The use of humor in the mathematics classroom has been advocated by many as an example of good practice in learning and teaching. In universities where the student body is drawn from diverse ethnic and social groupings, it is not clear whether a common understanding of what constitutes humor exists and therefore whether students would benefit from its use. This article reports the results of a small scale experiment designed to investigate whether first-year undergraduate students studying computing have a common appreciation of humor, and whether this appreciation can be linked to performance in mathematics modules. A diversity of opinion is indicated as to what constitutes humour among the students and two groupings of students are identified which seem to be distinctive in terms of tastes in humor, age, and mathematical performance. (Contains 2 figures and 6 tables.)