This site was first coded from scratch by Jerry Tuttle back in 1995 when America Online started offering free webspace, although the domain name ActuarialJokes.com wasn’t purchased until April 2000.
Jerry was trying to break the stereotype about actuaries being dull and boring (well, we are dull and boring, but we can also laugh about ourselves). The offer was that if you would send Jerry an actuarial joke that he didn’t already have, he would include it and attribute it to you.
And so over time, ActuarialJokes.com became the main internet repository for jokes from actuaries all over the world, and the source from which actuaries would attempt to find something to help “liven” up their meetings.
Jerry took submissions up until April 2014 . Loathe to let 20 years of submissions disappear, he sold it to actuarial recruiters Ezra-Penland before retiring shortly after (as much as actuaries ever actually retire). The new owners kept this piece of actuarial internet history safe – but didn’t have time to update it or accept new submissions.
So sadly it languished until John (an actuarial tutor in the UK who writes actuarial comedy books in his spare time – to make up for his lack of social life) stumbled on to the website during January 2022. John reached out to submit some new jokes and offer to help update the website for free.
To cut a very long story short, John was eventually able to purchase this website in July 2023 with the sole condition that he continues to include an ad for Ezra-Penland for 10 years.
John is now honoured to carry the baton of actuarial “humour” until he retires and can pass it on to the next generation.
Actuarial Jokes 