Perhaps you have seen them online? Someone posts a comment and then appends the phrase ‘It’s a joke’ or ‘Humour for the humour impaired’ or some variant. I’m not talking about the people that post some deplorable remark and then try to dissemble their way clear of critique by claiming to be a humorist. Those people are often racists, sexists, bullies or some combination of the three. No, the people I refer to are those who have, in their time online, been misunderstood so often and by so many people that they feel the need to add a qualifier to their comments to underline that they intend it as a joke. This post is intended for those people. So if you, or someone you love, has had to add the term ‘It’s a joke!’ to a post on Twitter, Facebook or even a family Xmas card then this article is for you.
You aren’t funny
The problem may simply be that you are just not funny. This is a far more common problem than you may realise and affects quite a significant number of people. Only a few of which are Chartered Accountants or Actuarial Analysts. People will often respond to accusations of ‘unfunniness’ by recounting how they made their friends laugh at a recent dinner or drinking event. Or how they really had them ‘rolling in the aisles at the DMV’. But ask yourself this, were they laughing with you? Was the jocularity a result of an actual humorous response or were they nervously laughing? Was their salary dependent on them laughing at your joke?
But not to worry. A lack of a sense of humour is no longer the impediment to career advancement or prosperity that it once was. Famous people such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Donald Trump and Jim Carrey aren’t funny in the least and are viewed by many people as celebrities. A sense of humour isn’t a guarantee of happiness or success at all. Graham Chapman and John Cleese from Monty Python were both witty, funny men and that didn’t stop Chapman from dying or Cleese from becoming the very thing he used to mock.
You aren’t a good writer
Online communication often takes a written form but is delivered as one would speak. In fact many people who use carefully written and complete sentences on Facebook or Twitter are often seen as brusque, rude and not the type of person that you would go for a relaxing after-work drink with.
The jokes we tell to friends, work colleagues and baristas are typically spoken as it is seen as odd to hand out a series of pages with material written on it and frankly its also a lot of work if you intend to try to entertain a large crowd. If you watch standup comedians you will see that they not only have funny things to say but they also work on their pacing, intonation and even body language to help convey the humorous nature of their comments.
It is these non-verbal cues that help the standup comedian craft their jokes and if you just transcribe your ‘joke’ you will often miss these subtle indicators and come across as a boor. Or someone will take your reaction to an amusing meme as a desperate cry for help and call your local police to do a wellness check. And we all know how that turns out don’t we? It takes no small effort to rewrite a spoken joke and turn it into something that conveys the same humour but with the written word. Sadly you probably don’t have that skill.
What can you do?
Quite often the usual response to finding out that you are not funny or just not a very good writer is to blame the audience. This is understandable. You spent the better part of the morning and part of your coffee break working out a witty reply to someone online only for it to fall flat and result in you being accused of being insensitive to a minority group or even ‘worse than Hitler’. There is currently no medical solution to the problem or even a convenient set of exercises that you can do for 15 minutes a day in the privacy of your crawlspace.
The simplest solution is to simply stop trying to be funny. Not every post, comment or wedding photo needs to be followed up with a witty response. Despite what Twitter and Facebook would have you believe the goal of life isn’t to rack up the most likes and retweets. Take a look at some of the more famous people on Instagram. Their desperate search for validation via a cartoon ‘thumbs up’ has lead them to places like Dubai and the United Arb Emirates as well as bleaching places that you have to assume are on the warning label of most brands of bleach.
Perhaps you might want to take up a hobby? Critiquing movies or following baseballs teams during Spring Training are quite popular among the humour-deficient. There is also the prospect of a career in policing or national politics. Having a total lack of a sense of humour hasn’t stopped anyone in those professions and it wouldn’t be an impediment to you either.
The important thing is to first admit that you aren’t funny or talented enough to be able to write pithy 140 character summaries of the important business of the day. Leave that to the professionals or the people who are inadvertently funny. The next time you feel the urge to respond in a comedic manner to something you see online just ask yourself this important question. ‘Is this something that John Cleese would say in this same situation?’. And if the answer is ‘yes’ then you need to walk away from your computer until the urge has passed.
You’ll feel better. Your friends will feel better. And your wife will finally be able to once again go online.
Pile of dice 