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What Makes Something Funny?

To what degree does the average person perceive cognitive dissonance as unpleasant?

I suppose it could be the case that all humor is dissonance and most dissonance is unpleasant, so that most humor involves unpleasantness but is not necessarily unpleasant...

There are people who love eating "hot" pepppers, although the most obvious consequence of eating such foods is painful burning sensations. Do they find eating peppers pleasant or unpleasant?

Even unpleasant things can be reinforcing.
 
Christian said:


Sorry, can you tell me the shaggy dog story? Was that joke posted before?
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Shaggy Dog Story archive. The point of a shaggy dog story is its lack of punchline (if iI may oversimplify a bit). My joke in this thread is a shaggy dog story.

So...we are expecting a punch line--something unexpected. And we get something that is not a punch line--something that just sorta fits with the story...ends it, but is not a real "punch line" at all. For your theory to work, you would have to claim that it was unexpected after all, because we were expecting the unexpected, but got what we expected instead, which we did not expect. In other words (please!), if this is the sort of explanation that makes "unexpectedness" fit all jokes, then it is unfalsifiable! If something can be unexpected because it is not the expected unexpected, then we can fit anything to an "unexpected" model.
 
Beleth said:


A wealthy Texan cattle rancher split his ranch in two and gave one of the parts to his two children, Jack and Bill. He named the part he gave to them "The Focus Ranch." Why?

Because it's where the sons raise meat.

(That is the most sophisticated pun I know of. Three homophones in a row.)
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That's a good one. I love word-play humor (and not all word-play is puns) I don't think I can top yours, but here's one with two homophones together:

Confucius say, oral sex can make one's day,
but anal sex can make one's whole week.

Then there's the whole Dicken's Cider routine.
 
Diogenes said:
So, in other words, does that mean the Shaggy Dog Story is funny because it's not funny?
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Isn't that what I said?

:D :p :D

Brevity may be the soul of wit, but I have never claimed to have a soul.
 
But aren't they only funny because the design of the story leads you up to an anticipated ending, and then gives another that is consistent yet surprising?

A randomly-chosen ending isn't amusing at all.
 
Mercutio said:
Shaggy Dog Story archive. The point of a shaggy dog story is its lack of punchline (if iI may oversimplify a bit). My joke in this thread is a shaggy dog story.

So...we are expecting a punch line--something unexpected. And we get something that is not a punch line--something that just sorta fits with the story...ends it, but is not a real "punch line" at all. For your theory to work, you would have to claim that it was unexpected after all, because we were expecting the unexpected, but got what we expected instead, which we did not expect. In other words (please!), if this is the sort of explanation that makes "unexpectedness" fit all jokes, then it is unfalsifiable! If something can be unexpected because it is not the expected unexpected, then we can fit anything to an "unexpected" model.
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Very interesting. It is a genre. I have learned something new today about english colloquialism. Thanks, thanks. In Latin America we don't have a term for those jokes. (we say they are either good long jokes or bad ones, for the bad ones people get booooo's)

Ok, I would argue that anyone can construct a Shaggy Dog Story, but the ones that will actually make us laugh will be under the category of unexpected punch line.

Remember, the categories that I presented are of those jokes that make us laugh.

So, a Shaggy Dog Story that was not funny to us was because it was not unexpected. If it was, it was because it was unexpected. And, also, it could be funny because of the any (or combination) of the other 4.
 
Wrath of the Swarm said:
But aren't they only funny because the design of the story leads you up to an anticipated ending, and then gives another that is consistent yet surprising?

A randomly-chosen ending isn't amusing at all.
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But in these cases, the teller finds ( perhaps ) it amusing to watch the listener squirm..
 
Christian said:


Remember, the categories that I presented are of those jokes that make us laugh.

So, a Shaggy Dog Story that was not funny to us was because it was not unexpected. If it was, it was because it was unexpected. And, also, it could be funny because of the any (or combination) of the other 4.
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Could you please tell me how this is not circularly defined? It seems to me (but I am not running on all cylinders right now) that you take the funny ones, say that they must have been unexpected, and then say that it was the unexpectedness that caused the humour. This is circularity. I suggest that your categories would be better if they were falsifiable; as is, you are willing (it appears) to shoehorn anything that is funny into one of the categories a posteriori.

Oh, and...glad to introduce you to the Shaggy Dog Story genre. The best I ever heard was from a Maine comedian who calls himself "the humble farmer". He told a story (on public radio) that went on for 15 minutes...I told it to my brother, and he actually hit me!
The Humbe Farmer
edited to add link
 
Mercutio said:
Could you please tell me how this is not circularly defined? It seems to me (but I am not running on all cylinders right now) that you take the funny ones, say that they must have been unexpected, and then say that it was the unexpectedness that caused the humour. This is circularity. I suggest that your categories would be better if they were falsifiable; as is, you are willing (it appears) to shoehorn anything that is funny into one of the categories a posteriori.
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I know it sounds circular but it really isn't. But I don't know how to show you, other than with specific examples.

I do think my categories are falsifiable.

Let me explain what the category of unexpected looks like. The anatomy of the unexpected.

It is like a train that is going a particular direction and (the analogy is perfect because we think we know where the train is going, it is going where ever the tracks lead it) suddenly it is derailed.

What makes the joke funny is the WHERE the derailment takes us. It is place we did not think it was going to take us. The minute we can completely anticipate where the joke is going to go (where the train is going), then it can't be funny.

Now the Shaggy Dog gerne is has exactly that construction. But, the main characteristic is that it is long and because we know that a story that is meant as a joke must have an unexpected ending, we (conciously or unconciously) are trying to figure out what it will be (where it will go). I submit to you that if we guess correctly, then the joke is not funny.

If we don't guess correctly and the punch line takes us (and remember, this is a subjective appreciation [the subject, the listener has to think that it took him/her to an refreshing unexpected place]) to an unexpected place, then it will be funny.

Maybe, the way to prove this, would be to ask the listener if he/she could have guessed the ending and if he/she thought the ending was clever (or something like that)

Oh, and...glad to introduce you to the Shaggy Dog Story genre. The best I ever heard was from a Maine comedian who calls himself "the humble farmer". He told a story (on public radio) that went on for 15 minutes...I told it to my brother, and he actually hit me!
The Humbe Farmer
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:D :D :D


Listen, let me construct the train for you.

An Arab merchant walks into a bar. He asks the bartender for a beer.

The bartener hands over the beer, and the merchant takes the first sip.

He lifts the glass one more time and takes another sip.

He puts the glass down.

A fly is whirling around, dives into the glass and takes a sip of the beer.

With lighting speed, with one hand, the arab merchant grabs the fly by the wings, putting it straight above the glass. And with the other hand begins to hit it on the back yelling:

SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT.


Now, this joke will only be funny of the ending was unexpected (and it was a smart [ingenious] place to go)
 
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