Let’s say you just heard a joke that almost made you pee yourself. What do you do? You tell the next friend you see. They blink. Maybe they smile when they realize that really was the punchline and you’re waiting for them to react. Seconds would tick by if anyone wore a watch anymore. Eventually, somebody changes the subject.
It’s happened to you, don’t deny it. Be grateful that you didn’t write the joke in the first place. Whenever I did -- I mean, if you had -- the polite smile would contain a tinge of pity.
We assume that if something makes us laugh, then it will make anyone, and, by extension, everyone, laugh. We should know better, but we do it anyhow.
For all its broad social implications, humor is intensely personal. Look at how easy it is for an unfunny joke to be hurtful, when it should just be not-funny. If you got ice cream you didn’t like, it would still be ice cream and therefore more enjoyable than a lot of other things. (Notice I’m not making a joke about bad sex. Shut up, guys, it’s possible. There, I made a joke about bad sex. Are you happy now?)
Humor, food and sex, that one paragraph contained most of the social aspects of the human condition. It also avoided the reason why I started this in the first place, which was to examine an intermediate Improv show Robert and I saw today. We went to support a friend, who was terrific, thanks for asking. Some of the other performers were not terrific.
Never mind. I’ll just smile politely and change the subject.
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