What makes a joke funny?

MrBishop

MrBishop

Well-Known Member
*Thank you to Tonks for making me think of this thread idea*:swing:

Look at your average joke. It's poking fun at something or someone. It involves a clever play on words. It breaks the tension of having to live in a PC world by breaking PC rules.

There are blond jokes, Newfie jokes, racist jokes and sexist ones. There are jokes that point out idiocy, ego, human foibles and stereotypical roles...and some of them are even funny.

So...what makes a joke funny and can a joke be funny without at least offending one person?

Examples if you will.
 
Newfoundlander.

I think it almost has to make fun of someone, or just stupidity in general.
 
i don't know why that joke set me off...it just seems hateful...but i'm being a total bitch today :shrug:
 
Rose said:
Newfie?
Click to expand...

Kinda like your average blond joke, but aimed at a whole population of people (male,female, kids etc..). In jokes, Newfies are considered stupid beyond belief.

I'm sure that I'm not making brownie points with Nixy though. She's a Newfie...though with a remarkeable brain and a true hottie :)
 
Ah so newfie is the same as polelock, etc. *refrains from saying "did you hear the one about the canadian ...."*


;)
 
tonks said:
it's boudreau and thibodaux jokes here.
Click to expand...


I bet you'd make fun of Okies if you knew we can't pronounce those sort of fancy schmancy words! *lol*


*thinks thibodaux sounds like someone's missing their two front teef, iff'n I'm saying it right anyway
 
Rose said:
I bet you'd make fun of Okies if you knew we can't pronounce those sort of fancy schmancy words! *lol*


*thinks thibodaux sounds like someone's missing their two front teef, iff'n I'm saying it right anyway
Click to expand...
tib - uh - dough
boo- drow
 
Daily occurances that usually don't happen often make things funny. It's not necessarily who the joke is about but what. On so many levels though, some people make it easier to poke fun of them because of things that you hear in day to day life or on tv, radio etc.
 
Egads. There are too many subsets and subtelties that make a joke famous in the white western world, let alone the other 3/4 of the globe. What is funny for us is certainly not funny for them and vice versa... and nothing is funny to the Germans. The most important aspect to getting a joke is familiarity. I'm pretty sure that Anna Nicole Smith jokes wouldn't do well in the Punjab.

cultural slamming
wit
wordplay
puns
misdirection
understatement
deadpan
mental imagery
shocking ending
exaggeration
irony
twist

...and for gods sake, be brief. Jokes that take 10 minutes drive me nuts.
 
In general, what makes a joke funny is who is telling it. If I'm telling it, it's not funny. If anyone else is telling it, even if it's the exact same joke, it's funny. I haven't been able to figure out why.
 
Rose said:
:lol: Got the boo-drow (only because we have a member with that name), but I totally gimped up the other word. :D
Click to expand...

You never heard "Jambalya" by Hank Williams????

Re the question at hand, what usually makes a joke funny is an exaggeration of some part of the story. Some jokes are only funny to certain people or in certain context, as unc pointed out.
 
MrBishop said:
So...what makes a joke funny and can a joke be funny without at least offending one person?
Click to expand...

At least some truth added to a good deal of timing.


Offended? So...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top