Decomposing Humor Vol.02

The pun is one the lowest form of humor. It exists somewhere between gassing and sarcasm. You can take your pick as to the direction that scale travels. I would say, closely the equivalent of bacteria on the life awareness scale. Clearly more advanced than an amoeba and yet not really as far up the chain as say the next step, Jimmy Carter.

Yet in much the same way that some bacteria can have life altering effects on humans, so can the pun effect a well rounded humor routine. While many puns induced the habitual groan and hack, or loving referred to as "applause" by Uncle Arty, a well place pun can be funny.

I will find myself working for three or four sentences, just to setup a rather stupid pun. It is not my belief that people find them outrageously funny, it's more about just trying to think of something creative.

"Is this the latest model?"
"Obsoletely."

In addition, I find that the expected, repeated joke gains in humor as it is both expected and repeated. In much the same way that Thanksgiving is always the same every year, so too the dumb pun can in many ways take on a sort of 'tradition'. In a sick sort of way you almost look forward to the repetition.

And while any dummy can poke you with a silver serving spoon in the rumpus, only the truly skilled can go four or five rounds in a back and forth pun battle. Even if nobody except the two folks sparing appreciate it. My mother-in-law is quite the skilled combatant in this arena, and I strive to someday reach her level of corn.

So while many people believe the pun to be a last ditch effort of a dying jokester, I find that with sufficient thought, anything can be funny. Even the lowly pun.