catch-11 was suggested, with the duplicated 1 paralleling the repetition found in a number of character exchanges in the novel, but because of the release of the 1960 movie Ocean's Eleven, this was also rejected. Catch-17 was rejected so as not to be confused with the World War II film Stalag 17, as was Catch-14, apparently because the publisher did not feel that 14 was a "funny number." Eventually the title came to be Catch-22, which, like 11, has a duplicated digit, with the 2 also referring to a number of déjà vu-like events common in the novel.

Funny:
42
32
27
37
50

Not funny:
14
15
1000000
What numbers do you find hilarious?

Codfoshie

Member

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 686

Re: Funny numbers

?-1

capasha

Member

Joined: 2015-02-21

Posts: 4,066

Re: Funny numbers

You are banned. You can't talk.

Deetz

Guest

Re: Funny numbers

17.

It's the "I don't know the answer" number. like, "I don't know, 17 for god's sake!"

Watashii

Guest

Re: Funny numbers

Open question: can negative numbers be funny? It sound like a contradiction to be negative AND funny.

Codfoshie

Member

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 686

Re: Funny numbers

Spoiler: Square root of -1 is i

Watashii

Guest

Re: Funny numbers

Spoiler: Square root of -1 is i

I don't think that's funny.

Arceus64

Guest

Re: Funny numbers

24.

But of course, 25 is better.

Bobithan

Member

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 4,476

Re: Funny numbers

5318008 type it into a calculator and turn it upside down xdxdxdxdx

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aka towwl

theditor

Member

Joined: 2015-02-18

Posts: 1,320

Re: Funny numbers

69, 666.

treejoe4

Guest

Re: Funny numbers

34 sends a chill down my spine. 34 is the number of dead soldiers I helped carry in 'Nam.

Fdoou

Banned

Re: Funny numbers

69:     not funny
666: not funny

Watashii

Guest

Re: Funny numbers

69:     not funny
666: not funny

I can understand why some people would crack up at 69. It is a sex-related number and sex is almost always inherently funny.

666, however, is the number of the devil, and the devil isn't funny.

JadElClemens

Member

From: Colorado, USA

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 4,559

Re: Funny numbers

I think the number seventeen is actually really funny.

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I hate tall signatures.

Tachyonic

Guest

Re: Funny numbers

1
2

Last edited by Tachyonic (Sep 21 2012 11:24:03 am)

XxAtillaxX

Member

Joined: 2015-11-28

Posts: 4,202

Re: Funny numbers

5.85987448205 is funny because
pi+e = 5.85987448205

Also,

80085
8008135
7177135
7175

Last edited by ?tilla (Sep 21 2012 12:05:21 pm)

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*u stinky*

Saintcool

Guest

Re: Funny numbers

I think the number seventeen is actually really funny.

Seventeen is rather funny to me, once in my Maths class, someone didn't know the answer to the question, and someone whispered "seventeen" to them even though it was wrong, but they said it anyway. So since then every time someone is stalling when answering a question in our class, someone shouts out seventeen.

32OrtonEdge32dh

Member

From: DMV

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 5,166

Website

Re: Funny numbers

Seventeen might only be funny to me because it's the answer to the woodchuck wood chucking question.

The writers tried out several numbers before deciding "thirty-two" was the funniest number Coca could say ... In a first season episode, "The Curious Thing About Women," Morey Amsterdam's character, Buddy, explains that a package in a comedy skit they are writing should contain 32 pounds of hair, rather than 15, because "32 has always been a funnier number. I hear 32, I get hysterical!"

I'm flattered.

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azert

Member

From: super mario world

Joined: 2015-02-19

Posts: 225

Re: Funny numbers

funny :

tan(90)
log(-1)
not funny :

13
11

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Fdoou

Banned

Re: Funny numbers

5.85987448205 is very funny as atilla said

Laxboy

Guest

Re: Funny numbers

I say 4587 is funny

Koya

Fabulous Member

From: The island with those Brits

Joined: 2015-02-18

Posts: 6,310

Re: Funny numbers

7
22

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Thank you eleizibeth ^

I stack my signatures rather than delete them so I don't lose them

colon

Member

From: hell zone

Joined: 2015-02-15

Posts: 1,051

Re: Funny numbers

58008.

Because. Calculator. Upside. Down. :3

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i do music

krubby

Member

Joined: 2015-06-23

Posts: 1,190

Re: Funny numbers

not funny: 7. 7 sins.

funny: eleventy

Alex

Guest

Re: Funny numbers

413 is not a very funny number it is actually very serious