# Is mockery funny?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 15, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178 "2020-08-15T12:37:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/1 "2020-08-15T12:37:10Z")
Personally, I think mockery (or derision) can be hilarious. It can also be sick and twisted. One can definitely go too far for good humor. Sometimes, it’s funny because it’s sad or embarrasing _but rings true_.
There are some who think mockery is a sin, especially public mockery such as of Jesus, tar & feathering, etc. I tend to agree on that point, well, at least that it isn’t very funny unless the target deserves (or I believe they deserve) such ridicule. I think humor gives way to horror or empathy when you get into the more extreme or tasteless derisions.
But this isn’t just about public mockery, I’m also interested in what people think about simple things like making funny faces behind someone’s back. Or professional mockery, for example jokes based on stereotypes, or political satire.
~Max
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/2 "2020-08-15T12:44:51Z")
To me, it’s all about intent and to a lesser extent, the mocker. Humiliating someone to make yourself feel superior tells more about you than anything. On the other hand, mocking someone who thinks humiliation is a weapon is less offensive to me. It can be funny, even if biting.
And, frankly, there are some people who, no matter what they say or how they intend it - well, they’re never funny. They’re just obnoxious.
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/3 "2020-08-15T13:11:35Z")
What if I mock someone who always says “tho” instead of “though.” This is a person who otherwise has perfect grammar, and so it drives me batty!
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/4 "2020-08-15T14:06:57Z")
> [@Leaffan](#):
>
> What if I mock someone who always says “tho” instead of “though.” This is a person who otherwise has perfect grammar, and so it drives me batty
Se, I pronounce “tho” and “though” the same.
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### Author:  [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/5 "2020-08-15T14:07:19Z")
> [@Leaffan](#):
>
> What if I mock someone who always says “tho” instead of “though.” This is a person who otherwise has perfect grammar, and so it drives me batty!
Though pronounced tho-ugh? That’d be cool!
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/6 "2020-08-15T15:46:20Z")
Mockery is orthogonal to funny. It can be funny or unfunny. It’s generally at least a little bit mean. Very cruel mockery can also be skillfully funny.
As I said elsewhere, cruelty and humor aren’t opposites.
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### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/7 "2020-08-15T17:49:07Z")
But what about people who write “altho”?
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/8 "2020-08-15T17:54:40Z")
Mocker is funny when Sarah Cooper does it.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/9 "2020-08-15T17:58:50Z")
I’ll go with obnoxious.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/10 "2020-08-15T18:20:59Z")
It’s almost always cruel. It’s funny when the cruelty is somewhat deserved.
A few notable exceptions to the “cruelty” thing: Dave Berg’s caricatures were famously NON-insulting to the actors and actresses in the Mad Mag sendups; Joan Baez deliberately singing like Bob Dylan in “Simple Twist of Fate” was a bit barbed not really cruel; YouTube has [several](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pianist+style+happy+birthday+syle+composers) videos of pianists playing “Happy Birthday” in the style of a dozen or more classical composers and it’s more of an homage than a hostile mockery; etc
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### Author:  [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/11 "2020-08-15T20:18:15Z")
It’s just like any comedic device. It’s great when it is implemented well and targets the deserved. But people are free to object to it when they feel it is has crossed a line.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/12 "2020-08-15T20:40:19Z")
Well, he did manage to land a roll on _Whose Line is it Anyway._ Must not be too bad.
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/13 "2020-08-15T21:01:42Z")
The perfect American analogy is that mockery is just like a gun: whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing depends a great deal on which end of it you’re facing.
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### Author:  [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/14 "2020-08-15T21:14:20Z")
I don’t know about that one. I’ve never had the pleasure of looking down the barrel of a gun, and I can’t think of many realistic scenarios where I might actually derive pleasure from doing so. But I have been the target of mockery before, and often enough I do find it quite funny in a self-deprecating sense.
~Max
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### Author:  [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/15 "2020-08-15T21:20:17Z")
I would say that the funniness quotient is generally dependent on the “punching down vs. punching up” factor.
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### Author:  [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/16 "2020-08-15T22:25:44Z")
Would you agree then with Dorothy Parker, who [remarked](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/the-algonquin-round-table-about-the-algonquin/527/) upon hearing that Sacco and Vanzetti were executed,
> "_I had heard someone say and so I said too, that ridicule is the most effective weapon. Well, now I know that there are things that never have been funny and never will be. And I know that ridicule may be a shield but it is not a weapon."_ ~ Dorothy Parker, 1927
Or George Carlin, who [during a 1990 Larry King interview](https://youtu.be/R7Xkey41AYQ?t=536) implied that he did not find the punch-down comedy of Andrew Dice Clay to be funny,
> **Click to reveal transcript**
>
> > **King** : What do you think of Andrew Dice Clay? No one can talk to a comedian today and not ask an opinion about him.
> >
> > **Carlin** : Yeah, you can't do an interview without it. I - I would defend to the death his right to do everything he does. The thing that I find unusual, and it's not a criticism so much, but his targets are underdogs. And comedy traditionally has picked on people in power. People who abuse their power. Women and gays and immigrants are kind of, to my way of thinking, underdogs. [...]
> >
> > **King** : Why does he get away with it, do you think then?
> >
> > **Carlin** : I think he's appealing largely, I think his core audience, are young white males who are threatened by these groups. I mean, a lot of these guys aren't sure of their manhood because that's a problem when you're growing in through adolescence. You know, 'am I really', 'could I be', 'I hope I'm not one of them'. And the women who assert themselves and are confident are a threat to these men. And so are immigrants in terms of jobs.
> >
> > **King** : So that's why we as an audience then will laugh?
> >
> > **Carlin** : You say _we_, I don't think you mean _we_-
~Max
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### Author:  [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/17 "2020-08-15T22:41:13Z")
It’s funny if you think it’s funny.
Whether it’s cruel depends on whether the one you mock finds it funny.
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### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/18 "2020-08-15T23:15:31Z")
Mockery is merely fake Vindaloo.
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### Author:  [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/19 "2020-08-15T23:28:14Z")
In general, I am not a fan of mockery. There are a few occasions where it may be apt, but I tend to think less of someone who does it.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [August 15, 2020, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-mockery-funny/918178/20 "2020-08-15T23:29:38Z")
Again, it’s funny when Sarah Cooper does it.
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