Why Pete Davidson does well! Women like dating funny unattractive men

They say the way to a woman’s heart is by making her laugh – and a new study suggests the age–old trope is true.

Experts have discovered that women prefer to date funny men who are less attractive than them, while blokes are more likely to punch above their weight.

It could explain some peculiar pairings, like the nine–month relationship between comedian Pete Davidson and socialite Kim Kardashian.

And it goes to show that being the ‘funny one’ in your friendship group really can make you a hit with the ladies.

Researchers surveyed more than 1,200 heterosexual adults in the UK and asked them to consider six traits – wealth, beauty, ambition, humour, intelligence and kindness.

Participants were asked whether they would prefer to have the trait or for their partner to have it, and to indicate how big a gap between themselves and their significant other they were willing to indulge.

The results revealed that men were willing to sacrifice their own attractiveness to have a good–looking partner but wanted to be the funny and wealthy one in the relationship.

Women, meanwhile, were completely the opposite – preferring to be prettier and intelligent but wanting a partner who could make them laugh and who had more money and ambition than them.

The study, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour, showed that women rated their desire for themselves to be attractive at 7.01 out of 11, while men rated the importance of their own beauty at just 4.77.

While men’s own desire to be funny was 7.08, women’s was lower at 5.81.

Any score below six indicates that a person would prefer their partner to have the trait over themselves.

The team discovered that both men and women were most strongly aligned on compassion and wanted to date someone with similar levels of kindness to themselves.

Bill von Hippel, from Australian consultancy firm Research With Impact, was involved with the study along with researchers at University of New Mexico and Queensland University.

‘I think the most important finding from this research was that men would prefer to be unattractive themselves if that meant they could date attractive women,’ he told the Daily Mail.

‘Meanwhile women would prefer to be attractive themselves even though that meant they were destined to spend their lives dating unattractive men.

‘This finding demonstrates that the intrinsic value of attractiveness is much greater for women than it is for men, and that a large part of the reason that men want to be attractive – which they do – is really just so they can date attractive women.’

They explained that the findings make ‘evolutionary sense’ as attractiveness in women is a predictor of fertility, which is the ‘currency of evolution’.

Over the years many comedians have dated and even married women who – typically – would be deemed much more attractive than them.

This includes British funnyman Johnny Vegas, who was married to television producer Maia Dunphy from 2011 to 2017. Comedian Ricky Gervais has also been in a relationship with producer Jane Fallon since 1982. 

Actor Rowan Atkinson, known for his hilarious character Mr Bean, was married to makeup artist Sunetra Sastry from 1990 to 2015.  

Over the pond, Pete Davidson has also been in a relationship with singer and actress Ariana Grande. 

Meanwhile Sacha Baron Cohen – best–known for his portrayal of Borat – was married to Australian actress Isla Fisher for 13 years.

A separate study, published earlier this year, found that men tend to ‘punch’ above their attractiveness level when it comes to dating apps. 

Researchers discovered that overall, successful matches were more likely to occur between people with similar levels of desirability.

But this means that men have likely ended up settling for someone who they were initially less interested in – after being rejected by more attractive options.

‘Women nominate on average slightly less desirable mates, and men send ties (swipes) to women who are on average considerably more desirable than themselves,’ the researchers wrote in the journal Plos One. 

‘Our research…shows that while men often aim high when choosing whom to contact, successful matches tend to happen between people with similar levels of desirability.

‘This pattern is largely the result of rejection, rather than an initial preference for similarity.’