Laughing at Your Own Jokes, or Why Society is Out To Get Me
Hello, it's Pez. Here with a small dissertation on why social conventions suck.
Now, I agree that having a small set of rules for how to act and keep things standard is probably helpful in the long run, keeping the wheels greased and whatnot. However, there are some stupid rules. The one where you're not supposed to laugh at your own jokes is one of them, and I'll be attacking that today.
I am a funny guy. Loads of people say so, so I know it's true. The reason why I am funny, and I have no problem admitting this, is because I have removed the barriers between my brain and my mouth, and know how to unstick my foot from my mouth with ease. I make an assload of faux pas's but I make an equal amount of hilarious comments, mostly along the lines of free associating things I see with rather incongruous messages they seem to be sending.
The problem with this arises when I laugh too. Apparently, I am not supposed to do this.
However, I am an unsolicited comedian. Nobody asks me to make wisecracks and jokes, though they do have some level of expectation I will as it's part of my normal behavioural pattern. Also part of my normal behavioural patterns are a propensity to spout off strange plans and designs on the future, some of which I will actually complete.
This presents two conditions, which, for me, make it a completely illogical rule against the joker laughing with his audience.
First, when I tell a joke, very often I'm hearing it for the first time, too. You get to laugh at it, why shouldn't I? I don't get to have my private chuckle beforehand because I don't think before I talk much of the time.
Second, it's a way for me to let you know that I am joking. When I'm not laughing, I may actually be planning to carry out whatever insane scheme I'm talking about, and you may actually want to take that as a cue to get worried.
I have conducted experiments on this, and my results are conclusive: If I don't laugh at my own jokes, people tend to assume I'm being serious and may actually become angry at me. Frequency of the phrases "I was joking," "God, it was just a joke," or "That really wasn't funny, was it?" increase many-fold when I don't laugh at my own jokes, because the audience has lost its cue that the sociopath has left and been replaced by the Pod Comedian.
It's like a goddamn Charley Box. It's a way for me to say to you: "It's funny, dammit. LAUGH."
Now, I agree that having a small set of rules for how to act and keep things standard is probably helpful in the long run, keeping the wheels greased and whatnot. However, there are some stupid rules. The one where you're not supposed to laugh at your own jokes is one of them, and I'll be attacking that today.
I am a funny guy. Loads of people say so, so I know it's true. The reason why I am funny, and I have no problem admitting this, is because I have removed the barriers between my brain and my mouth, and know how to unstick my foot from my mouth with ease. I make an assload of faux pas's but I make an equal amount of hilarious comments, mostly along the lines of free associating things I see with rather incongruous messages they seem to be sending.
The problem with this arises when I laugh too. Apparently, I am not supposed to do this.
However, I am an unsolicited comedian. Nobody asks me to make wisecracks and jokes, though they do have some level of expectation I will as it's part of my normal behavioural pattern. Also part of my normal behavioural patterns are a propensity to spout off strange plans and designs on the future, some of which I will actually complete.
This presents two conditions, which, for me, make it a completely illogical rule against the joker laughing with his audience.
First, when I tell a joke, very often I'm hearing it for the first time, too. You get to laugh at it, why shouldn't I? I don't get to have my private chuckle beforehand because I don't think before I talk much of the time.
Second, it's a way for me to let you know that I am joking. When I'm not laughing, I may actually be planning to carry out whatever insane scheme I'm talking about, and you may actually want to take that as a cue to get worried.
I have conducted experiments on this, and my results are conclusive: If I don't laugh at my own jokes, people tend to assume I'm being serious and may actually become angry at me. Frequency of the phrases "I was joking," "God, it was just a joke," or "That really wasn't funny, was it?" increase many-fold when I don't laugh at my own jokes, because the audience has lost its cue that the sociopath has left and been replaced by the Pod Comedian.
It's like a goddamn Charley Box. It's a way for me to say to you: "It's funny, dammit. LAUGH."