Jokes and Comedy - Lessons of the Funny Bone

Jokes.
Comedy.
They're an art form. They're like beautiful paintings or soothing tunes.
But just intending to paint a picture or create music doesn't mean it's good.
Sure it's music when you beat a drum in rhythm or a painting when you draw some lines, but it doesn't mean it's good.
Intending it to be a joke, working in the framework of a classic joke, sure it's a joke.
But it's not always a good joke.
Most jokes aren't good, they're usually bad. Because they're instinctive, they're not worked on, improved, learned from, they're just said and you have to hope that the first time hearing it means you get your desired response from your audience.

As such, trolls and the immature defend any joke no matter how bad it is. And generally they defend insults and shouting not jokes. Which is the equivalent of someone defending a five year old's crayon drawing. It's a piece of art for sure, but no way is it good. It could be the foundation of a good joke or even comedy career, but once in a millennia has anyone made anything good by blurting it out, scrawling it down without an edit process.

If you care about making a good joke, work at it before writing/saying it.

 

Actually, it's a crayon drawing.

A birds. A children. A geese. A cherubim. A moose.

 

What is a philosopher's favourite anime.

Spoiler

Nietzschejou

 

If watched anime, i'd be in stitches right now.

Fixed.

 

Thank you

 

I was expecting "I hate to agree with PaW, since I loath the very ground he walks upon... but..."
Pleasantly surprised, and thanks for reading.

 

Spoiler

 

Goddammit Ross, now I have to disagree with Nova.

Listen, if the goal is to be a stand up comedian and impress your peers, you should work at it. If comedy is your passion, it should be worked at.... IF YOUR END GOAL IS TO HAVE FUN WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND GET A CHEAP CHUCKLE OUT OF THAT, IT IS DUMB OF ANYONE TO QUESTION HOW YOU DO THAT. NO REALLY, IT'S BEYOND SELF CENTERED AND DUMB. YOU DO NOT DICTATE HOW PEOPLE WITH ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS HAVE FUN, THEY DO. IF THEY'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL OR SOMETHING THAT HURTS SOMEONE, LEAVE THEM ALONE.

That's as basic as it gets. I don't care who you think has shit tier humor and who's funny. Not every one can be Bo Burnham. Not every one wants to be. They just want to have a bit of fun with their friends in the ways they know how and there's NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.

Honest to god, I swear if you people could, you'd go up to people playing Dodgeball, and stand there telling them how much better Red Rover is.

 

oh my god I have the weirdest boner

 

I''m pretty sure a GS boner is like a Nobel Prize for KHV.

 

I disagree with EVERYBODY
Jokes rely so much on delivery and context. You don't need to work on something to make it funny, in fact that can often lead to overthinking it which can weaken a joke. the most well thought out joke delivered poorly will still fail to be funny, but a person can make sound effects at the right moment and get applause.
People shouldn't really defend a joke when it fails though. If you failed to make your joke clear to the recipient or many of the people, the failure is yours, not theirs. It's a failure of knowing your audience. That's why it's easy and fun to get a laugh with your friends. You know your friends, you know their boundaries and expectations pretty well, you know what buttons to press, what to avoid.
But the thing about the internet is that you're never REALLY alone (besides private chats and such I suppose) any time you make a joke on a forum or youtube or whatever your audience is potentially EVERY USER of that service.
As for what comedy actually is, it's basically about expectations. If a person says "I will hit you with a pie" then something has to come of it. Whether they hit them with the buy, they get hit by everything but the pie, they get hit by the pie and die instantly, or whatever. The actual VALUE of the comedy comes from the context and audience though

 

open question: who is your favorite comedian

mine is louis ck.

 

Lisa Lampanelli. That woman has a brutal sense of humour, but it is amazing

ANYWHO, in response to this whole shenanigan, I think I agree with hatok more than I agree with everyone else. I think PaW is more or less addressing jokes that can be perceived as offensive and can be taken completely out of context. That's when the whole trolling thing comes in. When you make a joke, you have to know your audience. You have to know their boundaries and how far you can take a joke before you hurt someone. I have a friend who takes everything very seriously, and I have lots of other friends who are fine with everything I say. My sense of humour is pretty mean, and I've been called out on offending people. Know your audience, and think a little before you tell a joke.
Done and done

 

I'm pretty sure his point was not to diss people for goofing off

but rather to criticize people like, for instance, the ones who chased you out of the megachat

You did notice the part where he was explicitly referring to trolling, right?

 

Lee Evans, he's full of energy and daft. I can't not laugh at that man.

Louis is really funny as well, I'm a fan of most comedians.

 

Mitch Hedberg

 

Uh oh..mm. Gabriel Iglesias is one of mine. Then John Pinette. Sometimes Dane Cook.

And me. I'm the best damn comedian I know around here. It's all in the context and buildup, and delivery. Or if a situation just presents itself.

 

+1 point in your favor.

 

I don't watch much in the way of comedians, but the people from Whose Line is it Anyways? are pretty rad