40 Times People Completely Missed The Joke And Embarrassed Themselves

Ariane, a comedy writer who just released the first episode of her new podcast and has a new book coming out later this week, told in an interview that we can’t expect everyone to get jokes because not everyone’s looking for them. “I think some people just aren’t used to looking for the humor in situations,” she said.

“Many people take life very seriously (like my mum, who can vaguely identify a joke but always laughs in the wrong place!). Alternatively, it could be the fault of the person telling the joke—the humor might be too subtle and not signposted enough,” she added that the responsibility for getting the joke falls on both the comedian and the listener.

If, on the other hand, you consistently fail to understand other people’s jokes, you have no choice but to respectfully request an explanation. It may destroy the jokes, but it’s the only way to understand what’s hilarious and why. If you’re nervous, ask for an explanation when there aren’t as many people around so you don’t humiliate yourself.

“There’s no other way but to ask people what the joke is. Or you might want to keep it to yourself that you have an under-developed sense of humor,” We can always pretend that we didn’t get the joke, according to the comedy guru. Though it’s possible that living with such a large secret is more difficult than it appears.

I was also interested to get Ariane’s take on what people who take life far, far too seriously can do to lighten up and open themselves up to humor more. She said that meditation and [ahem] physical self-love “are two great ways to relax,” however, they might not necessarily help them “tune into the lighter side of life.”

These activities aren’t without their merits, however, and might help you if you’re constantly stressed out and overly serious. “They’ll make you happier though, which is probably just as good.”