Maybe funny is the new sexy

Match.com does this thing every year called “Singles in America,” which is a comprehensive report on the state of being single in, well, America. By “comprehensive” I mean it surveys 5,600 singles, although they do come from all walks of life, essentially. (Sample size seems good.) Within the past year, it seemed that the best place to live for singles was Colorado Springs or El Paso, so I wanted to see if “Singles in America” had any additional context on that. (Also, 30 percent of married couples apparently meet through friends, which I found interesting. I met my wife through friends, personally.)

The PR-savvy element of 2015’s “Singles in America” is something called “The Clooney Effect,” which speaks to the idea that the era of “macho man” and “protected younger woman” is over. Confirmed bachelors like Clooney are now marrying smart, accomplished women! Damn right!

But there’s something potentially more interesting here.First off, check this out:

I thought that 74 percent number (“think it’s OK to casually date more than one person at a time”) was high, although I know around 2008 or so, I was bouncing around Match and eHarmony and I’m pretty sure I got to five-six dates with some ladies, thought it was going to a singular place, and found out that they were dating 2-3 other people. So I guess it’s not that weird.

Here’s “The Clooney Effect” deal with single men:

Check out some of these numbers — 87 percent would date someone more educated, 86 percent want a confident and self-assured woman, 87 percent would date a woman who makes more money. Nutso. This is not your father’s generation.

Now here’s the one that really got me.

9 out of every 10 men — and basically 9.7 out of every 10 women — think a sense of humor is just as important as attractiveness.

Now, you can throw in a lot about survey bias here, right? How maybe when you’re being asked, you think you’re supposed to say that humor is as important, so you do? Maybe the question is leading?

Regardless, those are some high-ass numbers and it should give us all hope for broader society: in the Era of the Kardashians and consistent celebrations of superficial beauty (or lust or whatever), being able to make someone laugh is still holding its own as an aphrodisiac.