that's just shameful

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267981&forum_id=2#38280034)

https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/brs1uh/mental_algorithms_to_produce_passably_funny_on/eoi7t8l/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267981&forum_id=2#38280111)

Digging through my notes:

There are certain recurrent themes in humor, much as in mathematics. These could be called ur-jokes (like Heinrich Schenker's notion of "Urlinien" in music). Thousands of distinct jokes are built on each given ur-joke — they differ in how the ur-joke is "clothed" or "wrapped", or possibly distorted.

Often, one or more ur-jokes are combined in some unexpected way, much as several different mathematical ur-themes are often combined in a proof of a theorem. The interaction of ur-jokes is another type of "clothing".

When one knows for sure that a joke is coming (as when one looks at a cartoon or listens to a joke-teller telling a story), much of the pleasure induced by "getting" the joke is in the act of recognition of the theme — that is, recognizing which familiar ur-joke it is. This is analogous to the pleasure experienced by a child unwrapping a birthday present — the unveiling is a very major component of the event.

Share

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267981&forum_id=2#38280117)

Exaggeration by exploring premises to their logical endpoints. When I wanted to be funny while writing a crime mystery, I chose to very carefully describe how the father of the victim was satisfied with just being told that he was murded. Another excellent example was when I talked about how Stalin's atrocious stand-up routines took 4 hours, because of his hope that quantity had a quality all its own.

Catchphrases. Effective catchphrases are completely opaque and extremely difficult to use effectively, but if you manage to actually hit gold, it's basically free.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267981&forum_id=2#38280123)

As an inversion of this, you can talk about how you do [activity that people normally rationalize], and then point out that you're rationalizing, thereby removing the rationalization and making it actually self-deprecating.

e.g.

"I had three glasses of wine last night, because that sounds a lot less pathetic than saying I drank a full bottle of wine last night."

"I bought the new Humble Bundle, and selected the option to have all of the proceeds go to charity, because I wanted to spend a bunch of money on video games while still allowing myself to feel virtuous about it."

Another way is to start with a self-aggrandizing statement, and then turn it around so it looks self-deprecating, or under-cuts your self-aggrandizement:

"I've lost 10 pounds since getting back from vacation, which would probably be more impressive if I hadn't gained 20 pounds while on vacation."

"I just donated a bunch of money to Givewell, because that seemed like a good way to lower my tax burden for the current fiscal year."

Alternatively: talk about how other people do a bad thing, and say that you do the same bad thing, but you feel guilt which elevates you above them. This is a very easy, very repeatable joke. e.g.:

"It's amazing how many people will just pass a homeless guy on the street and not even have the decency to look them in the eye. It's like they're not even willing to acknowledge them as a person. I mean, I avoid eye contact with homeless people, but at least I have the decency to feel guilty about it afterwards."

"It's amazing how many people will just speed through a residential area without giving a single thought to the lives that they're placing in harm. Whenever I speed through a residential area, I think very hard about the lives I'm placing in harm's way, and I don't mean to brag or anything, but it fills me with immense guilt. I feel so guilty about speeding that I'm almost tempted to stop doing it, but I feel like that would be taking the easy way out. I have so much moral fortitude that I'm willing to carry a lifetime's worth of guilt than adjust my behavior slightly to make other people safer."

That last one is an illustration of another humor-related point, which is that tagging is an effective way to mine more humor from your jokes, it's so easy sometimes that it almost feels like cheating. There's a Nerdwriter video where he breaks down a Louis CK joke about playing monopoly with his daughters, and it's amazing how many laughs come from tags:

OK, so here’s what’s going to happen now, OK? All your property, everything you have, all your railroads, your houses, all your money – that’s mine now. You gotta give it all to me. Give it to me, that’s right. And no–no, you can’t play anymore, see, because even though you’re giving me all of that, it doesn’t even touch how much you owe me.

(audience laughs)

It doesn’t even touch it, baby.

(audience laughs)

You’re going down hard. It’s really bad.

(audience laughs)

He gets so many additional laughs just by emphasizing and repeating.

When you learn how to do it, sometimes it's so easy that it feels like cheating. One of the best parts of having a big vocabulary is that sometimes you can get an extra laugh just by finding another way to restate things.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267981&forum_id=2#38280128)

Excessive exaggeration - Bring something up in comical or epic proportions, generally in some manner that is extreme or specific enough that it doesn't resemble common expressions or figures of speech at all.

E.g. if it's 80 degrees out, "anyone want to head down to the ninth circle of Hell to cool off a bit from this weather?"

After your friend lets you eat one of their fries at McDonalds: "They will sing of your munificence for eons to come"

Also works for sarcasm. I find that this tends to work much better the more obscure and peculiar you can make the reference or vocabulary; so long as the audience still gets what you're going for, it tends to be more humorous the less expected the connection. So e.g. in the first example, "jump into a fire" < "head down to the ninth circle of Hell" < "take a stroll into the fires of Mount Doom". In the second example, "nicest thing anyone's ever done for me" < "sing of your munificence for eons to come" < "Truly, you are a paragon of virtue and benevolence, oh [name] The Just". Works better in small-group contexts where you know your audience well enough to calibrate the phrasing to their tastes.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267981&forum_id=2#38280133)

Jokingly complain about a part of your past job that they may relate to. This could be complaining about a stereotype, clients, etc

It shows you are familiar with the issues and you can have a chuckle with them if they have also encountered those issues.

Half joke about clients making unreasonable demands:

For example, I took the architects designs and filled in the next level of detail, and hopefully their designs are even physically possible to make!

Half joke about science being hard to prove non-existence of a phenomena:

My final year project was searching for natural frequencies in convection currents. After a year of simulations I couldn’t find any variables that hit natural frequencies in disturbing the currents. The problem with my experiment was though, I also couldn’t prove for certain that natural frequencies didn’t exist. All I could say for sure is that I couldn’t find them!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267981&forum_id=2#38280145)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267981&forum_id=2#38280148)

Exagerrated/slapstick emotional performance. You sat in my chair while I was away? This is an UTTER TRAVESTY AND WE NOW HAVE A BLOOD FEUD. Note that this one requires a bit of finesse to ensure that it's clear you're essentially clowning and to not belabour the gag, no one likes an actual drama queen."

Not to exaggerate but if someone did this IRL I would slap them until they admitted they browse reddit and make them apologize for trying to be funny, then beat them to death with a table leg *soyface*

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267981&forum_id=2#38282686)

jesus christ these reddit fags are shockingly unfunny and weird

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267981&forum_id=2#38282968)