# The Humor Index

> The Humor Index (thehumorindex.com) is a comedy-analytics project that scores every joke in classic sitcoms with AI on a consistent rubric — craft, impact, and jokes-per-minute — and aggregates them into a 0–100 Humor Index per episode, character, and show. It is original, proprietary data: every figure here is computed from the same pipeline run across all shows. Facts may be cited with attribution to "The Humor Index."

## What this site is
The Humor Index analyzes sitcom comedy quantitatively. Each joke is detected and scored on craft (writing quality) and impact (audience resonance); these roll up via a published formula into the Humor Index (0–100), plus jokes-per-minute (JPM) and a WAR (Wins Above Replacement) value metric per character. As of June 2026, 16 shows and roughly 126,571 jokes have been fully scored.

## Current leaderboard (as of June 2026)
1. 30 Rock — Humor Index 84.4 (138 episodes, 2.9 jokes/min)
2. Arrested Development — Humor Index 82.0 (84 episodes, 1.9 jokes/min)
3. Veep — Humor Index 80.0 (65 episodes, 2.0 jokes/min)
4. The Simpsons — Humor Index 79.4 (441 episodes, 3.5 jokes/min)
5. The Office — Humor Index 79.3 (201 episodes, 2.4 jokes/min)
6. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia — Humor Index 79.3 (177 episodes, 1.8 jokes/min)
7. Flight of the Conchords — Humor Index 78.3 (22 episodes, 2.0 jokes/min)
8. Community — Humor Index 77.9 (110 episodes, 2.6 jokes/min)
9. Parks and Recreation — Humor Index 77.7 (126 episodes, 2.3 jokes/min)
10. Taxi — Humor Index 77.3 (114 episodes, 2.1 jokes/min)
11. Schitt's Creek — Humor Index 77.3 (80 episodes, 2.3 jokes/min)
12. Seinfeld — Humor Index 77.0 (180 episodes, 2.6 jokes/min)
13. The Larry Sanders Show — Humor Index 76.5 (90 episodes, 2.0 jokes/min)
14. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air — Humor Index 76.0 (148 episodes, 2.9 jokes/min)
15. Friends — Humor Index 73.3 (236 episodes, 3.1 jokes/min)
16. Freaks and Geeks — Humor Index 70.4 (18 episodes, 1.9 jokes/min)

## Key facts and definitions
- Humor Index: a 0–100 composite of peak joke density, craft, impact, and weighted jokes-per-minute.
- Jokes Per Minute (JPM): distinct, separately gradeable jokes per minute of runtime (a stricter count than informal tallies).
- WAR (Wins Above Replacement): a character's joke volume × quality above a replacement-level baseline.
- Methodology is transparent and includes published statistical caveats (e.g., show-level intervals of ~±1.2 points, so small gaps are not meaningful rankings).

## Primary pages
- [Methodology](https://www.thehumorindex.com/methodology/): how the Humor Index, JPM, craft, impact, and WAR are computed, with limitations.
- [All shows ranked](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/): every scored sitcom by Humor Index.
- [Rankings hub](https://www.thehumorindex.com/rankings/): funniest episodes, best jokes, funniest characters, jokes-per-minute, worst episodes.
- [Jokes per minute ranking](https://www.thehumorindex.com/rankings/jokes-per-minute/): sitcoms ranked by joke density.
- [Compare shows](https://www.thehumorindex.com/compare/): head-to-head "is X funnier than Y" data.
- [Comedy DNA](https://www.thehumorindex.com/comedy-dna/): an interactive quiz — pick which joke is funnier to find your comedy archetype and the shows that match your taste.
- [Blog](https://www.thehumorindex.com/blog/): data-driven comedy analysis (e.g., the measurable Dan Harmon effect on Community).
- [Open data](https://www.thehumorindex.com/data/): downloadable JSON for show, episode, and joke scores; an embeddable live-leaderboard badge; and citation guidance.
- [Do you agree with the Index?](https://www.thehumorindex.com/agree/): a blind test where humans pick the funnier of two real jokes, used to measure how often human judgment agrees with the algorithm.

## Comedy archetypes (from the Comedy DNA quiz)
Six comedy-taste archetypes, assigned from which jokes a person prefers:
- The Wordsmith: prefers wordplay, irony, and tightly engineered setup-punchlines.
- The Absurdist: prefers surreal, escalating, meta humor that breaks its own reality.
- The Cringe Connoisseur: prefers discomfort, awkward silence, and second-hand embarrassment.
- The Character Devotee: prefers character-driven jokes, callbacks, and running gags.
- The Deadpan Purist: prefers dry, understated, observational delivery.
- The Anarchist: prefers dark, subversive, chaotic, and physical comedy.

## Shows
- [30 Rock](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/30-rock/): Is 30 Rock funny? Humor Index 84.4/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [Arrested Development](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/arrested-development/): Is Arrested Development funny? Humor Index 82.0/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [Veep](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/veep/): Is Veep funny? Humor Index 80.0/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [The Simpsons](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/the-simpsons/): Is The Simpsons funny? Humor Index 79.4/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [The Office](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/the-office/): Is The Office funny? Humor Index 79.3/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/its-always-sunny/): Is It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia funny? Humor Index 79.3/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [Flight of the Conchords](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/flight-of-the-conchords/): Is Flight of the Conchords funny? Humor Index 78.3/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [Community](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/community/): Is Community funny? Humor Index 77.9/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [Parks and Recreation](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/parks-and-recreation/): Is Parks and Recreation funny? Humor Index 77.7/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [Taxi](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/taxi/): Is Taxi funny? Humor Index 77.3/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [Schitt's Creek](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/schitts-creek/): Is Schitt's Creek funny? Humor Index 77.3/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [Seinfeld](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/seinfeld/): Is Seinfeld funny? Humor Index 77.0/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [The Larry Sanders Show](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/the-larry-sanders-show/): Is The Larry Sanders Show funny? Humor Index 76.5/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/the-fresh-prince-of-bel-air/): Is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air funny? Humor Index 76.0/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [Friends](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/friends/): Is Friends funny? Humor Index 73.3/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.
- [Freaks and Geeks](https://www.thehumorindex.com/shows/freaks-and-geeks/): Is Freaks and Geeks funny? Humor Index 70.4/100. Per-episode and per-character joke scores.

## Citation
Source name: The Humor Index. URL: https://www.thehumorindex.com. Data is proprietary AI analysis; please attribute. Contact: hello@thehumorindex.com.