# Things that funny people know **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 22, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516 "2012-10-22T13:29:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/41 "2012-10-23T20:01:52Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Thank you. I was going to attempt to convey this myself. > Best execution I’ve seen was Dudley Moore with Dick Cavett. (DM: “Ask me…” / DC: “What’s the…” ). I too have only heard this when Buddy Hackett was on The Tonight Show; Johnny Carson was the straight man for this line and you would believe he really didn’t see it coming. That particular event was also described by Penn Jillette in “How To Play in Traffic” (p. 103). He compared it to watching a space shuttle launch from a couple of miles away, because you see the launch and just as you start to think, “That’s funny, I don’t hear anything” you hear this overwhelming ROAR. > [@Dr\_Doom](#): > > Were 57 a prime number, that would be funny. You mean not all numbers ending in 7 are prime? 😕 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/42 "2012-10-23T20:21:42Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I too have only heard this when Buddy Hackett was on The Tonight Show; Johnny Carson was the straight man for this line and you would believe he really didn’t see it coming. That particular event was also described by Penn Jillette in “How To Play in Traffic” (p. 103). He compared it to watching a space shuttle launch from a couple of miles away, because you see the launch and just as you start to think, “That’s funny, I don’t hear anything” you hear this overwhelming ROAR. That book is where I got it from. Except they don’t compare the shuttle to an overwhealming roar, they compare it to getting hit in the chest with a bat. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/43 "2012-10-23T20:52:46Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > I know that my funny mouth gets me into more trouble than anything else. > I also recognize there’s a tiny bit of tragedy in there that I can’t seem to control it much of the time. \>.\< That’s my problem, too - not thinking of things later when it’s too late, but I trying to keep myself from saying wildly inappropriate things right on the spot. > [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoons were funny to me sometimes because he communicated one thing verbally in the caption, and something else entirely in the visual imagery of the cartoon. > > Example: a pair of conjoined twins are being examined/interviewed by a doctor. The caption is of the doctor asking them, “…OK, let me get this straight. Frank, you’re saying that it’s your brother Jim here who turns in to a werewolf at night?” The caption clearly indicates some uncertainty/confusion on the part of the doctor. Then you look at the panel: Frank is all beat to hell, and his conjoined brother Jim has a guilty “fearful of being discovered” look on his face. > > I’m not sure if that’s an example of incongruity (between the doctor’s uncertainty and the preponderance of blatant visual evidence) or understatement (by the doctor), but Larson seemed to engage in that sort of thing a lot. Hah! That made me laugh just reading it. As for funny things, monkeys are always funny, and the letter “k” is the funniest letter. See - there’s a “k” in “monkey.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/44 "2012-10-23T20:57:27Z")
Charles Schulz once said that the word “opthalmologist” is funny, but “optomotrist” isn’t. So when Sally had eye problems, he had her see the former. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/45 "2012-10-23T21:11:50Z")
> [@A\_Nested\_Thorn](#): > > …A loud fart after a long period of awkward silence = funny… A loud fart is _always_ funny. The bedrock of British humour… My mum came up with an inadvertant Spoonerism a couple of years ago at the fiercely contested annual after Christmas dinner quiz; Mum: “Which seventies tart chopper…” Me: “The Yorkshire Ripper”. I think the real answer was Kate Bush… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/46 "2012-10-23T21:32:47Z")
Nearly everything can be misunderstood, if you try hard enough. For example: I actually saw a sign in a shoe shop the other day that said “SALE! Buy one get one free on all mens shoes”. I was very tempted to ask “isn’t that just how it normally works?” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/47 "2012-10-23T21:36:13Z")
I’m even more tempted over here where for the past couple of years it has been abbreviated as just “BOGO” (which is sometimes get one free, and sometimes just half-off or x% off or some such.) I do want to go in and say “Yeah, normally, when I buy one, I do get one.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/48 "2012-10-23T21:58:48Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Charles Schulz once said that the word “opthalmologist” is funny, but “optomotrist” isn’t. So when Sally had eye problems, he had her see the former. Also, “Beethoven” (but not “Brahms”), “Zamboni,” and “Joe Garagiola” are funny. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/49 "2012-10-24T00:52:59Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > That book is where I got it from. Except they don’t compare the shuttle to an overwhealming roar, they compare it to getting hit in the chest with a bat. I didn’t go back and read the whole passage 🙂 BTW I was actually watching the Tonight Show that night. It might have been the same show where Buddy said, “When I was growing up, at my house we always had two choices for dinner: Take it or leave it.” ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/50 "2012-10-24T01:59:04Z")
Know your audience. Different people think different things are funny. Some respond to sarcasm, some to satire, some to physical humor. Some jokes play better one-on-one, some are better for a group. I like to feel people out and find out what makes them laugh. When I first met my wife all my friends thought I was hilarious and told her so. She never thought I was funny. It took me a few years to figure her out and find what she responds to. I can make her laugh now but she still says that when I’m around my friends I act stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/51 "2012-10-24T02:52:38Z")
Once people believe you’re funny, then anything you say or do automatically is seen as funny. When you witness a pedestrian hit by a car, it’s horrifying. If it’s your funny friend, you think it’s the greatest prop joke EVER. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/52 "2012-10-24T20:47:55Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > As for funny things, monkeys are always funny, and the letter “k” is the funniest letter. See - there’s a “k” in “monkey.” 😃 Are a thousand monkeys [a thousand times as funny?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5_-RAkSH5g) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/53 "2012-10-24T21:47:10Z")
Kumquats. I’m a funny guy and I always buy kumquats. Okay, smartypants, just try to say it to a stranger on the street without smiling. ---
**Author:** ![vd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b19c9b/32.png) [@vd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vd)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/54 "2012-10-24T21:52:47Z")
The biggest laugh comes after 0.3 to 1.7 seconds of 😕. Make them think about it a tiny bit before they get it. This requires knowing your audience and targeting the joke to what they know. If you go too obvious, you’re explaining the joke before you even start. If you go too obscure, then either they have to think about it too long and the moment is lost or you end up needing to explain it. Or they just smile, nod, and nervously change the subject. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/55 "2012-10-24T21:59:23Z")
All Australian animals are funny, especially the extinct ones. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/56 "2012-10-24T22:27:27Z")
Delivery is _everything_ (and timing is a subset, though a major part). If your delivery is good, you can make the phone book sound funny. If it’s bad, you can fuck up anything. > [@Mangetout](#): > > Nearly everything can be misunderstood, if you try hard enough. And it becomes very obvious when you try _too_ hard. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/57 "2012-10-24T22:46:19Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > And it becomes very obvious when you try _too_ hard. Then it’s funny watching everyone trying avoid being deliberately misunderstood. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/58 "2012-10-25T00:23:01Z")
I think the secret to comedic timing is to deliver the punchline just a hair of a split second before the audience thinks of it themselves. That way, it reinforces their own thought processes, and makes them feel smart (which they like), but makes them think you smarter (and you agree with them, which they like). Of course, pulling this off requires a great deal of knowledge of your audience. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/59 "2012-10-25T01:02:19Z")
> [@vd](#): > > The biggest laugh comes after 0.3 to 1.7 seconds of 😕. Make them think about it a tiny bit before they get it. > > This requires knowing your audience and targeting the joke to what they know. If you go too obvious, you’re explaining the joke before you even start. If you go too obscure, then either they have to think about it too long and the moment is lost or you end up needing to explain it. Or they just smile, nod, and nervously change the subject. It seems like Daniel Tosh has a mastery of having the audience think \*just \*a fraction of a second too long for the joke. It pays off with him, though. He makes it work. I think the best comedians are the ones who understand how to harness the magic of absurdity. Also, the ones who understand that just because someone finds something funny, it doesn’t mean that they really are racist, or bigots, or whatever the subject may be. It just means that they found humor in the absurdity of that joke. ---
**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516/60 "2012-10-25T18:15:57Z")
one of Dr. Spooner’s brightest students was so proud when Dr. Spooner spoke of him as a shining wit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-funny-people-know/638516.md?page=4)