Deconstruct your own humour

[Hadoblado]

Similar to other threads where people post something they find funny, I want to suck all the fun out of it by doing the same and then having us explain the joke.

Why? Because while I don't think Freud bad is science I am a proponent of psychodynamic theory, and see humour as a hidden shortcut to the subconscious. If you find something funny while someone else doesn't, this is evidence of differences in subconscious forces. You can learn about yourself this way.

Also because you people let your ideologies become your sense of humour CMV.

Spoiler: I'll start:

I find this fucking hilarious, it's perfect satire. Without breaking any parameter of the meme format it shows you exactly what's wrong with it without ever breaking character. As someone predisposed toward the type of thinking that this satirises (I've posted memes in this format before), it makes me feel sheepish and a little absurd. I can't refute it even if I disagree with it. It highlights a complexity that's difficult to communicate, but does so with such conciseness I feel like my only option is to laugh.

I can be a bit basic. I really like edginess, and I really like subversion. When I accept a narrative and then have it pulled from under me, this feels good. If it happens multiple times within a short period of time (without becoming overly complicated), it's like it builds with each subversion.

Please spoiler your images to keep the thread navigable.

Edit: Also feel free to critique something you don't find funny. I think that could be valuable too.

 

[birdsnestfern]

A real VA Dr. replaced an actual Trump photo with an Alex Baldwin SNL photo of Trump because he couldn't stand looking at Trump. That took nerve. Shocking in a government office, but cool. I laugh because you have to pass a picture of a president and totally understand why he would do this, but its almost unthinkable to actually do it.

UPDATE: Trump-Hating VA Doctor Says He Posted Photoshop 'Joke' of Alec Baldwin Photo as SNL Trump in President's Place at Veterans Affairs Office | The Gateway Pundit | by Kristinn Taylor

UPDATE: Trump-hating VA Doctor Eric Strong has posted that he photoshopped the VA office image he tweeted of Alec Baldwin in place of President Trump.

www.thegatewaypundit.com

Mark Morford was clever columnist at SF Gate.com and I used to get a lot of laughs from his humor. https://muckrack.com/markmorford/articles

 

[Cognisant]

Spoiler

I am a horny immature edgelord.

Spoiler

I find this anti-Musk meme amusing because it demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of the concept of neutrality, by the person who made the meme.

Spoiler

Religion has all the hallmarks of a mental illness, magical thinking, erratic behaviour, inconsistent intent and actions, internal inconsistency, and is often the result of trauma or drug abuse. But we politely ignore the crazy people because there's a lot of them and they've banded together to form institutions to defend their "right" to deny reality.

 

[birdsnestfern]

Ha ha, these are so right on, just everything George Carlin says is funny because nobody else DARES say these things, but they hit as TRUTH. LOVE it when people tell the truth and don't care who it affects.

 

[ZenRaiden]

I prefer not so funny humor, but funny enough to make me laugh, just not the way most people, but some only.
Technically I like funny things.
It has to be though something I have not heard 1000 times.
Because honestly I think funny jokes are only good if you find them funny.

 

[EndogenousRebel]

Probably mostly stemming from rational and irrational insecurities. Absurdism and thus irony. Avoidant and yet confrontational. Latent yet brimming with a sensation that something is wrong.

Someone abruptly says fuck at a silent funeral very loudly, innocently and with misunderstood justification. Everyone turns their head including me, I try to suppress a chuckle. Some look at me now, which triggers more laughter in me. I cover my mouth and pretend like I don't notice and look forward again. I am somewhat elated that I have a funny anecdote.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Spoiler

This is such a classic, I like the whole genre of "oblivion npc dialogue". It shows funny clips from irl with the morrowind game overlay. I like hidden references to in-game stuff or how the meaning of irl events is enhanced and contextualized in games. It's just ridiculous how an over the top reaction fits the game world more than it does reality or is so nonsensical that matches with the tone and detachment from reason which lies at the core of the elder scrolls lunatic dialogue.

Spoiler

Perfect buildup, excessive maniacal breakdown and amazing self-indulgent power trip make this a great parody of that dude's character. Top tier stuff.

Spoiler

Autism, attention to detail, unexpected voice lines that ridiculous accent and parody of mtg's more silly aspects.

Spoiler

It's absurd, it parodies the dark souls game and horror genre, physical comedy and exaggeration is just hilarious. It wouldn't be weird if a creepy mascot sun appeared in dark souls and bashed you to death. Love it

Spoiler

Absurd, overt delivery, subverts expectations, scottish accent.

 

[birdsnestfern]

Its a lighthouse lamp. A little too suggestive though, lol.

I guess because these are part of American History of Comics they are
fascinating more than funny, see link below.

Link to interesting American Pulp Comics:

Pulp Artists: Earl Norem — From Men's Mags to Marvel -

The amazing Pulp Artist who painted everything from He-Man to surfing assassins this Earl Norem art is awesome.

americanpulps.com

 

[Cognisant]

Its a lighthouse lamp. A little too suggestive though, lol.

Paige glow?

 

[birdsnestfern]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Huh? No comprende.

I don't know what Paige Glow is, but here is some Moon glow:
This photo was From @SpaceHub_SL the moon kissing the ocean…
Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse 05/15/2022.

Spacexx (@ineed__spacee)

The latest tweets from Spacexx

nitter.net

 

[Cognisant]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Huh? No comprende.

Spoiler

 

[birdsnestfern]

Ugh, its a little too raunchy. Sorry. No.

 

[Cognisant]

Thou humourless creature I cast thee back to the pit of Facebook from whence you came!

Spoiler

 

[birdsnestfern]

Meow.

 

[dr froyd]

Spoiler

it's basically a lunatic character talking about currency, with interesting visual effects and sounds. I don't know exactly why but I almost died laughing the first time I saw this.

besides that the things he is saying are sort of "solutions" to a potentially real problem, and the solutions are balancing on the edge between absurd and useful. I like that.

 

[Hadoblado]

Spoiler

This one is hard to describe. There's a moment before I finish processing it where I'm interpretting it as some sort of PUA mspaint nightclub, then I'm left staring at a colour coded distribution and that whiplish has me chuckling.

 

[Rook]

Spoiler

it's basically a lunatic character talking about currency, with interesting visual effects and sounds. I don't know exactly why but I almost died laughing the first time I saw this.

besides that the things he is saying are sort of "solutions" to a potentially real problem, and the solutions are balancing on the edge between absurd and useful. I like that.

Spoiler

sam hyde my man. dude might have some screws loose but they are the right ones, he has a method of portraying abstraction in so droll a manner that many take it for reality, something i have seen few comedic artists pull of. the way he morphs the portrayal of himself midstride makes for unpredictable viewing, he can seem serious af while it's all for the skit

avoids platforms and has his own site behind paywall, so haven't watched the bulk of his creations maybe... 5 or so yrs ago

Spoiler

 

[dr froyd]

my introduction to sam hyde was back in the Kickstarter TV days. Here too it's sort of a character he is playing yet the things he is saying are both hilarious and thought provoking. The low-end production quality of the videos somehow make it even better

Spoiler

this is a newer one that is fucking hilarious but hard to explain

Spoiler

 

[Puffy]

Call me basic but it’s rare I find sophisticated stuff funny. Like I find it entertaining but it doesn’t tend to trigger a deep belly laugh. Often it’s the stupid, surprising or crude stuff that does it.

Sort of like going to an improv group where everyone’s trying to word-play each other and be clever vs a clowning group where everyone’s just talking crap and doing inane shit.

As an example, this triggered a good belly laugh when I first saw this in context of the larger video it was originally in. The surprise of seeing this testacle thing grow out its throat, his shrill reaction, it’s just so stupid and funny:

 

[Hadoblado]

For me it's a mix of both. Execution is a big deal and sophisticated jokes rarely have clean execution. At the same time, most low-brow humour has high accessibility so it becomes repetitive.

So for low-brow humour (which I agree, hits different), it's often about novelty mixed with charisma. If I don't like you it's unlikely you can make me laugh this way.

For more complex humour, the accessibility is low so novelty is almost a given. There's an appreciation for the composition that occurs, but it's much less likely to be delivered in a compelling way. This is where memes come in. Most are trash, but if you find a format funny and it gets popular, and you follow each step of the way, there is a built-in history that can take you on a journey with something relatively simple. Novelty is re-injected with every iteration.

 

[Puffy]

For me it's a mix of both. Execution is a big deal and sophisticated jokes rarely have clean execution. At the same time, most low-brow humour has high accessibility so it becomes repetitive.

So for low-brow humour (which I agree, hits different), it's often about novelty mixed with charisma. If I don't like you it's unlikely you can make me laugh this way.

For more complex humour, the accessibility is low so novelty is almost a given. There's an appreciation for the composition that occurs, but it's much less likely to be delivered in a compelling way. This is where memes come in. Most are trash, but if you find a format funny and it gets popular, and you follow each step of the way, there is a built-in history that can take you on a journey with something relatively simple. Novelty is re-injected with every iteration.

Yeah I agree with you that these aspects are important. I'm trying to think of some examples to contradict myself. You're right there's probably things that mix it. Maybe Monty Python as an example (unsure, still feels a bit novel low-brow) that I found really funny as a teenager.

One other under looked aspect in this thread to me is company. If I'm with people watching something and we're having good banter I'm going to laugh at things that I might not laugh at watching solo. Also laughter is infectious so if someone else is belly laughing I'm more likely to as well. I think this is why laugh reaction videos are so popular. As the YouTuber is providing the banter and reaction that you'd get if you were watching the same video with one of your mates. The same monkey clip isn't as funny without KSI reacting to it at the same time.

 

[Puffy]

I think another genre of humour for me are things that are unintentionally bad. This film Star Crash is a 10/10 classic for that, just really shit writing and acting from beginning to end. It really is amazing XD

You have to see the film in context a bit as this is towards the end. It’s the characters’ tone of voice and delivery, the shit plot device that he out of nowhere has the ability to stop time to get them out of the trap without any other mention or lead up to it in the film, and the line “and everything will explode”. Lost it the first time I saw the film. Shit tier fuckery

 

[Hadoblado]

Yeah, company counts for an enormous amount (for humour and otherwise). Depending on the people I'm around I possess a completely different sense of humor with little overlap. I think part of this is about referential signals (different groups have a different referential context which dictates what is and isn't an additional level of a joke. Reference in humour is like spice is in food. It's not a meal in itself but if added to something that stands on its own it can enhance it.

At times I'll sort of chuckle to myself as if there is a shadow presence of someone else I would share a joke with, who isn't there, like I'm running the scenario with different actors in my head. So part of me still finds it funny, it's just muted and de-emphasised.

Re: Monty Python
It was always a bit of both for me. I watched it as a kid and found it hilarious, but I'm not sure if it would hit the same nowadays. Every now and then I see a reference and I appreciate their craft. Holy grail and life of Brian were great. I imagine I wouldn't find

Flying Circus quite so funny as skit-based comedy feels a bit shallow to me (not that they weren't good at it). There will usually be a singular premise and it's hard to explore it further than is predictable in a single scene.

Re: Bad
I don't share this humour for the most part. To me it's played out once I've got a handle on where it is. There are times when a scene becomes hilarious because you can tell the actors themselves are struggling to perform because they themselves find it funny:

Spoiler

But for the most part I don't really get it. The room and its ilk tend to make me feel sad because it's someone's authentic vision that is renowned for unintended reasons. I can't be engaged by it.

Disclaimer: I'm only describing/exploring differences, I by no means think humour I don't share invalid.

 

[Cognisant]

You have to see the film in context a bit as this is towards the end. It’s the characters’ tone of voice and delivery, the shit plot device that he out of nowhere has the ability to stop time to get them out of the trap without any other mention or lead up to it in the film, and the line “and everything will explode”. Lost it the first time I saw the film. Shit tier fuckery

That got a irl laugh out of me, even having just read what the punchline was when it dropped it still caught me completely off guard as I was pondering how stopping time would actually solve the problem.

But for the most part I don't really get it. The room and its ilk tend to make me feel sad because it's someone's authentic vision that is renowned for unintended reasons. I can't be engaged by it.

Art is not entirely subjective, but there's certainly a subjective element to it, for example I once walked out of one of the "Scary Movie" movies because it was actually scaring me, probably because I was young and it was faithfully referencing horror movies I hadn't seen so I wasn't understanding where the horror stopped and the parody began which actually made it terrifying in a really surreal way.

 

[Puffy]

@Cognisant It's jokes. If you liked that scene I think you'd enjoy the film as a whole. It has some robots in it from what I remember.

@Hadoblado I understand what you mean in that there's a mean aspect to making a joke out of someone's failure. I'm unsure if audiences can control if they find something funny or not. But maybe there's a way of appreciating the humour in tasteful or non-tasteful ways. With Star Crash it was made so long ago that everyone involved has moved on from it so I don't have any qualms about it.

With films like The Room and Star Crash I think it's either the case that they would've been flops and failed commercially. Or became cult classics for being unintentionally bad and became an unintended success. I'm sure it varies artist by artist which reaction they'd prefer (they don't get a choice really) but I get the sense that films from people like Tommy Wiseau and Nicholas Cage have achieved more success for being funny than they would have ever done otherwise.

Failure is a big theme in itself. Clowning and slapstick is people failing to do everyday things for the most part. Then there's the whole genre of home videos, Jackass, etc, with people failing things like falling off their skateboard, etc.

 

[Hadoblado]

Oh I ummm... don't take that as any sort of judgment. It's where my mind goes, but it's not where I want my mind to go or think others minds should go. It's uncharacteristically empathetic which makes me think I might fear failure more than I realise because I'm not usually overrun by concern for people I don't know.

 

[Puffy]

@Hadoblado No worries Hado, your post probably just activated the "oh wait, what I said before could be misconstrued as offensive" part of my brain. All good.

 

[Rook]

for some reason i just find this funny as all fuck. im imagining her making 'scoochie scoochie' noises



timestamp 43 minutes for example of sound

 

[Puffy]

This made me laugh scrolling through Facebook feed. I think it’s a self-evident joke, can just relate to that ‘oh fuck’ moment.

 

[Daddy]

It's funny because emotional support means reliving trauma. But it's somehow supposed to be comforting.

 

[Puffy]

View attachment 6293

It's funny because emotional support means reliving trauma. But it's somehow supposed to be comforting.

Hah, I read it as the ones eager to provide the emotional support are often the ones with the problems. They’re offering the support as they want someone to offer it to them.

 

[Daddy]

Oh, interesting. It's art then.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

You have to see the film in context a bit as this is towards the end. It’s the characters’ tone of voice and delivery

It has to be said, the actor playing 'emperor' is really good. He's carrying this shitty plot with his wholesome voice and charisma. The bit with delaying the explosion for 3 minutes was hilarious Got another laugh when the boy kept both of his hands in emperor's hold for an eternity like a confused lover, unintentional gold.

And then I realized that the actor playing the 'boy' is David Hasselhoff, the living meme and I lost it again . He had the right training from young age it seems

I'm a sucker for parodies like Kung Fury or Spaceballs. Anything that's cheesy or cliche and tries to be serious or epic at the same time is a safe bet to get a laugh out of me.

Spoiler

 

[Puffy]

Oh, interesting. It's art then.

It's a real Rorschach test

You have to see the film in context a bit as this is towards the end. It’s the characters’ tone of voice and delivery

It has to be said, the actor playing 'emperor' is really good. He's carrying this shitty plot with his wholesome voice and charisma. The bit with delaying the explosion for 3 minutes was hilarious Got another laugh when the boy kept both of his hands in emperor's hold for an eternity like a confused lover, unintentional gold.

And then I realized that the actor playing the 'boy' is David Hasselhoff, the living meme and I lost it again . He had the right training from young age it seems

I'm a sucker for parodies like Kung Fury or Spaceballs. Anything that's cheesy or cliche and tries to be serious or epic at the same time is a safe bet to get a laugh out of me.

Spoiler

Yeah I like how they all stand around like they don't know what to do when another actor is speaking. This is really early Hasselhoff, like more than a decade before Baywatch stardom. Starcrash isn't even mentioned on his wikipedia page so I guess he's tried to purge his association with it from existence.

I don't really know why Christopher Plummer (emperor) joined this film at this point in his career. I get the sense he's being professional and having fun with it, humouring the kids so to speak.

 

[Puffy]

Just more of my low brow plebeian sense of humour

 

[ZenRaiden]

Just in case no one knows, pointy is better because it also has better speed.

 

[Cognisant]

 

[ZenRaiden]

 

[ZenRaiden]

Deconstructing?
This is about how media portray people in these various instances.
And how reality is completely different to what people get exposed to in day to day.
Essentially it kind of fits into the whole Simulation and self reference of societal models that Baudrillard explains in Simulacra and Simulation.
He claims the image we get exposed does not correspond to reality.
The image symbol however becomes our only reality.
Essentially society and politics are self referential.
So how is this funny?
Well the current information value of Ukraine propaganda evolved into some sort of simulation of Hollywood.
Kind of like watching a zoolander movie.
Where a clueless guy is taken for a ride by evil Mugatu, being coerced and controlled by what seems a commercial interest group trying to use him as a tool to take out a minister of some foreign country in order for Mugatu continue in his ability to make child labor a legal thing.

So both Zoolander and Zelensky are representing something.
However the reality beneath what they represent is very grim.
In case of Zoolander its child labor.
In case of Zelensky its grain shortage and possible world hunger and a world war type conflict.

Both of them are realistically kind of outside of this loop though.
Both of them represent something real to people and something of positive value.
But that image that coerces people and is meant to impress them is manipulated against them in order to destroy them( both Zelensky and people that is)

So what is so funny about this?
Well the reality we get exposed through media is absurd, but we like to believe it.

 

[ZenRaiden]

 

[BurnedOut]

Some parameters I managed to identify after cogitating on my jokes -
1. Probability of the listener getting out of the comfort zone to understand the joke
2. Probability of the listener to have cognitive dissonance that is harmless (as I intend) and the pleasure of being refuted in a noncompetitive manner
3. The overall personality of the individual that contributes to her cognitive dissonance and the open mindedness required to process the cause of that leads to the comprehension of the joke
4. Agreeableness of the individual. Highly aggreable individuals laugh without comprehension of the joke many times

The success of my joke primarily depends on these factors as long as I'm joking with elements that are not incomprehensible or too tangential

 

[birdsnestfern]

I like jokes that are daring, say a truth that takes a lot of courage to say. Often political jabs give me great release to a repressed subject I dare not say myself or even think.

I don't always love 'men' jokes, I suppose many men like those, but think that is asking for trouble if shared with women and can be triggers for women to really piss us off. And likely on purpose.

The one about the vase, for example is a raunchy guy joke that probably seems harmless to men, but my senses aren't into it. Too crude. So, I think men can be a little crude and carefully need to test that side of their humor out - or find a different type of humor completely around women. Share it - fine, but don't expect everyone to laugh at everything. I will just quietly look away.

I'm more likely to laugh in person if the delivery is done humorously, but if presented with it in readable form, just makes me mad. My Dad was a fire captain and they tell each other a lot of dumb jokes to keep each other sane, that I just don't want to know. Too rough is just abrasive. I've heard one too many fire hose jokes.
I spent a Summer in Hawaii and two weeks were camping on a beach with a lot of very fun Hawaiians, they cracked some fantastic jokes that need to be written down, really good ones.

Dirty & racial jokes are good only in the right company.
Political jokes are usually funny in the right company.
Daring Truth and Misunderstood Twists are good cathartic remedies in a way.
And now that I think about it, perhaps men use raunchy jokes as remedies to what they don't understand about women? Is that it?

 

[scorpiomover]

Its a lighthouse lamp. A little too suggestive though, lol.

There's something about her smile that has my brain imagining her saying "That's a tight fit."

I wonder what that says about me.

 

[scorpiomover]

Spoiler

View attachment 6092

I laughed at that one. It's funny, because he thinks that because he has an uncle who believes in G0d, that he has a history of mental illness in his family. It's ironically absurd.

It's absurd, because:
(a) when doctors & nurses ask about a history of mental illness in the family, they mean if there's much higher rate of incidence of mental illness in the family, than the average, like if he had 3 uncles with schizophrenia.
(b) an example of mental illness would be someone who decides that he can fly and jumps off the roof of a 3-storey building. If he said that his uncle had given away all of his money and is now homeless, because "G-d told him to", might qualify as mental illness. But just believing in something, without actually doing anything crazy, would not be something that anyone would consider to be mental illness.

It's ironic, because:
(a) the fact that he said to a nurse that he's got a history of mental illness in his family, just because his uncle believes in G0d, means that he doesn't have a clue what he is being asked.
(b) that he believes that his uncle is mentally ill, just because his uncle believes in G0d, means that he believes that just because his uncle believes in something that he doesn't, means that he believes that anyone who disagrees with him, must be crazy, which in itself is a sign of a superiority complex and an inability to tolerate other human beings.
(c) that he believes that his uncle is mentally ill, just because his uncle believes in G0d, also indicates that he believes this just because it's popular for atheists to say this, which makes him incredibly gullible and naive.
All of that means he's acting like a crazy person, which means the mere fact that he replied that way, would make the nurse think he might be mentally ill himself.

All of that tells me that I like ironic humour and particularly absurdism.

 

[Hadoblado]

The character is Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec. He's a libertarian caricature.

I'm not really a fan of this particular joke, but I find his delivery very strong and he's got a lot of memorable lines. It's interesting how we interpret this so differently.

His role tends to be that of an unflinching alternate perspective where he says a thing that normies will disagree with but find it difficult to explain why. To me, this is a simultaneous swing at religion or mental health and how we arbitrarily decide it's okay to be irrational in some ways but not others. I find it a little bit preachy myself.

 

[Hadoblado]

@birdsnestfern
I like the vase joke, but mostly because it does a good job of recontextualising itself with a high degree of word economy. Sex as a punchline is boring, but guiding you to a novel sexual reference is fun.

Sex is just a point of reference you either accept or reject. Other points are stuff like the incompetence of group members or political conclusions. The points emerge as a result of group dynamics and context, and a good measure of how you fit in with a group is whether you share those same referents. Most points of reference are very shallow, and I think good humor integrates these accepted points of reference while being more than just that.

With the jokes you've shared you do find funny, while I largely share your perspectives on these issues, I don't accept the political view as a valid reference point. They just read as propaganda.

 

[Old Things]

I find this to be one of the funniest moments I have seen in cinema. I am not a big movie person, but I find this scene quite funny. Not sure how you would deconstruct this, but perhaps it is that it is so ridiculous but the presentation makes it believable.

 

[ZenRaiden]

There's something about her smile that has my brain imagining her saying "That's a tight fit."

I wonder what that says about me.

It depends, is that thought sexual innuendo or actual technical thing.