The 2+2 Forums Older Archives: Comedian's IQ

Although the following is NOT the reaon why Andy Fox's ARGUMENTS are totally fallacious, they do show that even some of his EXAMPLEs are completely (and obviously) wrong as well.

Did you know that comedians need a high IQ?
By Jack Malvern, Arts Reporter

HAVE you heard the one about the stupid comedian? No? Well, you’re not likely to. A Mensa test organised by The Times suggests that intelligence is a prerequisite for a career as a stand-up comic.
We asked 12 comedians at the Edinburgh Fringe — including Stewart Lee, who co-wrote Jerry Springer — the Opera — to sit a formal test and found that they were overwhelmingly smarter than average.

Four were automatically invited to join Mensa and three were told that they were borderline candidates who would probably gain membership after a second test. Half of the comedians were in the top 3 per cent of brainboxes in Britain and one, Natalie Haynes, was in the top 1 per cent.

On the most common scale for measuring IQ, a score of 130 or more puts a candidate in the top 2 per cent in the country. Haynes, whose show Run or Die involves a rapidly spoken monologue about an urban dystopia and parrots’ IQ, came top of the 12 with a score of 134.

Cerebral comedians often hide their intelligence behind a comedy persona, she said. Al Murray, who graduated from Cambridge University with one of the highest marks in his subject, has become a highprofile comedian with his character of the pub landlord. “It is less threatening,” Haynes said. “People are more likely to like Al Murray, pub landlord, than Alastair Murray, history graduate.”

Rob Deering, who scored 130, said that stand-up attracts geeks. “There is a train spotterish aspect of stand-up. There are so many people on the circuit who collect stamps or beer mats or whatever. I like to think I’m a rock star but I am a bit nerdy when it comes to film knowledge.”

It is unusual to find someone who does not display quick wit on the circuit, he said. “You expect a certain level of speed and wit. Every now and then you meet a comedian who isn’t keeping up with the dressing-room banter and you think: ‘Ooh, that’s unusual’.”

Caroline Garbatt, a spokeswoman for Mensa, said that writing comedy could be a way of sharpening the mind. “Comedians are exercising their brains on a daily basis,” she said. “They are not doing mundane, repetitive activities. The way they look at the world and find ways to make everything amusing requires intelligence. You only have to look at David Baddiel and the That Was the Week That Was team to see that comedy is full of intelligent people.”

Colin Cooper, senior lecturer in psychology at Queen’s University Belfast and a consultant for the BBC’s Test the Nation, said that verbal reasoning was a very good indicator of intelligence.

“One thing you do need to be a comedian is to be able to think on your feet,” he said.

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