Just been wondering recently, as I hear the usual jokes when friends gather, or at a party. Most jokes are really made to show how stupid one (or more) characters in the story are. May it be blondes, or anyone else. When a joke’s story has one person replying with a sharp, quick-witted answer – people don’t laugh at the sharpness of the reply, but they laugh at how stupid the other person in the story would be looking/feeling right now.
Is that what most jokes are all about?
No.
Let’s not forget people getting hurt or having sex with the farmers daughter. 
A three legged dog walks into the bar and says “I’m a looking fer da man who shot ma paw”
Well, the last is a shaggy dog story, and those are always puns. Puns have been described as guerilla language, not humor.
A lot of humor has to with stupidity, but a lot also has to do with cleverness, too. How many jokes are there about the clever underdog putting the superior in his or her place? It’s not that all the superiors were idiots, just that they didn’t think of everything.
No, most jokes are not about other people being stupid, though the Aggression Theory of humor does have its strong (rabid) proponents. These people have claimed that the following joke:
How does an elephant get out of a tree?
Stands on a leaf and waits for Autumn.
Represents white aggression towards black sexuality. Huh?
Seven’s joke about the dog is not a shaggy dog story, and shaggy dog stories do not always end in puns. A real shaggy dog story goes on and on and on, then leaves the listener with no resolution.
Seven’s joke about the dog is not a shaggy dog story, and shaggy dog stories do not always end in puns. A real shaggy dog story goes on and on and on, then leaves the listener with no resolution.
That’s right, that isn’t a shaggy dog story. Like Sattua said, shaggy dog stories go on and on, and a really good teller can stretch them out to half an hour with an audience getting more an more interested; the idea being that you thouroughly engross the audience, and then leave a big anti-climax. Usually the anti-climax is a pun, the idea being that the pun is so awful and hackneyed that it’s still a bad resolution to the story. Sometimes, though, the story has no “joke” resolution at all; the story just ends, sharply, in an unexpected way (the main character gets run over just before he gets to the ending, some deus ex machina steps in and ruins the joke, etc).
Shaggy Dog stories are my favourite kind of humour.
Damn, submitting the post mistake. Can a lovely mod please delete the partial post above my last one?
All about stupid? No, hardly.
There’s the So Obvious It’s Funny joke, which is more about making the listener feel stupid for not being able to answer the question: what’s black and white and read all over? why did the chicken cross the road? why do firemen wear red suspenders?
There’s the Shocking joke, which is about juxtaposing two concepts to make the listener uncomfortable. Discomfort is one way to elicit humor as a defensive response. Consider: how do you make a dead baby float? what’s black and white and red and can’t get through a revolving door? how come (dead celebrity) can’t have children?
There’s the Stereotype joke, which has two purposes. One, it makes the listener uncomfortable (again possibily provoking a laugh, if one is so inclined) and the other to make the listener nod with recognition and say yes, they do that, don’t they? These jokes qualify, though they are not all about people being stupid: how can you tell if a blonde has been using your computer? why didn’t the shark eat the lawyer? where’s the best place to hide (ethnic group’s) car keys? how many (ethic group) does it take to change a lightbulb?
And then there’s non-sequiturs and illogic: why do elephants paint their toenails red? what’s blue, carries a gun, and bounces?
I’m sure there are a lot more types of humor, because I left out word play (how do you get down from an elephant?). I also left out anecdotes (such as ‘a horse walks into a bar, and the bartender says…’), which aren’t question-response jokes.
A chicken and an egg were laying in bed and the chicken was casually puffing on a cigarette. The chicken smiles over at the egg and say “Well I guess that answers that question.”
As opposed to.
A quite drunk redneck was barrelling down the road in his pickup truck when he saw a pair of Aggies hitchhiking. He thought what the hell and pulled over. The redneck said “Jump in the back” and the Aggies did. He floored it down the road and was swerving from side to side every which way when he lost control, jumped over a hill, and landed in a deep pond. The redneck rolled his window down, jumped out, and swam to shore. There he waited…and…waited. Five minutes passed and he thought “I done killed those damn Aggies and I’m going to prison”.
Just then, both of the Aggies pulled themselves up on the bank out of breath. The redneck said: “Thank God you boys are are alive. What took you so long?” The Aggies said: “We had trouble getting the tailgate down!”