Fun discussion: The nature of "humor".

[Uniquemind]

So in another post I made, I toyed with the idea of making this discussion thread.

It is not a debate, but the intention is to have a think-tank, and to discover a pattern of what makes a joke work? (Aka: What makes something funny funny?)

Also if we do find a pattern to what makes jokes funny, can you classify different types of humor.

Certainly subconsciously we detect differences among comedians and their subject matter.

Let's discuss this...


Also another question of this thread...if there's a pattern to being funny and cracking jokes....is it a skill you can learn to spice up your social life?


Also this last question...why does objectively offensive material and concepts get more of a pass in jokes, when really one could see them as veiled personal attacks? Something this site will ban you for, yet seems to be a completely acceptable in the comedic industry, and that in layman's social circles seems to earn you a reputation of being "relaxed and relatable" rather than a "buzzkill, party pooper, or stiff".

Let's also not forget that "humor" seems to be a universal requirement to be "attractive" on the datability scale. From everyone's post I've read in "relationships" and asking real life family and friends what is required in a ideal partner or what makes the relationship work, is that sense of humor is necessary to good communication part of a relationship.


Discuss please.

[Gwen]

Jokes with few exceptions are usually summed up in being the initiation, which is were you basically tell the listener/s that you are about to tell a joke or by introducing them to a scene or setting where the joke takes place. Then you actually tell the joke and build it up, kind of like tension or expectation and finally you deliver the punchline. Then you get the usual laugh or awkward atmosphere to give you a response on whether the joke was 'got' or not. You can get silly jokes that are extremely basic versions of this like pulling someone's finger and they fart which is extremely common way of jokes when it comes to children and you can even skip the buildup and go straight to a farting noise which can make some children laugh. There are some complicated jokes that only makes sense to particular audiences usually labeled as 'nerd jokes' where it might involve complicated or archaic terms so only people who have interest in that field or knowledge on the subject can find the humour in it. These kinds of jokes even if not funny can make people feel accepted or part of the crowd and will draw them in regardless that they now believe they are part of a more exclusive group of people who'll understand it. In the age where you can browse for anything and find basically anything within reason many of us have become a lot more desensitized so the growth in popularity to 'dark humour' is expected. People like jokes that are unexpected or outside of the common jokes that you can guess the end to. Without making the buildup complicated or roundabout like and long you can just make the punchline so far off the expected that no one an be ready for it. Usually these jokes take dark and twisted turns since jokes are usually funny and we associate funny and happy without realising it. Of course with how much 'dark humour' and offensive jokes we hear about now most people can probably expect it and it loses its touch after awhile if you listen to them long enough. A joke is only funny after the first few times its told, it becomes bland and uninteresting the more you come to expect the punchline since all the tension or unknowing is missing. Like having presents that have written what is inside of them in black marker on the sides for Christmas.

Being humourous or witty enough to come up with jokes or merely being able to memorize a joke and find a suitable time to tell them is a sign of a good personality. It shows signs of Charisma. The reason why those offensive or dark jokes usually get more of a pass is because anyone can see the whole point is that the writers are trying much to hard to 'shock' an audience or find something to say that you wouldn't expect. Not being afraid to risk your reputation for the amusements of others is a brave if not self-destructive mindset but considering how popular many comedians are with these types of jokes it is becoming less risk more reward nowadays to put yourself out there. They are simply the ones who are smart enough to find where the line of acceptability is within their audience and the society of today. There are many cases where comedians even big stars get massive backlash for overstepping this line. We the consumers draw this line for what comedians will bring out as acceptable or not. Sense of humour is related to charisma and spontaneous in relationships which is probably why people find it an attractable trait in a partner. Who wouldn't want someone who can make you laugh whenever you feel down or when the situation would call for some living up?

As long as you either have good wit or the memorization and skill to know when a joke is appropriate to the time, place and audience you can 'learn' to have a sense of humour. I'm no psychology expert or even close to knowledgeable about most humans but this is my thought process on the essence of jokes and sense of humour.

Edit: Something I had forgotten to discuss is Anti-Jokes like the classic 'Why did the chicken cross the road?' 'To get to the other side!'
It gives an answer that should be completely expected but because we are prepared for an unexpected punchline that jokes usually offer we get put off by the sudden reasonable answer. This goes into the same vein with 'dad jokes' which use simply uses spelling or extremely simple unimaginative responses to put us off guard compared to how you think with things like dark humour.

[Uniquemind]

Jokes with few exceptions are usually summed up in being the initiation, which is were you basically tell the listener/s that you are about to tell a joke or by introducing them to a scene or setting where the joke takes place. Then you actually tell the joke and build it up, kind of like tension or expectation and finally you deliver the punchline. Then you get the usual laugh or awkward atmosphere to give you a response on whether the joke was 'got' or not. You can get silly jokes that are extremely basic versions of this like pulling someone's finger and they fart which is extremely common way of jokes when it comes to children and you can even skip the buildup and go straight to a farting noise which can make some children laugh. There are some complicated jokes that only makes sense to particular audiences usually labeled as 'nerd jokes' where it might involve complicated or archaic terms so only people who have interest in that field or knowledge on the subject can find the humour in it. These kinds of jokes even if not funny can make people feel accepted or part of the crowd and will draw them in regardless that they now believe they are part of a more exclusive group of people who'll understand it. In the age where you can browse for anything and find basically anything within reason many of us have become a lot more desensitized so the growth in popularity to 'dark humour' is expected. People like jokes that are unexpected or outside of the common jokes that you can guess the end to. Without making the buildup complicated or roundabout like and long you can just make the punchline so far off the expected that no one an be ready for it. Usually these jokes take dark and twisted turns since jokes are usually funny and we associate funny and happy without realising it. Of course with how much 'dark humour' and offensive jokes we hear about now most people can probably expect it and it loses its touch after awhile if you listen to them long enough. A joke is only funny after the first few times its told, it becomes bland and uninteresting the more you come to expect the punchline since all the tension or unknowing is missing. Like having presents that have written what is inside of them in black marker on the sides for Christmas.

Being humourous or witty enough to come up with jokes or merely being able to memorize a joke and find a suitable time to tell them is a sign of a good personality. It shows signs of Charisma. The reason why those offensive or dark jokes usually get more of a pass is because anyone can see the whole point is that the writers are trying much to hard to 'shock' an audience or find something to say that you wouldn't expect. Not being afraid to risk your reputation for the amusements of others is a brave if not self-destructive mindset but considering how popular many comedians are with these types of jokes it is becoming less risk more reward nowadays to put yourself out there. They are simply the ones who are smart enough to find where the line of acceptability is within their audience and the society of today. There are many cases where comedians even big stars get massive backlash for overstepping this line. We the consumers draw this line for what comedians will bring out as acceptable or not. Sense of humour is related to charisma and spontaneous in relationships which is probably why people find it an attractable trait in a partner. Who wouldn't want someone who can make you laugh whenever you feel down or when the situation would call for some living up?

As long as you either have good wit or the memorization and skill to know when a joke is appropriate to the time, place and audience you can 'learn' to have a sense of humour. I'm no psychology expert or even close to knowledgeable about most humans but this is my thought process on the essence of jokes and sense of humour.

Edit: Something I had forgotten to discuss is Anti-Jokes like the classic 'Why did the chicken cross the road?' 'To get to the other side!'
It gives an answer that should be completely expected but because we are prepared for an unexpected punchline that jokes usually offer we get put off by the sudden reasonable answer. This goes into the same vein with 'dad jokes' which use simply uses spelling or extremely simple unimaginative responses to put us off guard compared to how you think with things like dark humour.

What a wonderful comprehensive response. I thank you!


Now let me add to the discussion a follow-up question.

Given that at a broad level many people, specifically anybody in their mid-20's now, and younger (our age) are reading less and less, is society losing out on a lot of rich material for more complex "nerd jokes" as you called them?

Does it appear to you that having a generation gather their world experience from social media, funny gifs and memes, limit the potential of what kind of jokes can be told and effectively received?

I don't know if you've noticed, but many of the same types of jokes have been retold by different comedian's late night shows, same issue is referenced as joke material, similar punchline issued....it's getting worrisome.

[Gwen]

What a wonderful comprehensive response. I thank you!


Now let me add to the discussion a follow-up question.

Given that at a broad level many people, specifically anybody in their mid-20's now, and younger (our age) are reading less and less, is society losing out on a lot of rich material for more complex "nerd jokes" as you called them?

Does it appear to you that having a generation gather their world experience from social media, funny gifs and memes, limit the potential of what kind of jokes can be told and effectively received?

I don't know if you've noticed, but many of the same types of jokes have been retold by different comedian's late night shows, same issue is referenced as joke material, similar punchline issued....it's getting worrisome.

It is very late and I feel I discussed this follow up point quite poorly. I apologize if it isn't as informative as the previous post. I think I may have reapeated some points so while reading it just bear with me :(
The underlying point is still good but my communication of it was not. I would rewrite it but maybe I'm just over analyzing my own writing.

Well these nerd jokes are probably just as common as ever, people are still becoming doctors, engineers, scientists, etc. The majority of new jokes of this type probably come from popular culture like video games, online communities and popular television shows as my guess for the top 3. It isn't bad that people probably prefer these less complicated and possible more enjoyable (For the majority) material. These kind of jokes are purposefully difficult for the average person to understand because they are made for the sole reason to entertain and make people who have dedicated their time to a field to become part of this group of 'intelligent', 'unique', 'different' or whatever you term yourself and colleagues as compared to normal people. In a way, by looking at the above the more people understand a 'nerd' joke the less 'nerdy' it becomes. These books aren't going away either, society won't lose anything in the end. People will still read 'War and Peace' a good 100 years from now, probably not many but there aren't that many who read that book 100 years ago either. It'll probably just be a .pdf online you read it in but the content won't be gone at least.

With social media, memes, etc. It is poor to see it at as a limiting of humour but the growth of it. Society and how we communicate normally has evolved to quickly and now things like humour have evolved to also be effective with it. I love going on to Tumblr or whatever and just finding some funny gifs that can make me laugh or snort just the same as a verbal joke can. Does this lessen the value of genuine jokes that require thought rather than an image of a cat falling off a chair? No, but the same is true both ways. With jokes being repeated, it should be expected now that you can send a message to one side of the world in a blink of an eye without thinking about it. With Comedians being online and on TV everywhere the amount of content available is a lot more limited than we believed, it's worrisome of course. But maybe this more competitive environment will do more good than harm in the end. To continue to succeed and to have a strong or supportive group of fans or followers you need to be creative and find something original. Stealing a mainstream comedians jokes only brings you so far and you can only get called out so many times before your reputation bleeds. But, hey. Jokes are made to be retold, if people still laugh at the joke or maybe that is someone's first time hearing the joke than there isn't much reason to complain. Maybe we think we've all heard the joke about the garbage truck with wings but there will always be someone out there in the world who hasn't.

I don't think humour has been limited, I think we are all just worried of change to how we might of been used to jokes as a kid. When I was in primary school using dial-up, memes, funny gifs and social media spread wasn't something I could find because social media was primitive and massively popular image boards like 4chan or Tumblr didn't exist (SomethingAwful and MySpace were the older versions of the two). They exist now but they haven't been able to replace or even stunt the popularity of a good old joke. Simple humour has its charms just as complicated humour does. Sometimes I just want a dumb joke I can understand even when I'm drunk or tired at 4am on a weekend. Sometimes I want to watch a standup for an hour that makes me think about topics while also having me giggle constantly. We have the internet to thank for giving us access to the best and maybe the worst in humour. No matter what kind of jokes you enjoy, you can find it.

[tonymontana99]

I'm more of a cynical/situational joker tbh fam. Not physical or lame humour, but borderline offensive/dark humour. Thank G*d people aren't very butthurt where I live. Most of the time I think of what to say right out of the blue, so it comes as spontaneous and people usually laugh uncontrollably and then feel guilty about themselves. Kek.