You might think the only way to get to know someone—like, really know them—is by having a one-on-one convo full of deeply personal questions. But the fun, silly questions you ask your friends can also be important—not just for strengthening your bond, but for your overall happiness.
Imagine what hidden gems you might learn about your friends after they confess their guilty pleasures, or show off their best dance moves. “The value is not so much in the question itself, but in the conversation that the question sparks,” says Anna Akbari, PhD, a sociologist and former professor in the department of media, culture, and communication at New York University.
No matter the answer, you now have the opportunity to ask more questions, simultaneously uncovering the layers as to who your friend truly is inside. “The question and its answer is a starting point for a conversation journey that maybe you wouldn’t be having with that friend,” says Akbari. So while asking those silly questions might appear insignificant on the surface, they ultimately reveal information about your friend.
“Friendship grows in its intimacy and deepens in connection through self-disclosure and the sharing of the ‘bits and pieces’ of what makes us who we are,” adds Suzanne Degges-White, PhD, a professor of counseling and higher education at Northern Illinois University and co-author of Friends Forever: How Girls and Women Forge Lasting Relationships. In short, asking your friends funny questions is how you demonstrate interest in their lives and lived experiences, Deggs-White explains.
Not sure how to get the ~funny questions~ going, per se? “When we want to pose a silly question, it can be best to just state outright what you’re going to do,” Degges-White suggests. AKA, whether you’re in a group or alone with a friend, just let them know you want to pose inquiries that might be on the fun-yet-strange side, and take it from there.
Funny questions can be a way to escape the real world, entertain each other, pass the time, break the ice and, most importantly, peek inside the inner workings of your friend’s mind, Degges-White says. And because inspiration never hurts, the following is a list of 200 funny questions to ask all your friends.
1. Who was your first celebrity crush, and are you into them?
2. What’s your go-to dance move, and can you show me? (Pleeeeease.)
3. If you got to choose your name, what would it be and why?
4. If you could use magic to do one mundane task for the rest of your life, what would it be? (Bonus question: What would you name the spell?)
5. What’s the weirdest item you keep by your bed?
6. What TV show would you want to be in? Which one would you not want to be in?
7. What’s the strangest purchase you’ve made (or almost made)?
8. What is the best excuse for being late you’ve heard or used?
9. Do you have a secret talent? Can you do it right now?
10. When you were a kid, what name did you give your favorite toy or stuffed animal?
11. If you had a pet parrot, what would you teach it to say?
12. What is one band or musician you would love to party with?
13. What’s the best pick-up line you know?
14. What is your go-to movie when you need a mood boost?
15. What is your go-to guilty pleasure song?
16. If you could make the ultimate sandwich, what would be on it?
17. What is the worst fashion decision you’ve ever made? Do you have a picture of it?
18. If you could invent a holiday, what would it be?
19. What book or series did you wish you could live in?
20. If you could be the best in the world at something, what would it be?
21. What is your favorite room in your home?
22. What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
23. What item do you hope will be obsolete in 20 years?
24. If you could have a lifetime supply of anything, what would it be?
25. What’s the weirdest thing you wanted to be when you grew up?
26. If you were the ruler of the world, who would be your top adviser?
27. What’s the worst date you’ve been on?
28. If you had to eat the same meal at least once a day, what would it be?
29. What would be the tagline to the sitcom of your life?
30. What’s your most unpopular food opinion?
31. Which piece of clothing do you no longer wear but can’t throw away?
32. Do you like pineapple on pizza? Make the case why or why not.
33. What word do you want to be added to the dictionary, and what is the definition?
34. What two “normal” activities would be really weird if you did them back to back?
35. Have you or someone you know seen your doppelgänger?
36. What food do you think would represent each U.S. state?
37. If you opened a store, what would you sell, and what would be its name?
38. What’s the funniest thing you’ve read recently?
39. If you were famous, what would your stage name be?
40. What character from a movie/book/show do you relate to the most and why?
41. Who do you think will be playing on “oldies radio” in 30 years?
42. What is a food combination people eat that you just can’t get behind? (For example: dipping french fries in Frosties.)
43. What is the best Wi-Fi name you’ve ever seen?
44. What is something you do that would be embarrassing if everyone found out?
45. What celebrities would you want to play your parents in a biopic about your life?
46. If you were arrested, what would it be for?
47. What’s the one item you can’t live without?
48. Who is the one celebrity you would want to be friends with? Who would you not want to be friends with?
49. What is your favorite line from any movie?
50. Is a hot dog a sandwich?
51. What cartoon character do you relate to the most and why?
52. Which Hogwarts house do you belong in and why?
53. If you could attend any celebrity wedding which would it be?
54. Did you ever get in trouble at school as a teen and if so, what for?
55. How would your parents describe your personality?
56. If you remember, what was your kindergarten teacher like?
57. If you could meet any author, who would it be and why?
58. If you could, would you go to outer space?
59. What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever said in a meeting?
60. If you wore one, what did your prom dress look like?
61. If you could be any kind of animal, which would you be?
62. You’re granted three wishes. What are they? (And you can’t ask for more wishes.)
63. Have you ever seen a ghost? Where?
64. What’s your dream proposal scenario?
66. What’s the worst television reboot so far?
67. What’s the best book-to-movie adaptation? What about book-to-television series?
68. What’s the worst drink someone can order at a bar?
69. Which is the best Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor?
70. What was your most embarrassing moment from wearing braces?
71. What’s the smelliest thing someone could put in the office microwave?
72. How many languages can you say “hello” in?
73. What’s your go-to cereal and why?
74. Which was your first magazine subscription?
75. What was your first email address?
76. Is GIF pronounced “jif” (like Jif peanut butter) or “gif” (like gift)?
77. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
78. Have you ever made a prank phone call?
79. What’s your biggest dating app disaster?
80. Which celebrity do you think you look like?
81. How do you spell it: “OK” or “okay”?
82. What’s the most embarrassing song on your phone right now?
83. Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?
84. If you could only subscribe to one YouTube channel for the rest of your life, which would you choose?
85. What’s the weirdest gift you’ve ever received?
86. What is the last movie that made you cry?
87. What’s the one podcast you’d love to be a guest on?
88. Which color should I dye my hair?
89. What’s your go-to excuse to get out of plans?
90. What are the most-used emojis on your phone?
91. What’s a fashion or beauty trend you’re secretly hoping makes a comeback?
92. Who is your favorite Disney Princess and why?
93. What’s your biggest irrational fear?
94. What’s the most random fact you know?
95. Where was your most unforgettable vacation?
96. What is one thing you’ll never do again?
97. Can you do any celebrity impressions?
98. Were you given any yearbook superlatives in high school? (Class Clown, Best Smile, etc.)
99. What’s the most amount of hours you’ve ever slept in one day?
100. What’s the dumbest injury you’ve ever had?
101. Which movie or TV show do you quote most often?
102. What’s the lowest test score you’ve ever received?
103. Can you fold a fitted sheet by yourself?
104. Do you believe in aliens?
105. What’s your cringiest drunken moment?
106. Is soup something you eat or drink?
107. Did you have an imaginary friend as a kid?
108. What’s the worst sporting event you’ve ever attended?
109. How many tries did it take for you to pass your driver’s test?
110. What’s the first thing you’d buy if you won the lottery today?
111. Does round or square pizza taste better?
112. What’s the funniest joke you know?
113. Would you time travel to the past or future?
114. Would you rather have hands for feet or feet for hands?
115. Do you consider cereal to be a soup?
116. Who wins a fight between Superman and Batman?
117. Who was the worst teacher you’ve ever had? Why?
118. If you were to go on Shark Tank, what idea would you pitch?
119. Which do you prefer: Talking on the phone or texting?
120. If you could attend a dinner with any celebrity, living or dead, who would you choose?
121. If you could only eat one for the rest of your life, would you choose scrambled or sunny-side up eggs?
122. What’s the weirdest or scariest dream you’ve ever had?
123. If money didn’t matter, what job would you have?
124. If you could become a character in any animated show, which would you choose?
125. What would be your role on a reality TV show? (The partier, the villain, etc.)
126. Speaking of reality shows, would you ever try to find love on TV? Why or why not?
127. What’s your least favorite scent?
128. What’s a skill you wish you had, but don’t?
129. If you were a fruit, which would you be and why?
130. What’s your biggest cooking fail?
131. What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?
132. If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?
133. Can you think of something that everyone looks ridiculous doing?
134. What’s the funniest insult you can come up with?
135. What is something that is popular now, but we’ll all probably be embarrassed by years from now?
136. What’s your favorite dinosaur?
137. What’s the last thing you did for the first time?
138. Is there anything about you that people are surprised to learn?
139. If you could pick a day to relive again and again, which would it be?
140. Truth or dare?
141. What’s your zombie apocalypse plan?
142. What’s the cringiest Halloween costume you’ve ever worn?
143. Can you read my mind right now? What do you think I’m thinking?
144. What’s your stance on pets with human names?
145. Do you wanna build a snowman?
146. Are you embarrassed of your Google search history?
147. Should the toilet paper hang over or under?
148. Have you ever told a lie and didn’t get caught?
149. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
150. If you were a professional baseball player, what would your walkup song be?
151. Which Mario Kart character are you?
152. What’s the strangest thing in your fridge?
153. What is your favorite place that starts with “New”? (New York, New Zealand, etc.)
154. If you were a shoe, would you be the left or right foot?
155. Which SpongeBob character would you choose to live with and why?
156. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
157. Can you find the most confusing photo in your camera roll and explain it?
158. Do you have any secret tattoos?
159. If you could un-invent something, what would it be and why?
160. Do you have any public transportation horror stories?
161. If you became invisible for the day, what would you do?
162. If you could switch bodies with someone (Freaky Friday-style!), who would you pick?
163. What’s the first thing you notice about someone after first meeting them?
164. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
165. Can you touch your nose with your tongue?
166. Back in the day, were you Team Edward or Team Jacob?
167. How many animal sounds can you make?
168. What’s an Olympic sport that doesn’t exist, but should?
169. Would you rather be 12 inches tall or 12 feet tall?
170. If your dog could talk, what’s the first thing it would say?
171. Would you rather live the rest of your life in total sunlight or total darkness?
172. What’s something you only do when you’re bored?
173. If you had to eat a crayon, which color would you choose?
174. What’s the strangest rumor you’ve ever heard about yourself?
175. Which celebrity friendship would you use to describe our friendship?
176. What’s the funniest inside joke you’ve ever shared with someone?
177. How would you describe the internet in one sentence?
178. What’s the funniest way you can think of to answer the question, “How’s it going?”
179. What’s your go-to: Rock, paper, or scissors?
180. Is a charcuterie board considered to be a meal?
181. What’s a purchase you made that you immediately regretted?
182. What’s something ridiculous that should be illegal, but isn’t?
183. Have you ever spotted anything weird in someone else’s home?
184. Which sport would be funniest to play after a few drinks?
185. What’s your funniest childhood memory?
186. Would you rather be smart or sexy?
187. Would you rather be an actor or an influencer? Why?
188. What’s the longest, most intricate secret handshake you’ve ever had with someone? Do you remember it?
189. What’s the most annoying reason you’ve ever gotten a ticket?
190. If you had one hour to prepare a standup comedy bit, could you do it?
191. Who is the best (or worst) celebrity you’ve ever met?
192. What is something you’re very stubborn about that nobody can change your mind on?
193. What is your biggest pet peeve?
194. Is ketchup good or gross?
195. Is The Office actually funny? Why or why not?
196. Where’s the worst place you’ve ever gotten lost? (On vacation, a road with no service, etc.)
197. Which is cuter: Babies dressed as animals or animals dressed as humans?
198. What’s a word or phrase you learned you’ve been saying wrong all your life?
199. Would you rather get a bad haircut or a bad dye job?
200. What’s the most amount of pizza slices you’ve ever eaten in one sitting?
Source: Women’s health
