Thursday, August 1, 2013

Wisecracks

Don't you hate it when you're all, "Have you thought about this? How about that? Notice these things that are important." And then someone is like, "A piece of string walks into a bar, and the bartender says, 'We don't serve your kind here'".  It's like being used, treated like an object, an object just good for jokes. 

It's like taking sugar out of your lemonade, gives you that scrunched up, sour face. And by you, I don't mean you in particular. Some people don't like that.  




Often it's not really about humor per se, it's the timing. No jokes at funerals, after national disasters, or if I'm trying to say something serious.  

Hey you, yeah you, in the back, stop snickering!

 I'll admit, confess even, I've often been the guy who after someone says something serious, adds a little joke, occasionally even at inappropriate times. 


Saying, "First" in a thread is dumb, but getting that first zinger out there, that's something special. But, in a class, it makes the teacher put-upon, like all their work is just a set up for jokes. Sometimes, it's that. Sometimes, even serious people get hecklers. Hecklers usually aren't really funny though.

The impropriety of the heckling itself is the real source of apparent humor (and rarely is it apparent). But a good-natured wisecrack is something else. It's an expression of comfort, even of conversation. I say serious things myself a fair amount, "saying serious things" might even be a way of summing up my profession.

 But a teacher in high school, one of the best teachers I had before college (even if he was a bit actually crazy and quite possible occasionally high), said, "If you can make a joke about it, it shows you understand it." Not a dismissive joke. A witty one, a wisecrack even. That's not to say I deploy jokes as social commentary.

I post wisecracks when that is what comes to mind. It's how I interact with people. I'm a terrible conversationalist, horrible at small talk (can I get an Amen from the other INTJs?!), and jokes are my way of seeming like I'm part of the group while staying a bit on the outside.

Wisecracks, however, are often a commentary as well. Illuminating a part of the writing, or unintended consequence, or even a flub in the composition.  Sure, wit can also be a game, a competition, but it's usually a good-hearted one, a way of sharing and interacting, bouncing off each other, jazz riffs making use of the chord structure mixing light and heavy phrases.  Or something like that.  Maybe. 

Wisecracks are often even a way of coping with the depths of an issue, with the underlying absurdity that a surface level analysis doesn't always perceive.  

There aren't a lot of really funny people who grew up in absolute comfort and wealth, after all. Why is that?

Why are the funny people the ones who, oftentimes, have gone through the most torture? 

Because they're not as deep or as thoughtful?   Maybe.  Or mabye it's the people who take their thoughts so seriously who aren't as deep or as thoughtful. 

Have you noticed that terrorists and dictators take themselves very seriously?  What's up with that?

 Is humor, as someone said recently (I'm too lazy to look, tag yourself), inherently a contradiction of seriousness? Maybe humor actually takes serious issues more seriously than seriousness does. 

And sometimes a joke is just what comes to mind, part of the interaction between people. It comes to mind and makes me laugh, so I type it as a comment, which is easier than trying to convince myself it's not funny.

Humor is how people relate to each other. What, you don't want to relate to other people?

And now, some Mitch Hedberg, for no other reason than he makes me laugh:

31 comments:

chickelit said...

Wisecracker

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Amen.

Also, it is sometimes hard (for me anyway) to be able to distinguish between what is a funny remark and one that....oooops.... slipped out past the internal governor that is not so funny and might even be insulting or biting. So, often I will not say anything rather than take a chance.

My sense of humor is a bit on the off side. Fortunately, my husband has the same type of humor so I can make remarks to him and we laugh.

chickelit said...

@DBQ: Yes, it's often difficult to sort the wit from the chafe.

William said...

If your life doesn't make sense, you develop a sense of the absurd. I suppose that's something like a sense of humor.

ricpic said...

Take my wife. Please.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

That video of Old Jews Telling Jokes is just hilarious. I love the cute look on their faces when they successfully deliver the joke and get laughs. Proud, happy and slightly embarrassed at the same time.

ndspinelli said...

PaddyO, Thanks for the Mitch Hedberg clips. He was one of my favorites, but as you probably know, a victim of heroin.

edutcher said...

It's isn't all timing, but there is context.

It's who gets told the joke where and when.

rhhardin said...

Do you know what's most important in humor?

No, I sup...

Timing!

rhhardin said...

A priest, a rabbi and a minister were walking down the street, and passed a drunk lying in the gutter.

The priest and the minister pretended not to notice, but the rabbi went back to see if he could help her.

When the rabbi rejoined the group, he said, "They don't make drunks like the used to."

- Joke with punchline in the middle.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

My wife said I remind her of the ocean.

I said, "Oh, wild and salty?"

She said, "No, you make me sick."

Unknown said...

Wonderful post! That made my day. Thank you.

deborah said...

Maybe I should have said DiMaggio?

bagoh20 said...

Why the hell would anyone want to wipe out the Jews or drive them into the sea. Not appreciating what Jews bring to the table is a certain sign that your stupidity has taken you over the edge, and you are capable of anything.

Jews generally have much of what I lack and admire. I wish I could tell a joke, or even know when not to try. I also open my wisecracking mouth at the worst times, which is understandable because I rarely stop wisecracking. Even though I know I'm an ass, I can't stop. I have gotten better recently at holding my fire, but it's a struggle.

I also love Mitch Hedberg, and have him in my Pandora shuffle. Another one gone too soon.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

...a good-natured wisecrack is something else. It's an expression of comfort....

This lady asked me where is the refrigerator? She had something she wanted to put away. I showed her to the fridge, she put away what she wanted to put away and she looked straight into my eyes, with a kind of sly smile she said... Now I know, if it disappears, it was you.

This happened in the days after the verdict, at the height of the protestations. This lady had no idea how I would take it, how I would react. She trusted that humor would break thru, would do its thing. That trust is priceless.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Wisecracker...

He just acts wise.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

"She also stole a can of peas"

I lolled.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

That was very funny Paddy.

Known Unknown said...

Hedberg was Young Jew Telling Jokes.

He was a tie to the Youngmans and Bennys. It was the same style, the same construction, just with different, more obtuse subject matter.

He will be missed.

The Dude said...

Senile Henny Youngman "Take my wife, for example".

Chip Ahoy said...

A young guy walks into a bar, shows hid ID and orders 10 peppermint schnapps and the bartender goes, whoa, that's too many, what's going on? and the guy goes, I'm celebrating my first blowjob, and the bartender goes Yay! and lines up shot glasses and says, way to go dude here's to you TWELVE peppermint schnapps, and the kid goes, eh no, I don't think so, if ten peppermint schnapps doesn't get rid of the taste nothing will.

Chip Ahoy said...

Self-deprecating humor is killer. Sometimes surprisingly so.

Recently joined a group of people that I do not know. None of them. Somebody mentioned the nearby central library. I spoke up surprising people who honestly have no way to know how to take me, and I said, "I borrowed a book from the library." And now they're all looking at me like, so what. I continue. "A book titled, "Learn How to Speed Read." (wait for it...) "But I had to return the book before I was done reading it." And stood there like that actually happened, it took a moment to realize they were being put on and some probably still do think that happened, but at any rate they all loved me immediately.

ndspinelli said...

ChipAhoy, Self deprecating humor is a good indicator for me that the person is worthy of friendship. Lack of self deprecating humor is worrisome. Lack of humor is a deal breaker.

ndspinelli said...

And the joke you just told should attract Titus.

Darcy said...

Wisecracker

I thought it was wise-asscracker.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

On our wedding night, I said to my wife, "Was it good for you?"

She said, "I don't think that was good for anybody."

rcocean said...

"Yes, it's often difficult to sort the wit from the chafe."

Ouch.

rcocean said...

With Bill Maher: I keep looking for the punchline.

Maybe its him.

rcocean said...

I got jury duty … and I didn't want to go, so my friend said, "You should write something really really racist on the form when you return it. Like, you should put 'I hate chinks'." And I said, "I'm not going to put that on there just to get out of jury duty. I don't want people to think that about me." So instead I wrote, "I love chinks." And who doesn't?

ndspinelli said...

rocean, Lol!

Known Unknown said...

Dear Aunt Carol, I've been called to Jury Duty.