Houston No. 14
Forget weird, keep Austin LOLZY: State capital named funniest city in America
All this time we've been trying to keep Austin weird, it's been busy getting funnier than ever. In a recent Daily Beast "study," the Texas capital was ranked as the No. 1 funniest city in the United States. Consumer research group Experian Simmons provided data on more than 200 metropolises to determine the 30 Funniest Cities in America.
Austin's ranking is based on such hard facts as 26 percent of citizens consider themselves to be funny, 35 percent watch primetime comedy TV shows, 49 percent watch syndicated comedy TV shows (same number for those who usually watch comedic movies). Also taken into consideration is the 2.8 percent of the population who went to a comedy club three or more times in the past year.
Apparently, whether walking The Drag, taking a dip in Barton Springs or attending a wild UT game, laughter abounds in Austin. And good for them. According to the Beast article, the local punch line is, "You know you're in Austin when your co-worker tells you they have eight body piercings — and none are visible."
We know you simply can't stop laughing at that humdinger. But just how desirable is it to live in one of the Beast's preferred funny cities? Waco made No. 3 (the idea of considering Waco a city is funny as well). Economically distressed Midwest cities Milwaukee and Detroit earned Nos. 7 and 8 respectively. Indeed, record unemployment induces a case of the giggles.
As for other Texas cities, San Antonio was No. 11, Dallas-Fort Worth was No. 12 and Houston earned the spot of No. 14.
Our supposedly popular slogan? "You know you're from Houston if you think that the Astrodome is the eighth wonder of the world." And you know that we love joking about that gem.