I am not good at telling jokes. I once tried to tell a joke to some people, at their request. I figured my only chance was to tell a joke I knew to be “bad” and hope it was funny by virtue of its sheer “badness”. This may have been a mistake. Anyway, I forget where I read this joke originally (some magazine, I know) but it went something like this:
A Priest, a Rabbi, and an Atheist walk into a bar. The bartender turns to them and says “Is this some kind of joke?”
The reaction was, as you might imagine, stony silence. I might have felt embarrassed, but it hadn’t been my idea to tell a joke, and I felt they deserved what they got.
Some people, including relatives of mine, are very good at telling jokes. I don’t know how they do it. I suppose part of it has to do with the “delivery”, which is obviously hard to discuss on a blog.
I don’t think of myself as being a particularly humorless person, either. It’s just that I prefer humor in the form of a witty observation, or a well-crafted piece of dialogue in a book, film or video game.
Not that there’s anything wrong with jokes, but it’s just not my thing, for some reason.
P.S. I realize it’s possible you’ll want to tell jokes in the comments. That’s fine, but keep it PG-13, if you would.
The reaction was funny.I'm with you. I hate jokes.Here's another bad one.A dyslectic man walks into a bra… ba dump ba
Here's a nerdy one. I didn't come up with it. When I tell it, I think it's the sheer nerdiness of the joke that elicits laughter, rather than the joke itself:Two atoms are walking down the street. The first says, 'I think I've lost an electron.' The second says: 'Are you sure?' And the first answers: 'I'm positive!'Anyway, I agree with you. I hate jokes. I feel awkward when others tell them, because they hardly ever make me laugh naturally.