World's funniest joke

Well, well - it seems it was written by the great Spike Milligan, at one time world's best-known manic depressive and author of 'Puckoon' and many others, including his war trilogy, "Hitler, My Part in his Downfall", volume 5 of which - "Where Have All the Bullets Gone?" - I had the honour of promoting with Spike in the mid 1990s.

I'm not *sure* the joke they've singled out is all that  funny, or for that matter representative of Spike's best.

But who am I to quarrel with the professor whose investigation of the psychology of humour dubs Spike author of the world's funniest joke, which runs as follows:

"Two hunters are out in the woods in New Jersey when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed.

The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps 'My friend is dead! What can I do?' The operator says: 'Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead.' There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says 'OK, now what?' "

I guess you had to be there.