When the joke is on you 
by Dan Rzewnicki, Editor in Chief
February 7 , 2012
I’m sure you can recall an instance when you didn’t get a joke. I know I can. I sat there while everyone roared in rib-cracking, fart-inducing laughter, wondering “what in the world was that supposed to mean?” Not understanding jokes really grinds my gears.
Since much of my TrottyVeck writing revolves around the art of inducing laughter, I like to hope my quips and jokes never left any of my readers out of the loop. However, I would almost guarantee that at least one—and unfortunately probably quite a few—readers sat staring at the computer screen with blank stares, attempting to decipher my latest funny. Perhaps the feeling of incomprehension bothers us the most when we fail to understand a joke. Humans, by our nature, enjoy remaining in the know, so I would imagine that we hate the humiliation of not sharing the same knowledge as our peers.
I know I also despise the inevitable yet unwonted ridicule and humiliation from my peers when a joke stops the grinding of
the gears churning in my head.
The second unfortunate part about failing to understand a joke is the “oooooooh, so that’s what you meant!” moment. Not only does that moment leave us subject to more ridicule, but it usually warrants more laughter than the original joke.
Furthermore, that moment lets the cat out of the bag for all you readers that faked your laughter to fit in with the crowd, even though you had no more understanding of the joke than the chair you sat on.
Speaking of reactions to not understanding jokes and faking laughter, I rather enjoy the reactions of people who get left out of the loop. Some people sit with a fixed stare and curled eyebrows, as if the wall across from them will enlighten them. Other people sit for a moment of hopeless confusion before offering a meek faked chuckle—my personal favorite reaction. Still, others simply sit in silence as if failing to realize someone said something funny.
While we are discussing jokes, why not expand on the subject? Who besides me cowers behind the awkward starfish when a parent tells a terrible, crude or poorly-timed joke at dinner or in a public place? I often think these moments leave us even more embarrassed than their failed joke embarrasses them. I usually want to yell, begging them to stop their pitiful attempt at lightening the mood before things really get ugly.
Nothing grinds my gears more than hearing an old joke, especially when the joker fails to deliver the joke well, paying no token to its originality and funniness. I have a life to live and, therefore, have no time to hear a joke I already heard, especially one that didn’t make me laugh the first time. If you must waste my time with a joke (as I am the master of comedy and all things funny), any joke wastes my time. Sorry. At least offer me an original joke, not a half-baked cliché that you read on a Popsicle stick.
Perhaps jokes particularly grind my gears when not delivered correctly because I deliver you the funniest material all the time, so all other jokes not told by me or Bimbo the Clown seem inferior. Nevertheless, I enjoy a good joke.
Feel free to leave a comment with your best joke and perhaps earn a few seconds of international fame in my next blog. Now that I have nearly completely (that may be an oxymoron) deviated from the original topic, I will conclude by saying that jokes told by anyone other than me or Bimbo the Clown really grind my gears.
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