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Despite a boom in observational humour and topical satire on television panel shows, many older viewers are turned off by angry young comics who turn to bad language and abuse, the survey found.
However, classic gags from traditional stand-ups including late comics like Cooper and Les Dawson are popular, according to the survey by question and answer-style search engine, Ask Jeeves.
Only one in five adults – 21 per cent – think current comedians such as Sean Locke and Frankie Boyle are as funny as those from previous generations.
The survey also found 55 per cent think modern comedians swear too much to make them laugh, and that simple laughs such as knock, knock and doctor, doctor jokes are better.
The search website also revealed that searches for ‘why did the chicken cross the road’ jokes were among the highest in the humour category on its pages.
According to its survey, Billy Connolly topped the list of ‘greatest comedians’ with 51 per cent claiming ‘The Big Yin’ made them laugh while Frankie Boyle only got votes from 28 per cent of those surveyed and only 22 per cent voted for Sean Locke.
Some managed to cut across the generations: the late Tommy Cooper did as well with the under-30s as the much younger comedian Alan Davies, for instance.
From the modern crop of stand ups, clean cut Michael McIntyre is as popular with the over-60s as classic Frank Carson.
Nadia Kelly, spokeswoman for Ask Jeeves, said: “From Billy Connolly to Tommy Cooper and knock, knock jokes to why did the chicken cross the road, the old ones still make us laugh. We are constantly surprised by the large numbers of people who go on to Ask Jeeves to search for jokes on certain subjects or to look up punchlines that they have forgotten.”
The top ten favourite comedians (percentage of those who voted):
1. Billy Connolly – 51 per cent
2. Victoria Wood – 47 per cent
3. Tommy Cooper – 45 per cent
4. Michael McIntyre – 44 per cent
5. Lee Evans – 42 per cent
6. Jimmy Carr – 41 per cent
7. Les Dawson – 40 per cent
8. Frank Skinner – 33 per cent
9. Jim Davidson – 33 per cent
10 = Ricky Gervais – 32 per cent equal with Bill Bailey – 32 per cent
Although there’s a few newer names in the mix such as Michael McIntyre, it’s still the same clean, family friendly comedy that we enjoy the most.
Alastair Jamieson, The Telelgraph.co.uk
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