This is also known as The Pity Laugh and it somehow manages to save your terrible joke from being a complete bomb. See, now you didn’t serve up a dud that hit dead air. No, no, your humor is just a little high brow and hard to understand, that’s all.
AWESOME!
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21 Comments
February 9, 2010 at 2:10 am
It’s especially merciful when you are giving a speech. Thank god.
February 9, 2010 at 2:55 am
I love this! And I also love when one person laughs then the rest of the people feel obliged to laugh too!
February 9, 2010 at 2:57 am
This person is me! I laugh so easily at everything that it is not a pity laugh either.
Related: On the 1000 most annoying list should be when you laugh at a completely innapropriate moment (I can’t help it, it’s a nervous tic).
February 9, 2010 at 7:55 am
Another thing for the friend barometer – best friends are more likely to groan. I suppose.
Still, a very nice item on this list.
February 9, 2010 at 8:34 am
I’m usually this person. I always feel bad for the person who tells a really bad joke.
February 9, 2010 at 9:34 am
There are two muffins in an oven.
The first muffin gives a little sniff, turns to the other muffin and say “Oh my goodness I think we’re burning!”
The second muffin says “HOLY SHIT A TALKING MUFFIN!”
February 9, 2010 at 10:52 am
ha ha!
February 9, 2010 at 10:53 am
That’s hilarious! ☺
February 9, 2010 at 10:51 am
I think it is funny when someone tells a really bad joke, or falls flat telling a good joke. We all need to laugh a lot more, take every chance you can get!
February 9, 2010 at 10:55 am
I just wanted to suggest an awesome thing (because, as my little sister pointed out- you must have a hard time coming up with all of these):
That, “Thank Goodness I Didn’t Mess That Up” Feeling
You know the kind you get, when you’re having a really important conversation with someone, or on your first day of a job, and by the time you’re done, if nothing went wrong, you’re in this state of wowed happiness. “I can’t believe I got through that without messing it up!”
February 9, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Awesome! I once did stand-up in front of 400 people. the material i prepared wasn’t right for that audience, still there was one guy in the front row laffing his ass off! I just focussed on him and thank go he was there otherwise I would’ve totally died!!
February 9, 2010 at 3:11 pm
I am the one that usually forgets the joke, ha! :). So everyone laughs at my attempt to remember it. It’s okay, at least they giggled!
February 9, 2010 at 3:55 pm
My wife really likes puns.. and I’m always coming up with stupid puns, that everyone else I know groans at, but she always giggles at them. Another reason why my wife is #1 on my personal 1000awesomethings list.
One time I was up to my usual tricks, and someone told me that I should be put in a pun-itentiary.. my god, she laughed for days.
February 9, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Most of my jokes are all in that category.
February 11, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Me too. (See above)
;)
February 10, 2010 at 6:55 pm
oh dear, definitely me. and i have a distinguishable laugh too.. so in high school when my friends were in plays.. and i was in the BACK of the auditorium.. they knew it was me. :)
and Freddo that is so adorable!
February 16, 2010 at 12:02 am
Right on. But … sometimes there is only one person listening who does, indeed, gets the joke.
He/she might have been the only person there of that subject (religion, nationality, etc).
April 20, 2010 at 2:18 am
[...] Sneezing after pausing (there’s nothing like a good sneeze to make you feel rejuvenated!), my friends that laugh at my stupid jokes (thanks Daddyo for that gene!), windshield wiper beats (I used to make patterns and beats out the [...]
July 21, 2010 at 8:50 pm
When i know i’m telling a bad joke, I just start to laugh really loud myself. Then everybody just look at me real stupid, and now i’m laughing even harder because of their reaction. My laughing gets out of control and i cant stop anymore! Oeh man, does my belly hurt!
August 30, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Alternately, there’s the delayed payoff, when most people do laugh, but someone doesn’t get it until a few minutes, hours, or even days later. Out of the blue, you hear them go, “Hahaha! Now I get it!”
September 1, 2010 at 2:26 am
Omg, you have described one of my best friends perfectly. After about 30 seconds, once everyone is stopping their laughter after a bad joke of one of our teachers, she alway says loudly “ohhhhh I get it now!!” which results in groans and laughter from the rest of us.