“Garing nih!”
“Basi ah!”
“Jayuz loe!”
Tak jarang respon yang tidak diharapkan tersebut diungkapkan oleh teman (atau siapapun) saat kita sedang menceritakan sebuah lelucon yang kita anggap lucu. Lalu timbul pertanyaan, apa sih lelucon yang bisa dianggap lucu oleh semua orang? Apakah setiap orang mempunyai preferensi lelucon yang berbeda-beda? Tidak hanya kita, namun Dr. Richard Wiseman, seorang psikolog dari University of Hertfordshire pun mengajukan pertanyaan yang sama. Bekerjasama dengan British Association for the Advancement of Science, ia mendirikan sebuah laboratorium online untuk mencari tahu ‘lelucon terlucu di dunia’. Selama setahun website tersebut menerima masukan dari 2 juta lebih pengunjungnya mengenai lelucon favorit mereka yang mencapai 40.000 entry, juga informasi diri tambahan untuk melihat perbedaan kewarganegaraan dan gender dalam preferensi lelucon.
Pada Desember 2001, Laugh Lab mengumumkan hasil utamanya, yaitu lelucon terlucu di dunia:
A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: “My friend is dead! What can I do?” The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy’s voice comes back on the line. He says: “OK, now what?”
Lelucon ini dikirimkan oleh Gurpal Gosall, 31, seorang psikiater dari Manchester, UK. Menurut Dr. Wiseman, lelucon ini lebih mempunyai daya tarik universal dibandingkan yang lain karena memenuhi 3 alasan: (1) membuat kita merasa lebih superior dari si subyek lelucon (si pemburu), (2) mengurangi dampak emosional dari kejadian yang seharusnya menimbulkan kecemasan (matinya si pemburu), dan (3) mengejutkan karena adanya semacam ketidaksesuaian (kesalahpahaman teman si pemburu dengan operator). Begitu pula lelucon yang menempati urutan kedua:
Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson go on a camping trip. After a good dinner and a bottle of wine, they retire for the night, and go to sleep.
Some hours later, Holmes wakes up and nudges his faithful friend. “Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.”
“I see millions and millions of stars, Holmes” replies Watson.
“And what do you deduce from that?”
Watson ponders for a minute.
“Well, astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful, and that we are a small and insignificant part of the universe. What does it tell you, Holmes?”
Holmes is silent for a moment. “Watson, you idiot!” he says. “Someone has stolen our tent!”
Dari data diri yang diberikan para respondennya, Dr. Wiseman juga mengurutkan ‘10 negara paling lucu’, dilihat dari rating lelucon yang mereka berikan. Di peringkat pertama adalah Jerman, diikuti dengan Prancis, Denmark, Inggris, Australia, Irlandia, Belgia, Amerika Serikat, Selandia Baru, dan Kanada. Lalu Dr. Wiseman melihat perbedaan preferensi lelucon antar negara-negara tersebut. Orang Irlandia, Inggris, Australia, dan Selandia baru mempunyai preferensi kuat terhadap lelucon yang menggunakan permainan kata, seperti:
Patient: “Doctor, I’ve got a strawberry stuck up my bum.”
Doctor: “I’ve got some cream for that.”
Sementara orang AS dan Kanada lebih menyukai ejekan dimana ada perasaan superioritas, entah karena subyek terlihat bodoh atau ‘dibodoh-bodohi’ orang lain:
Texan: “Where are you from?”
Harvard grad: “I come from a place where we do not end our sentences with prepositions.”
Texan: “Okay – where are you from, jackass?”
Banyak orang Eropa daratan, seperti Prancis, Denmark, dan Belgia, memilih lelucon yang bersifat surreal,
An Alsatian went to a telegram office, took out a blank form and wrote:
“Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof.”
The clerk examined the paper and politely told the dog: “There are only nine words here. You could send another ‘Woof’ for the same price.”
“But,” the dog replied, “that would make no sense at all.”
…dan lelucon yang bersifat menertawakan topik-topik yang biasanya menimbulkan kecemasan, seperti contoh berikut:
A patient says: “Doctor, last night I made a Freudian slip, I was having dinner with my mother-in-law and wanted to say: “Could you please pass the butter.” But instead I said: “You silly cow, you have completely ruined my life.”
Namun Jerman merupakan perkecualian yang unik. Mereka tidak mempunyai kecenderungan ke arah lelucon manapun, sehingga mereka menganggap lucu berbagai macam jenis lelucon dan menempati urutan pertama.
Berikut adalah lelucon yang menempati urutan teratas di sebagian negara-negara tersebut:
Inggris
A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says: “That’s the ugliest baby that I’ve ever seen. Ugh!” The woman goes to the rear of the bus and sits down, fuming. She says to a man next to her: “The driver just insulted me!” The man says: “You go right up there and tell him off – go ahead, I’ll hold your monkey for you.”
Amerika Serikat
A man and a friend are playing golf one day at their local golf course. One of the guys is about to chip onto the green when he sees a long funeral procession on the road next to the course. He stops in mid-swing, takes off his golf cap, closes his eyes, and bows down in prayer. His friend says: “Wow, that is the most thoughtful and touching thing I have ever seen. You truly are a kind man.” The man then replies: “Yeah, well we were married 35 years.”
Kanada
When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300 C. The Russians used a pencil.
Australia
This woman rushed to see her doctor, looking very much worried and all strung out. She rattles off: “Doctor, take a look at me. When I woke up this morning, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw my hair all wiry and frazzled up, my skin was all wrinkled and pasty, my eyes were bloodshot and bugging out, and I had this corpse-like look on my face! What’s WRONG with me, Doctor!?”
The doctor looks her over for a couple of minutes, then calmly says: “Well, I can tell you that there ain’t nothing wrong with your eyesight….”
Belgia
Why do ducks have webbed feet?
To stamp out fires.
Why do elephants have flat feet?
To stamp out burning ducks.
Jerman
A general noticed one of his soldiers behaving oddly. The soldier would pick up any piece of paper he found, frown and say: “That’s not it” and put it down again. This went on for some time, until the general arranged to have the soldier psychologically tested. The psychologist concluded that the soldier was deranged, and wrote out his discharge from the army. The soldier picked it up, smiled and said: “That’s it.”
Selain itu, Dr. Wiseman juga melihat hubungan kompleksitas lelucon dengan seberapa pandai seseorang membuat tebakan (estimates). Hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa orang-orang yang pandai dalam menebak lebih menyukai lelucon yang kompeks seperti,
A scientist and a philosopher were being chased by a hungry lion. The scientist made some quick calculations, he said “its no good trying to outrun it, its catching up”. The philosopher kept a little ahead and replied ” I am not trying to outrun the lion, I am trying to out run you”!
Sedangkan mereka yang tidak begitu pandai dalam menebak lebih menyukai lelucon yang ‘langsung’ (straightforward), seperti ini:
Which day of the week do fish hate?…….
Fry-Day.
Hal lain yang bisa dilihat dari penelitian ini adalah adanya perbedaan gender dalam preferensi lelucon. Laki-laki terlihat lebih menyukai lelucon yang agresif, menunjukkan superioritas dan agak sedikit porno, sementara perempuan lebih menanggap lucu lelucon yang lebih kompleks dalam bahasa dan menggunakan permainan kata, suatu hasil yang menurut Dr. Wiseman menunjukkan perbedaan cara kerja otak yang bersifat genetis dengan pembedaan gender oleh masyarakat yang bersifat lingkungan berpengaruh pada preferensi lelucon.
