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Is Chicago America’s funniest city?

Molly Wood Apr 22, 2014
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Is Chicago America’s funniest city?

Molly Wood Apr 22, 2014
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Researchers at the University of Colorado have used a Humor Algorithm (HA) to determine the funniest city in America. Among other things, factors like the number of comedy clubs and how many famous comedians were born in each city were taken into account.

And the funniest city? Chicago. It makes sense when you consider the improv scene in the area. The iO and The Second City are two of the most notable training grounds for fledgling comedians and improvisers.

Among the long list of notable Second City alumni are Steve Carrell and Stephen Colbert:

Speaking of Second City, two of their regular comedians (Alan Linic and Claire Meyer) are in a relationship in which they regularly tweet what they fought about that day. That helped Chicago in the algorithm because the number of humorous tweeters in each city also factored into the rankings:

How did the rest of the country fare? Boston came in second and Atlanta third. You can check out the rest of the rankings, and the full report here.

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