One contest can get over 4,000 captions. Across 385 contests, that adds up to more than 2.3 million. And while people don’t always agree on what’s funny, the same ingredients keep showing up.
Captions get sorted into “funny,” “somewhat funny,” and “not funny.” Most land somewhere in the middle. “Funny” is rare. The crowd’s a tough judge—and getting a laugh takes real skill.
Out of all the votes, 72% were voted unfunny
8% were ‘funny’ votes
20% were ‘somewhat funny’ votes
Out of all the votes, 72% were voted unfunny
8% were ‘funny’ votes
20% were ‘somewhat funny’ votes
Out of all the votes, 72% were voted unfunny
20% were ‘somewhat funny’ votes
8% were ‘funny’ votes
Two million captions later, and here’s the punchline: most barely get a laugh. The majority hover just above “not funny,” with only a tiny handful hitting that sweet spot of genuinely funny. The curve drops off fast—like a joke that doesn’t land. Turns out, making people laugh is hard. Even in a contest built for humor, the average caption earns more sighs than smiles.
Funnier Captions Might Not Get More Love
Being funny does not equate to getting more funny votes
Funnier Captions Might Not Get More Love
Being funny does not equate to getting more funny votes
Funnier Captions Might Not Get More Love
Being funny does not equate to getting more funny votes
When we looked at caption structure, punctuation told a quiet story. Captions ending in question marks tended to score lower than those that ended with a period, or nothing at all. The best jokes, it turns out, don’t ask. They declare.
Humor Has a Word Limit
The longer the caption, the lower the laughs—brevity may be comedy's best friend
Not funny
Somewhat funny
Funny
Length
(characters)
Highest number of funny votes
500
1000
“Lunch is on me.”
1500
1500
2000
2000
Super long, super boring
2500
Contest 523
2500
Monkeys don't breed well in captivity...yea right.
50,9,3,Would this be more fun if we got a barrel?
79,17,17,What's wrong?
56,13,8,Are you sure they're all mine?
46,11,2,I told you they’d get bored watching ‘Planet of the Apes’ again.
36,5,1,Pre-typing research I presume.
38,7,2,They need to get back to the typewriters and come up with a catchier title.
47,11,4,Consider this the last time I give you my Costco card.
53,18,5,I think the extermination worked. Do you see any ants?
43,10,2,Is it possible to get all this fun back into the barrel?
37,7,1,This is the last time we open our house for a political convention.
29,3,0,Wrong Barrel
45,2,3,They were more fun when they could fit in the barrel.
35,7,1,Did you forget to pick up bananas again?
38,7,1,Ms. Goodall didn't say anything about TV time
44,8,3,Left the lid off the barrel again did ya'?
56,17,8,Without the barrel it all seems rather pointless.
44,3,0,By tomorrow night we will be living outside of Phoenix in the Primate Relocation Program.
37,5,1,Cage Freed?
34,1,1,I say it should be Booth and they should be cats
95,9,0,The salesman told me the missing one made the mistake of outpolling Bruce Willis for best actor
40,6,4,Me Plaintiff. You Jane.
69,19,13,It's not you...
45,10,3,One day they'll evolve
55,10,8,They were a lot more fun in the barrel
36,6,1,That 11th monkey was probably not the best decision
46,14,3,Did I mention that I've started an organ-grinder franchise?
41,9,2,I think our barrel has sprung a leak.
55,7,2,I'm in the mood for love.
43,10,2,Do we have ANY bananas?
32,3,1,So was more fun when they were in the barrel?
36,4,1,I don't care what the surprise is. I'm [i]not[/i] opening my eyes.
39,7,2,It doesn't get any more fun than this.
63,22,10,I feel like you're not really listening.
72,23,12,You and Costco are done.
43,6,3,Did you pray for a barrel of monkey instead of money ?
36,5,1,I thought they'd help me bring up the subject of a little monkey business.
28,1,0,I should have married Chiquita Banana!
60,30,6,It's not a good idea to open the attachments in your spam folder
35,1,0,Which one of them's Mickey's?
37,8,0,This isn't quite what I meant by 'adopt'
31,0,0,Where did you even get these monkeys Steve?
58,20,7,It was buy one get ten free.
58,18,5,It still beats having kids.
44,14,3,Let’s reconsider our “Chimp-of-the-Month Club” membership.
39,7,1,Blame PETA; they broke the barrel".
Humor Has a Word Limit
The longer the caption, the lower the laughs
—brevity may be comedy's best friend
Not funny
Somewhat funny
Funny
Length
(characters)
Contest 665
500
1000
“Lunch is on me.”
1500
1500
2000
2000
2500
Contest 523
2500
Monkeys don't breed well in captivity...yea right.
50,9,3,Would this be more fun if we got a barrel?
79,17,17,What's wrong?
56,13,8,Are you sure they're all mine?
46,11,2,I told you they’d get bored watching ‘Planet of the Apes’ again.
36,5,1,Pre-typing research I presume.
38,7,2,They need to get back to the typewriters and come up with a catchier title.
47,11,4,Consider this the last time I give you my Costco card.
53,18,5,I think the extermination worked. Do you see any ants?
43,10,2,Is it possible to get all this fun back into the barrel?
37,7,1,This is the last time we open our house for a political convention.
29,3,0,Wrong Barrel
45,2,3,They were more fun when they could fit in the barrel.
35,7,1,Did you forget to pick up bananas again?
38,7,1,Ms. Goodall didn't say anything about TV time
44,8,3,Left the lid off the barrel again did ya'?
56,17,8,Without the barrel it all seems rather pointless.
44,3,0,By tomorrow night we will be living outside of Phoenix in the Primate Relocation Program.
37,5,1,Cage Freed?
34,1,1,I say it should be Booth and they should be cats
95,9,0,The salesman told me the missing one made the mistake of outpolling Bruce Willis for best actor
40,6,4,Me Plaintiff. You Jane.
69,19,13,It's not you...
45,10,3,One day they'll evolve
55,10,8,They were a lot more fun in the barrel
36,6,1,That 11th monkey was probably not the best decision
46,14,3,Did I mention that I've started an organ-grinder franchise?
41,9,2,I think our barrel has sprung a leak.
55,7,2,I'm in the mood for love.
43,10,2,Do we have ANY bananas?
32,3,1,So was more fun when they were in the barrel?
36,4,1,I don't care what the surprise is. I'm [i]not[/i] opening my eyes.
39,7,2,It doesn't get any more fun than this.
63,22,10,I feel like you're not really listening.
72,23,12,You and Costco are done.
43,6,3,Did you pray for a barrel of monkey instead of money ?
36,5,1,I thought they'd help me bring up the subject of a little monkey business.
28,1,0,I should have married Chiquita Banana!
60,30,6,It's not a good idea to open the attachments in your spam folder
35,1,0,Which one of them's Mickey's?
37,8,0,This isn't quite what I meant by 'adopt'
31,0,0,Where did you even get these monkeys Steve?
58,20,7,It was buy one get ten free.
58,18,5,It still beats having kids.
44,14,3,Let’s reconsider our “Chimp-of-the-Month Club” membership.
39,7,1,Blame PETA; they broke the barrel".
Humor Has a Word Limit
The longer the caption, the lower the laughs
—brevity may be comedy's best friend
Not funny
Somewhat funny
Funny
Contest 665
Length
(characters)
500
“Lunch is on me.”
1000
1500
2000
Contest 523
2500
Monkeys don't breed well in captivity...yea right.
50,9,3,Would this be more fun if we got a barrel?
79,17,17,What's wrong?
56,13,8,Are you sure they're all mine?
46,11,2,I told you they’d get bored watching ‘Planet of the Apes’ again.
36,5,1,Pre-typing research I presume.
38,7,2,They need to get back to the typewriters and come up with a catchier title.
47,11,4,Consider this the last time I give you my Costco card.
53,18,5,I think the extermination worked. Do you see any ants?
43,10,2,Is it possible to get all this fun back into the barrel?
37,7,1,This is the last time we open our house for a political convention.
29,3,0,Wrong Barrel
45,2,3,They were more fun when they could fit in the barrel.
35,7,1,Did you forget to pick up bananas again?
38,7,1,Ms. Goodall didn't say anything about TV time
44,8,3,Left the lid off the barrel again did ya'?
56,17,8,Without the barrel it all seems rather pointless.
44,3,0,By tomorrow night we will be living outside of Phoenix in the Primate Relocation Program.
37,5,1,Cage Freed?
34,1,1,I say it should be Booth and they should be cats
95,9,0,The salesman told me the missing one made the mistake of outpolling Bruce Willis for best actor
40,6,4,Me Plaintiff. You Jane.
69,19,13,It's not you...
45,10,3,One day they'll evolve
55,10,8,They were a lot more fun in the barrel
36,6,1,That 11th monkey was probably not the best decision
46,14,3,Did I mention that I've started an organ-grinder franchise?
41,9,2,I think our barrel has sprung a leak.
55,7,2,I'm in the mood for love.
43,10,2,Do we have ANY bananas?
32,3,1,So was more fun when they were in the barrel?
36,4,1,I don't care what the surprise is. I'm [i]not[/i] opening my eyes.
39,7,2,It doesn't get any more fun than this.
63,22,10,I feel like you're not really listening.
72,23,12,You and Costco are done.
43,6,3,Did you pray for a barrel of monkey instead of money ?
36,5,1,I thought they'd help me bring up the subject of a little monkey business.
28,1,0,I should have married Chiquita Banana!
60,30,6,It's not a good idea to open the attachments in your spam folder
35,1,0,Which one of them's Mickey's?
37,8,0,This isn't quite what I meant by 'adopt'
31,0,0,Where did you even get these monkeys Steve?
58,20,7,It was buy one get ten free.
58,18,5,It still beats having kids.
44,14,3,Let’s reconsider our “Chimp-of-the-Month Club” membership.
39,7,1,Blame PETA; they broke the barrel".
Shorter captions tended to score higher on funniness, with the sweet spot around 50 characters. Being brief helps—but it doesn’t always mean it’s funny.
To get a clearer picture of the humor landscape, we used a clustering algorithm to group captions by style.
With UMAP and sentence embeddings, we mapped every caption into a 2D humor space—each point is a caption, and each color represents a different flavor of funny.