I’ve never been good at fake laughing, and up until a couple of years ago, I used to fake laugh really obviously to let people know they needed to try harder. But then I realized, HEY this is stupid! When life gives me lemons, I’m gonna make some fuckin lemon bars and share the extras with my neighbors so everyone is happy and no one gets fat. Similarly, when life gives me a shitty joke, I turn it into an awesome joke so I don’t have to fake laugh, and the poor soul I’m talking to thinks he’s hilarious and no one's feelings get hurt and all’s well that ends well. I know what you're thinking: just how do you make a shitty joke into an awesome joke? Well shut the fuck up and let me explain:
SCENARIO:
-I am talking to someone who, although sweet as pie, really isn’t funny.
-They make a “joke", which is usually stupid/generic/cliché/stolen from Dane Cook who probably stole it from Demetri Martin.
-In the fraction of a second it takes me to laugh, their failed attempt at humor jitterbugs into my brain, where I run it through a conceptual brita filter. Then I take all the bits with any comic potential and rearrange them into something that I can laugh at ironically.*
It's like a game! Essentially, what ends up happening is 99% of the time, I’m laughing at my own joke. Okay, to be fair I’m laughing at someone else’s “joke” which I’ve expertly deconstructed and reassembled in my head. And I know I’m doing all the work, and that doesn’t seem fair and in lieu of fake laughter I should probably just say something like “nice try, jackass” and peace out. But then everyone loses!
xo
SCENARIO:
-I am talking to someone who, although sweet as pie, really isn’t funny.
-They make a “joke", which is usually stupid/generic/cliché/stolen from Dane Cook who probably stole it from Demetri Martin.
-In the fraction of a second it takes me to laugh, their failed attempt at humor jitterbugs into my brain, where I run it through a conceptual brita filter. Then I take all the bits with any comic potential and rearrange them into something that I can laugh at ironically.*
It's like a game! Essentially, what ends up happening is 99% of the time, I’m laughing at my own joke. Okay, to be fair I’m laughing at someone else’s “joke” which I’ve expertly deconstructed and reassembled in my head. And I know I’m doing all the work, and that doesn’t seem fair and in lieu of fake laughter I should probably just say something like “nice try, jackass” and peace out. But then everyone loses!
xo
*I should probably add: I never do this with friends, because real friends let friends know when they’ve made a shitty joke.
Sometimes it's funny, just not funny enough to laugh, and then what do you do?
ReplyDeletethen you're probably in the midst of witty banter and it's up to you to reciprocate! alternatively, you can just say something encouraging like "way to go!"
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