With the popularity of weird and cringy dad jokes soaring, it’s only fair to wonder what it is about them that people find them so entertaining. This relatively new humor sub-genre has been taking the internet by storm with Dad Says Jokes on Instagram leading the pack with a whopping 2.3M followers.

“Sometimes they are so bad, or make us cringe and roll our eyes, but in the end, that is exactly what makes us laugh,” Matthew Lance Smith, Moonpig’s head of studio, told Bored Panda. Moonpig, an online card and gift retailer, has recently done a study to find the cringiest dad joke out there. The competition was tough, as you can imagine, and with such an overwhelming selection to choose from, the results were rather brilliant.

Taking the top spot as the all-time favorite dad joke is a classic - ‘What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back? A stick.’ As with many, the obviousness of the answer is iconic and a key comical factor in the making of a great dad joke.

According to Smith, what makes dad jokes almost universally funny (or rather, punny) is the fact that “they are reminiscent of the embarrassment you would feel as a child from your parents, so a sense of nostalgia and innocence mixed with the humor get us all laughing.”

Moonpig’s study also showed that the much-loved straightforward tone of dad jokes seems to be a favorite. Puns were also a common feature in the top 10, suggesting the nation loves a classic play on words.

“I think what truly makes a dad joke is that they are cringey in nature,” Simon, Moonpig’s head of brand, told Bored Panda. “For me, the ultimate dad jokes are made up of a combination of puns and punchy one-liners, mixed with the cheeky nature in which they are delivered,” he concluded.

Hailed as the cringiest jokes out there, they entertain because they happen in a home setting and are performed by the dad himself. Of course, today, dad jokes have become a broader concept that defines overly punny jokes that sound as if they were described by dad. It no longer means that only dad can say such jokes. Quite on the contrary, it's their kids who throw these funny one-liners around at the family reunion party.