No Joke: Failed Humor May Invite Abuse

Tellers Of Bad Jokes Endure Hostility, Humiliation And Even Punches, Study Shows

(AP)  There's a reason comedians call it "dying on stage."

Research by a Washington State University linguist found that people who tell bad jokes often endure an astonishing outpouring of hostility from the listeners.

"These were basically attacks intended to result in the social exclusion or humiliation of the speaker, punctuated on occasion with profanity, a nasty glare or even a solid punch to the arm," said researcher Nancy Bell.

We're not talking about jokes that contain offensive material, or the type of slurs unleashed by former "Seinfeld" star Michael Richards. The joke that Bell used in her research was:

"What did the big chimney say to the little chimney?

"Nothing, chimneys can't talk."

The responses to this childish riddle included insults, glares, silence or even blows.

"The predominant verbal reaction to failed humor in our study was oriented exclusively toward attacking the speaker," Bell said.

Talk about a tough crowd.

There are several reasons for the strong responses.

First, such canned humor often disrupts the natural flow of conversation. And jokes that fail to deliver humor are a violation of a social contract, so punishing the teller can discourage similar behavior in the future.

Finally, a stupid joke insults the listener by suggesting that he or she might actually find it funny, Bell said.

"Being selected as an appropriate audience for a stupid joke suggests that there is something amiss with the hearer's sense of humor," Bell said.

Bell wrote her doctoral dissertation at Penn on the use of humor by people for whom English is the second language (a source of much comedy in pop culture). Since then she has focused on failed humor because little research has been done.

Humor is a serious topic with a rich academic tradition. The American Humor Studies Association publishes a journal and accepts papers on topics like "Colonial Humor" and "Dark Historical Issues made Light," according to its web site.

Somewhat less academically oriented, Maxim magazine recently rated the worst professional comedians of all time, with Sinbad rated No. 1, followed by Margaret Cho.

Bell's findings would come as no surprise to most professional comics, who know that humor can sometimes turn very, very ugly. The Internet contains clips of comedians Pauly Shore and Jim Jeffries being attacked on-stage by listeners. Even more terrifying is comedian-on-comedian violence, such as last year's brawl in which Jon Lovitz banged Andy Dick's head into a bar.

Bell, a tall, bubbly woman with a sharp wit, fortunately was not violently attacked during her research, despite the quality of the joke she chose from among thousands of bad jokes available on-line.

She recruited her students - "my minions" - to slip the joke into normal conversations and then record the results.

"I told them, `just go out and tell bad jokes, be a hero in the field,"' Bell said.

The chimney joke made it into 207 conversations. An astonishing 44 percent of the reactions were classified as "impolite," intended to deeply embarrass the joke teller. The toughest responses came from people who knew the joke teller well, she found.

"The younger you are and the closer you are in age to your failed humorist, the more likely you are to attack," Bell said.

And, no surprise, children were especially hostile to failed humor by their parents.

Thankfully, failed humor is relatively rare in the U.S., where laughter is prized, said Bell, an Oregon native.

But she had her own painful exposure to failed humor when she lived in France, and found that many of her witticisms did not translate well into her second language.

"I may have been Nancy funny, but I was not French-speaking-Nancy funny," she said.

[oneworldusa]

Why is this news, why is this health news, and who cares?

[erasmus81]

"Also, I apologize to Dr Phil, too."

Posted by nfynvk74769 at 12:19 AM : Aug 25, 2008

Hmmmm, do you think that Dr.Phil is going to forgive you? I DON''T THINK SO!

[dapex-2009]

Spacecraft lands on earth. 2 aliens get out and meet a married couple. After some conversation, "How do you reproduce?" The alien man touched his wife on the nose and baby alien popped out. Now it was the earthlings turn. They went at it and then were finished. "Where is the child?" the aliens asked. "It won''t be here for 9 months," said the earthlings. "Then why were you in such a hurry at the end?" said the aliens.

[erasmus81]

Posted by nfynvk74769 at 06:10 PM : Aug 24, 2008

PIG.

[jw218389]

Here''s a stupid joke:

The appointed President of the USA says, "Uh huh, why there''s nuke-you-ler weapons in Iraq.

A bunch of dums @ss SUV drivin Ameri Cans say let''s invade IRAQ!!!

And now we are are in a recession, all our jobs are in China, and oil is $3.80 a gallon...

Bush says, " Jokes on YOU MIDDLE CLASS SUCKERS!!!!"

HA HA HA - why do I feel hostile??????

[erasmus81]

Posted by shanev137 at 09:27 PM : Aug 23, 2008

Ok, this one I like.:)

[shanev137]

Tiger Woods is on a golf tour in Ireland and pulls his new Merceded into a petrol station in a remote part of the country. The old ignorant attendant greets him in the typical Irish manner completely unaware of who the golf pro is.

"Top of the mornin'' to yer, sir," says the attendant.

Tiger nods a quick hello and opens his car door and gets out when two golf tees fall out his pocket and land on the ground.

"What are those?" asks the attendant.

"They''re called tees," replies Tiger.

"Well, what on God''s green earth are they for?" inquires the Irishman.

"They''re for resting my balls on while I''m driving," says Tiger.

"Geez o''man" shouts the Irishman, "Those boys down at Mercedes think of everything!"

[grammawhamma]

How did break dancing get its start?

From guys trying to steal hub caps on moving cars.

[tootall10142]

what goes 9999 clump,9999 clump?a centipede with a wooden leg.I keep all my feathers numbered for just such a occassion!

[rushlimpdrug]

The thing that I like about Mencia is tht he makes fun of everyone. He''''s an "Equal Opportunity Comedian." No one is safe around him.
Posted by candy-apple at 02:41 PM


The funniest thing about mencia is that he isn''t Mexican, but had to change his name to make fun
of Mexicans.

Now that''s funny.

[grammawhamma]

A pirate walked into the bar with a steering wheel rammed down the front of his pants. The bartender says "That looks painful". The pirate replies "Arggg it''s driving me nuts".

[Razzl]

For examples of bad humor read the articles posted elsewhere on this site from National Review Online...

[xsamson1]

I love the pun. My harmless jokes aren''t appreciated by my co-workers who prefer mean-spirited humor which is almost always at someone else''s expense. They claim that if you have to explain it, (as I often must to many of them) that it isn''t funny. But I''m sure that you don''t have to have a PhD in humor to realize, that is completely wrong. Those who don''t have to have it explained, and who laugh, disprove that theory. For the people who fancy themselves as intellectuals, and then who have to consider the unthinkable possibility that someone whom they consider to be at a lower station, and intellectually inferior, to have created a clever turn of a phrase that they had to have explained, challanges their world view in an unacceptable manner. So, rather than admit their stupidity, (at least in that particular instance), and enjoy a moment of lighthearted fun, endorphin release, and the proven health benefits which accompany laughter, they would perfer to attack and humiliate the teller of the joke. Very sad indeed.

Best advice: be socially polite to those people, and then avoid them like the plague.

The most wasted day of all is one in which we have not laughed.

[honestabe8]

two 10 year old boys are peeking into a window watching a woman undress. all of a sudden, one of them takes off running. the other one catches him and says "what''s wrong?" the first kid says "my mom said if i ever saw a naked woman, i would turn to stone, AND I FEEL IT HAPPENING ALREADY!"

[honestabe8]

erasmus: several years ago, i fulfilled a life long desire and did open mike stand up at a local comedy club. i bombed horribly, but i did get to do the famous dying coming line...."(tap, tap) is this thing on?". thanks for your lack of appreciation. i''ll be here all week, tip the waitress.

[yongamerica]

The study failed to observe that a comedian needs to know his audience. i.e don''t tell camel jokey jokes about Muhammad or Islam to Arabs.

[displeased]

I thought the chimney joke was funny. It kind of reminds me of the monkey joke from Andrew Dice Clay.

Why did the monkey fall out of the tree?

It was f*cking dead!

[bobnjersey]

[Failed Humor = Jimmy Kimmel

The most un-funny person in America.]
[Posted by haoli25 at 02:35 PM : Aug 22, 2008]

there are many that might be deserving of this label ... but my vote would be for howie mandel ... who prior to his stint on ''deal or no deal'' ... was a has been ... if even he was even a ''been'' in the first place.

his idea of comedy was what everyone else would call obnoxious.

[scottyusa]

Hey that''s not what the big chimney said to the little chimney. The big chimney said to the little chimney "you are too young to smoke".

[erasmus81]

"erasmus: finally, i am recognized for my lack of contribution to comedy! i have been waiting for years to be unappreciated in my own time." Posted by honestabe8 at 02:40 PM : Aug 22, 2008

Now see, if it wasnt''t for me, you would be still waiting.:)