In January, we set out to find the funniest joke in the world by asking our readers to send in their American favorites. Our judges, led by comedy legend Sid Caesar, trimmed the thousands of gags you sent in to ten. Then readers voted for the best. Meanwhile, Reader's Digest editions from around the globe did the same. Some of their jokes will make you guffaw, some will leave you confounded (that's the culture divide for you), and others will look familiar (that's the Internet for you). Read the 30 funniest jokes in the world and check back soon for the winner.

  • ARGENTINIA ARGENTINIA

    An elderly couple goes to Burger King, where they carefully split a burger and fries. A trucker takes pity on them and offers to buy the wife her own meal.
    "It's all right," says the husband. "We share everything."
    A few minutes later, the trucker notices that the wife hasn't taken a bite. "I really wouldn't mind buying your wife her own meal," he insists.
    "She'll eat," the husband assures him. "We share everything."
    Unconvinced, the trucker implores the wife, "Why aren't you eating?"
    The wife snaps, "Because I'm waiting for the teeth!"


  • AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA

    A polar bear walks into a bar and says, "Give me a scotch and … Coke."
    "Why the long pause?" asks the bartender.
    "I don't know," says the bear. "I've always had them."


  • BRAZIL BRAZIL

    Tired of waiting in the back of the line to get on Noah's Ark, a flea jumps from one animal to another as she moves closer to the front. She leaps and leaps until she lands on the back of an elephant. The pachyderm turns to its mate and says testily, "I knew it! Here they go with the pushing and shoving!"


  • CANADA CANADA

    A man says to a friend, "My wife is on a three-week diet."
    "Oh, yeah? How much has she lost so far?"
    "Two weeks."


  • CHINA CHINA

    My cousin always "borrows" money from her older brother's piggy bank, which drives him crazy. One day, she found the piggy in, of all places, the refrigerator. Inside was this note: "Dear sister, I hope you'll understand, but my capital has been frozen."


  • CROATIA CROATIA

    A concerned police officer approaches a boy crying in front of a newsstand.
    "What's wrong?" he asks.
    "Superman isn't out yet!"
    "I'll handle it," the cop assures him. "Hey, Superman!" he shouts. "Come on out! We won't hurt you!"


  • CZECH REPUBLIC CZECH REPUBLIC

    A man calls a radio deejay and says, "I've found a wallet with a hundred thousand koruny inside. There's also a card that says ‘Jan Ziegler, Seifert Street 3, Prague.' "
    "So?" says the deejay. "What do you want us to do?"
    "Would you be so kind as to play the man a song?"


  • FINLAND FINLAND

    Hannu wants everything to be perfect for his anniversary trip to the hotel where he and his wife honeymooned 30 years earlier. So he gets there a day early to make all the arrangements. That night, he e-mails her but misspells the address and it goes to a recent widow.
    The next day, the widow's son finds his mother passed out in front of her computer. On the screen is this e-mail: "My darling wife, I've just gotten here and everything's set for your arrival tomorrow. I hope your trip down here will be as pleasant as mine.
    "P.S. It's really hot!"


  • FRANCE FRANCE

    President Sarkozy visits a steel factory. To the boss's surprise, the president greets an employee, Morton, with a warm hug. The same thing happens when Barack Obama visits, and again during Vladimir Putin's tour.
    Unimpressed, the boss says to Morton, "I bet you don't know the pope."
    Morton shrugs. "We play golf together."
    The gauntlet has been tossed, and the boss pays their way to the Vatican. During the Benediction, Morton slips away. Sure enough, he reappears—side by side with the pope.
    Two Chinese tourists tap the boss on the shoulder and ask, "Who's the guy in white standing with Morton?"


  • GERMANY GERMANY

    Wandering around a fairgrounds, a man enters a fortune-teller's tent for a laugh. "I see you're the father of two," says the seer, gazing into her crystal ball.
    "Ha! That's what you think," says the man scornfully. "I'm the father of three."
    "Ha!" says the fortune-teller. "That's what you think."


  • HUNGARY HUNGARY

    Doctor: Have you taken my advice and slept with the window open?
    Patient: Yes.
    Doctor: So your asthma disappeared completely?
    Patient: No, but my watch, TV, iPod, and laptop have.


  • INDIA INDIA

    A business executive visits his dear Chinese friend in the hospital. "Li kai yang qi guan," says the sick man feebly. The executive desperately wants to help him, but he doesn't speak Mandarin. "Li kai yang qi guan!" says the patient, as he draws his last breath.
    Later that year, the executive is in Shanghai on business when he finally learns the meaning of Li kai yang qi guan: "Get off my oxygen tube."


  • KOREA KOREA

    A fortune-teller advised me, "Do everything your boss says." Sage advice, I thought, as I was working on an important project.
    As if I needed more proof of just how good the psychic was, that night, as I read the newspaper, I noticed my horoscope: "Do everything your boss says."


  • MEXICO MEXICO

    Indians ask their new chief whether the winter will be cold or mild. Since the young chief never learned the ways of his ancestors, he tells them to collect firewood, then he goes off and calls the National Weather Service.
    "Will the winter be bad?" he asks.
    "Looks like it," is the answer.
    So the chief tells his people to gather more firewood. A week later, he calls again. "Are you positive the winter will be very cold?"
    "Absolutely."
    The chief tells his people to gather even more firewood, then calls the Weather Service again: "Are you sure?"
    "I'm telling you, it's going to be the coldest winter on record."
    "How do you know?"
    "Because the Indians are gathering firewood like crazy!"


  • NETHERLANDS NETHERLANDS

    A starlet is seated next to a lawyer on a long flight. She craves her sleep, but he keeps waking her up. "Let's play a trivia game," he suggests. "If I answer wrong, I'll pay you $50. If you answer wrong, you owe me $5."
    The starlet agrees, and the lawyer goes first. "What's the distance between the earth and the moon?"
    The starlet hands the lawyer $5. Now it's her turn. "What goes up a mountain on three legs and comes down on four?"
    The lawyer is dumbstruck. He scans the Internet, flips through his pocket encyclopedia, and texts every scientist he can find. No dice. Hours later, he wakes up the starlet, hands her $50, and asks, "So what's the answer?"
    Without a word, she hands him $5 and goes back to sleep.


  • NORWAY NORWAY

    A woman rubs a lamp and out pops a genie. "You're a kind lady, so I'll grant you one wish," the genie tells her.
    "See this cat? I'd rather have a strong, handsome man," she says.
    The genie agrees and—poof!—the cat turns into a Brad Pitt clone. The woman leaps into his lap.
    "Do you have anything to say before we make love?" she asks.
    "Yes," he says. "I bet you wish you hadn't had me neutered last week."


  • PHILIPPINES PHILIPPINES

    Joe, Mike, Mary, and Tom were talking about their dream jobs. "I want to be a lawyer," Joe began, "so that I can defend my countrymen."
    "I want to be a congressman," said Mike, "so I can draft laws to benefit my countrymen." "I want to be a doctor," said Mary, "so that I can cure my countrymen."
    "How about you, Tom? What would you like to be?" asked Joe.
    Tom thought a moment and replied, "I'd like to be a countryman."


  • POLAND POLAND

    Nearing the end, Stanislaw is surrounded by loved ones. As the final moment approaches, he gathers all his strength and whispers, "I must tell you my greatest secret."
    His family urges him to go on.
    "Before I got married, I had it all," Stanislaw explains. "Fast cars, cute girls, and plenty of money. But a good friend warned me, ‘Get married and start a family. Otherwise, no one will be there to give you a glass of water to drink when you're on your deathbed.' So I took his advice. I traded the girls for a wife, beer for baby food. I sold my Ferrari and invested in
    college funds. And now here we are. And you know what?"
    "What?"
    "I'm not even thirsty!"


  • PORTUGAL PORTUGAL

    A man is visiting an old friend when a little girl races through the room.
    "Diploma," the friend calls after her, "bring us two cups of coffee."
    "Diploma? What an odd name," says the visitor. "How did she get it?"
    The friend sighs. "I sent my daughter to study at the university in Lisbon, and that's what she came back with."


  • ROMANIA ROMANIA

    Vlad gets pulled over after a high-speed car chase. "I'm going to help you out," says the police officer. "Give me a good excuse and I won't write you a ticket."
    "Three weeks ago, my wife left me for a cop," Vlad explains. "So when I saw your car coming, I thought you were trying to bring her back."


  • RUSSIA RUSSIA

    Due to the recession, to save on energy costs, the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off.
    —God


  • SERBIA SERBIA

    A neighbor finds a young boy sitting on the stairs crying. "What's the matter, honey?" she asks him.
    "It's my father," the boy sobs. "He hit his finger with a hammer."
    "Then why are you crying?"
    "Because first I laughed!"


  • SLOVENIA SLOVENIA

    As they leave the courthouse, a lawyer turns to his grim-looking client and says, "Janez, what's wrong? You were acquitted."
    "I know, but now I'm really in trouble," says Janez. "I just rented out my apartment for three years."


  • SPAIN SPAIN

    A beggar approaches a grandmother at the beach with his hands out. "Please, señora," the poor man pleads, "I haven't eaten all day."
    "Good," says the grandmother. "Now you won't have to worry about cramps when you go for a swim."


  • SWEDEN SWEDEN

    Visiting the countryside on a hunting trip, the well-dressed man from Stockholm takes aim and shoots a duck. But the fowl drops into a farmer's field, and the farmer claims it. Since both want it, the farmer suggests settling the dispute with an old fashioned hick-kick. "I kick you as hard as I can in the crotch, then you do the same to me," he explains. "Whoever screams the least gets the bird."
    The city man agrees. So the farmer winds up and delivers a crushing blow to the man's privates, and he collapses to the ground. Twenty minutes later, when he finally manages to stand, he gasps, "My turn."
    "Nah," says the farmer, turning away. "You can keep the duck."


  • SWITZERLAND SWITZERLAND

    Wife: Honey, did you notice? I bought a new toilet brush.
    Husband: Yes, I did. But I still prefer the paper.


  • TAIWAN TAIWAN

    Papa Turtle is telling his son a bedtime story. "Once upon a time, there was a white bunny."
    "Aw, c'mon, Dad," says the boy. "That's kid stuff. What about some science fiction?"
    "All right. Once upon a time, there was a bunny in outer space …"
    "Dad! Make it more grown-up."
    "Okay, okay. Promise you won't tell Mom."
    "I swear."
    "Once upon a time, there was a naked bunny …"


  • THAILAND THAILAND

    "Hurry up or we'll be late!" shouts a teacher to her kindergarten class.
    "What's the rush?" a tot asks coolly.
    "If we're late, we'll miss your next class!" the teacher reminds him.
    The kid shrugs. "If you're in such a hurry, go on without us."


  • UNITED KINGDOM UNITED KINGDOM

    "About a month before he died, my grandmother covered my grandfather's back with lard. After that, he went downhill very quickly."
    --Comic Milton Jones


  • UNITED STATES UNITED STATES

    A priest, a minister, and a rabbi want to see who's best at his job. So they each go into the woods, find a bear, and attempt to convert it. Later they get together. The priest begins: "When I found the bear, I read to him from the Catechism and sprinkled him with holy water. Next week is his First Communion."
    "I found a bear by the stream," says the minister, "and preached God's Holy Word. The bear was so mesmerized that he let me baptize him."
    They both look down at the rabbi, who is lying on a gurney in a body cast. "Looking back," he says, "maybe I shouldn't have started with the circumcision."
    --Submitted by Mitchell Hauser



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