Comedian Gilbert Gottfried told Playboy that he wondered why women always say they “want a guy with a sense of humor” yet aren't really interested in having sex with Gilbert Gottfried. “Ask them what they’re looking for in a man, and more often than not they’ll tell you, ‘Somebody who makes me laugh.’ But I’m here to tell you, as a man who has made his living in comedy for more than three decades, that women are full of shit. Being funny (and I have occasionally been funny) has never gotten me laid in my life.”

Oxford experimental psychologist Gordon Claridge shares new research that sheds some light on one theory: The very same qualities that make standups beloved on the stage could compromise their appeal as a date.

Comedians display a “tendency towards impulsive or anti-social behavior,” a “tendency to avoid intimacy,” and a “reduced ability to feel social and physical pleasure,” Claridge found in a study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. He asked 523 comedians to “complete an online questionnaire designed to measure psychotic traits in healthy people,” and determined that "the creative elements needed to produce humor” are “strikingly similar” to those of low-level psychosis.

In fact, the study found that comedians are even more psychotic than actors.

The difference is that a witty banter between two parties can be sexy, but someone performing their routine over dinner is not. A shared sense of humor can spark intimacy between two people, but jokes can also be a tool to avoid getting too close.