It’s about expectation.
You set up an expectation (the setup), and then do something else (the punchline).
But looking back, the punchline was expected in some esoteric way (the subtext). By understanding that esoteric reason, you’re in on the joke, and you have a shared understanding with the joke-teller. This human connection makes you feel good, so you laugh.
Then you tell the punchline again and again in different ways (the tag) to keep the laughter going.
And when it’s all blown over, you can tell the joke again (the callback). This is always the funniest part. It lets you think back to that good moment, and acknowledge the shared understanding that you both have. You might know of these as “in-jokes”.
It’s a way of getting closer to someone, and building mutual understanding. When you ‘get’ a joke, it shows that someone else ‘gets’ you. They know the subtext inside your head, without needing to see it.
That subtext can be some shared suffering that you both go through. It can be an absurd fact of life. Or an observation of society, or the human condition. It can draw attention to something unjust, or reclaim a hateful term. It can be a stupid trick, or some mindless wordplay. Or it can push the boundaries of what is and isn’t allowed. It can be a defiance of sense, or a defiance of rules. It can be a banana stuck to a wall, or a pipe drawn on some paper. It can be anything, as long as it has a setup, a punchline, and a subtext.
Some people still don’t know that comedy is about human interaction. They think that a joke is only made funny-or-not by its setup and punchline. But that’s wrong, because that’s only two thirds of the joke.
Jokes are only funny because of the unspoken subtext. This is why they stop being funny when you explain the subtext. The mutual understanding is lost and they become cold.
This means that a joke’s quality can change depending on who’s telling it to who, because the hidden subtext changes. A parody can become reality if the wrong person says it. An observation can become cruel if it’s said to the wrong person.
And if an AI tells a joke, there’s no-
Sorry I can’t-
Tech humour is still terrible because:
It’s just pointing and laughing - punching down.
This blog post is inspired by all the terrible jokes that get submitted to me for dreamberd.
It’s the year 2024 and people still aren’t comfortable laughing at Ricky Gervais. (risky click)
Quick! Get back to the wikiblogarden.