The twins graded the cartoons on a scale of nought to 10 depending on how amusing or terrible they found each one. If appreciation of cartoons had a genetic factor, the correlation between identical twins should be much stronger than between non-identical twins.
Dr Spector said: "There was a strong correlation but it didn't seem to matter if they were identical or not... we found that between one third and two thirds of the variability in reaction to the cartoons was due to shared environmental effects such as family upbringing. Genetic factors did not appear to contribute at all."
The finding will make sense to any parent who has failed to fathom the appeal of Ali G, Vic Reeves or The Fast Show, or anyone under 25 who cannot see the humour in the Goons, Tony Hancock or Monty Python. It could also explain why, when famous acting families such as the McGanns, Redgraves, Fiennes, Fondas and Arquettes are in plentiful supply, there are almost no great comedy dynasties.
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