Un-funny Joke

There were a few funny comments on my last post. However, there was one that was NOT FUNNY.

It was not in bad taste. It was not offensive. It was wasn't really much of anything. It didn't even contain a joke that was so bad that it was funny because it was so bad. It had two elements that might make it funny: it related to my post and it was designed to poke fun at me. However, it was not funny. Let's examine it.

"Phew! Noone made this joke yet. Here goes... Joey, you'll always be my favorite dip. Yowza! Zing!"


The first thing that we notice is that the author has already come to the conclusion himself that it isn't funny. This is shown by the way that he immediately places a crutch under it with his exclamation, "Phew!" and then follows with a set-up, complete with the use of the elipsis as a sort of drum roll. While it catches our attention and makes us think that we're about to hear something very funny (perhaps even something funny that we've thought of ourselves in the short time that it took to move our eyes from the previous comment to this one), it, in itself, is not very funny. It takes a moment, but then we then realize that it was designed to be so stupid that it's funny.

Here's the main flaw. Reading the joke is like driving quickly through a small town that you barely noticed. It's so unremarkable that you have to wonder for a moment what it is that you just saw, but you're not really interested enough to do more than glance into the rear-view mirror. Even then, you're satisfied, even if you can't quite make out the prominent features. You continue on, unimpressed.

We then get a little treat at the very end. A couple of cute little words that are there to let us know that we're all in on the joke that the joke itself isn't funny. Normally, "Yowza!" and "Zing!" are fun, just on their own, but in this context, they become nothing more than the most entertaining part of the whole un-funny joke/comment. The problem is that, as we already know, the core of the joke/comment is much too bland to accomplish its purpose. This is all made worse by the possibility that come-backs to the joke are likey to be funnier. Simply stating that the joke is cheesy could accidentally be said without even being intened to be funny, and still be funnier than the joke.

While I appreciate the time spent by the author to comment on my blog, a funny comment would have been more appreciated. Frankly, I feel a little cheated. I see that he posts much funnier comments on e-pissy. Therefore, I have to assume that he saves all of his best material for that. It makes sense, being that the audience on e-pissy is larger than my blog. It's just that I guess that I expected more from a friend.