My daughter has a friend who loves silly jokes. Every time I see her, she runs up to me and cracks a joke. She is eight-years-old, so they are always clean and clever.
How she knows so many or can even remember them is impressive. She is a little firecracker and I love that she loves to make other people laugh. So the other day, I made sure to have a joke ready for her.
She ran up to me, said something silly, I laughed and then said to her:
“What happens when you give a cow an instrument? ….. you get mooooooooooosic.”
She didn’t even crack a smile, just turned and ran away. I guess it wasn’t good enough so later I went to the internet and found a few more little jokes and stacked them in my brain.
Let’s be real, I’ll probably forget them the next time I see her. I’m still perplexed at why she didn’t laugh at my joke, maybe she didn’t get it or maybe it wasn’t funny. I’m still giggling while recalling it. (Don't worry, I won’t quit my day job.)
But what makes a great joke? According to Gettysburg College’s Prof. Steve Gimbel whose research interests include the philosophy of science, humour, and ethics, said jokes are conspicuous acts of playful cleverness.
“The most important term in the definition is “clever,” by which I mean that it displays a cognitive virtue, a way of thinking that would be good to have outside of the artistic context of a joke.
It could be Jerry Seinfeld’s observational abilities, Dennis Miller’s wide range of knowledge, Steven Wright’s imagination, or Frank Caliendo’s attention to detail. It is taking an intellectual ability and displaying it in a way that plays with something artistically. A good joke is one that is legitimately clever,” he wrote.
Gimbel also argued that a joke has to be crafted beautifully and the content simple and true.
So after reading this and doing some more research, maybe my joke to my daughter’s friend wasn’t as clever as I had thought. Or perhaps I have just hit that status of 'uncool' parent but I'll keep trying.
Maybe I’ll tell her a joke about a pizza. Nah, that’ll be too cheesy. (OK, I hear it now.)
Meanwhile, here is a round-up of a few of my favourite jokes I've heard lately or found online recently:
Do you know how scientists freshen their breath? With experi-mints!
I've just written a song about tortillas; actually, it’s more of a w-rap.
What do you get when you cross a fish with an elephant? Swimming trunks!
How do you make an octopus laugh? With ten-tickles
What did the buffalo say when his kid went to college? Bison.
