How to come up with a joke? This question is sometimes puzzled not only by participants student teams KVN, but also people far from such activities. For example, creating a small humorous number may be required for a friendly themed party. Jokes are sometimes contained in wedding toasts and congratulations.
The importance of humor in everyday life cannot be overestimated. Everyday life. Communicating with a cheerful person who has a positive attitude is much more pleasant than with someone who is always gloomy.
How to become a cheerful person?
Some people believe that it is almost impossible to artificially master the skill of creating good jokes. They talk about the need for a special gift that a person must be endowed with in order to become a successful comedian. To some extent these people are right. A sense of humor, of course, must be present in someone who decides to make others laugh. Otherwise, this idea in itself is absurd.
However, it is worth saying that many famous comedians performing on the professional stage, as well as players in the major league of KVN, often say that you cannot go far on natural inclinations alone. To invent regularly, you need a certain technique, knowledge of the structure of numbers, and so on. These will be discussed in the following chapters.
Magic wand
Many articles on this topic compare the art of comedians to the performances of magicians.
How are illusionist acts usually constructed? As a rule, the artist first distracts the audience's attention, focusing it on some subject. Meanwhile, unnoticed by the audience, he is preparing a surprise. The audience usually has no idea what will happen next. The effect of surprise plays a huge role here. Almost everything is built on it good jokes. The listener does not know how the phrase will end. Or he thinks he can guess the final part of the statement, but his guesses turn out to be wrong.
Even if the essence of the joke is a parody of famous person, still his manner of speaking and moving turns out to be somewhat distorted, character traits always in such cases they are deliberately exaggerated. This turns out to be unexpected and creates comic effect. Therefore, before you set out to figure out how to come up with a funny joke, you need to learn to think outside the box.
Children as a source of inspiration
Experienced actors say that it is very difficult to play children and animals because of their unpredictability. This quality does not prevent aspiring comedians from learning from the younger generation. Examples of non-standard thinking can be found in many children's sayings that make adults smile and are perceived as good jokes. Example: a little boy, seeing a river covered with ice in winter, asks his mother why it is dry.
It is no coincidence that the heroes of many jokes are children. These characters, due to their unique perception of the world around them, express ideas and thoughts that are unexpected for an adult. Therefore, the question of how to come up with a joke can be answered as follows. It is necessary to learn to look at familiar phenomena from unusual points of view, through the eyes of other people, including children. The following anecdote can be cited as an example of such humor.
Essay by a first-grader: “My dad can do everything in the world. He can jump with a parachute, conquer the highest peak, and go on an expedition to the North Pole. But he doesn’t do this because he has little free time: he helps his mother with the cleaning.”
National mentality
Numerous anecdotes about communication between representatives are based on the same principle (unique thinking). different nationalities. For example: a Chukchi is asked why he bought himself a refrigerator, because in his homeland it is already very cold in winter. A resident of the Far North answers: “It’s -50 degrees outside. The refrigerator is ten degrees below zero. The Chukchi will bask in it.
Great Russian language
The effect of surprise can be created in another way. The Russian language is replete with many synonyms (words denoting the same concept). Therefore, considering various options How to write a joke, you can use this feature.
Readers probably remember an episode from the famous Soviet film"Gentlemen of Fortune", where the hero of Evgeny Leonov teaches bandits to replace obscene words literary analogues that sound strange coming from them. This is a great example of how to come up with a joke using different means of expression Russian language.
One word - many meanings
This definition can be given to the lexical phenomenon of homonym.
An example is the anecdote about how a Georgian asks a hotel administrator if he can sleep with a light on. When they told him that he had the right to do this, he said: “Sveta, I found out. Here you can. Come in."
It has already been mentioned here that any joke must have an element of surprise. The first part of it is usually a phrase or fragment of text that does not go beyond logic and common sense. This is how both jokes and short stories are constructed. funny jokes.
How to come up with a joke for KVN?
There is a part in this game called "Warm Up". During this round, members of different teams compete to write a continuation of a given phrase. Their goal is precisely to come up with an unexpected, witty conclusion to an ordinary sentence or the same answer to a question.
This form is classic for almost all jokes. The difference between them is only in design. A joke can be presented in the form of an anecdote, humorous story or a short saying.
The first part can be called the introduction, the second - the climax. Many people use the English terms setup and punchline.
Original technique
At the beginning of this article, we talked about the importance of such a quality as having a sense of humor. But even its absence can be the subject of jokes.
This feature of human intelligence is played out in the miniature “Avas” by Arkady Raikin, which depicts a dialogue between two people. One of the characters has a sense of humor, while the other does not.
Irony
This technique can also be used, including when writing jokes for a company. It always involves some kind of inconsistency. For example, one of Mikhail Zadornov’s crowning numbers was the following. The satirist analyzed the lyrics of popular songs. The irony here is that the words of these works of art are studied along with high poetry. You can do the same thing with friends.
Irony is sometimes found in short everyday jokes. For example, seeing a neighbor dressed in a formal suit, you can say: “Yes, I see you are going to the gym.”
Jokes for the holiday
But doing this is as easy as shelling pears. Such jokes, as a rule, are based on elementary deception and are designed to shock the interlocutor. A striking example This is the old joke when a person is told that his entire back is white. You can also say that you found a wallet with a large amount of money on which his phone number was written. I wonder how the interlocutor will behave: will he say that the wallet belongs to him, or will he show honesty?
These are just some of the techniques for writing jokes. You can use them or come up with your own.
1. Don’t believe anyone who says you can’t learn to write jokes. If you have a great desire and you watch and read something, and also observe what is happening around you and are able to find something funny in it... you have everything ahead of you!
The main problem of those who “studied and did not learn” to write humor is a narrow outlook. Every joke is made from something, from a fact, from a paradox, from a life observation or an unexpected juxtaposition. The methods of constructing a joke, its literary design are a superstructure. Basis is your cultural and intellectual baggage. If you haven’t seen anything other than “House-2”, you will write 100 jokes about “Dom-2”. Many famous KVN teams won simply on erudition, on the ability to choose a topic, on knowledge of types of humor inaccessible or uninteresting to the general public. But we can talk about this in more detail in another article.
In 1999, at the Sochi festival (the first for me and the 10th for KVN), Mikhail Marfin said a simple thing: “If I need to come up with a joke about how they hang it in a store, I’ll come up with it by the evening.” This simple postulate shook me to the core. If you need an iron, go to the store and buy one. If you need a joke, sit down and write. How can one not remember Chekhov with his idea that good writer should be able to write a story even about an inkwell.
2. Let’s talk about the sad thing: it won’t work out quickly and well right away. You need to sign. That is, don't wait another game or a festival, but “pump up your skill” in your own, daily mode. I started in April 1998 with the idea of writing 10 jokes a day. In fact, out of these 10, 12 were suitable. But they were! 5070 jokes a month is already not bad! My team started winning, and the Major League team from my city took me, an 18-year-old author, to a festival in Sochi. After 2 years, productivity increased to 50 jokes a day, of which 1015 consistently found their audience.
In 2001, out of curiosity, I decided to try to write 100 jokes in 24 hours. Managed. One of the jokes was about how they hang it in stores :)
3. It is very useful to get some regular access to people for your creativity. For me it became such an “outlet” weekly newspaper“Lump”, who put up with me for 8 years. Provide your laughter flow not only internally, but also external stimuli. An angry message from the editor “Alexey, where is the humor? It’s already one o’clock in the afternoon, and we waited until twelve!” can awaken the hidden reserves of creativity in any person! I can give an example of the “Maximum” team the guys even playing Major League did not give up playing in the Tomsk University League. There were games almost every week!
4. Write easily. Write about what is close and understandable. You will come to satirical pamphlets and deep conclusions about the injustice of the world later. On initial stage creativity, any pathos is inappropriate. There are exceptions to this, for example, when a young team from a “hot” Caucasian republic talks about the war, it is perceived adequately, because, unfortunately, they were there and survived everything.
5. Most likely, the rusty water of puns and half-jokes, as well as vulgarity, will first flow through your “humorous pipe”. It is these jokes that are so often ridiculed by the KVN players themselves (“take the keys to the pun room”, etc.) You have to live through this, you can’t live without it. Keep a separate notebook (file) for such jokes and create, create, create... Then close the file and don’t show it to anyone. This is your personal working document! :)
6. Don't limit yourself to one author's style! Know how to write assaults “in a circle” old fashion and timeless classics, assaults “on the clock” (an hour and a half in groups, it’s so convenient to write numbers), assaults “on your feet,” training warm-ups, “fast KVN” (in Krasnoyarsk we do it called “KVN on Fridays”), write songs, come up with exits, images, ideas... There is nothing worse than a team that, after 20 miniatures, when asked to “show something else,” shows another 20 miniatures, only worse quality. Be diverse! I have never understood phrases like “we are pure miniaturists...” To me this means “we are too lazy to sit and silently write literary jokes three times a week for three hours.” Don't be lazy! A miniature is just a joke, you will be able to write text it will be easier to design finished miniatures.
7. Be inspired by creativity famous teams, but don't copy them! Remember: after a team starts being shown on TV, it becomes the present, and you are interested in the future, your team. Your team should inspire too! First of all, your team! Of course, I am for the fact that each specific joke has a specific author, maximum according to the “goal + pass” system, and EVERY team author should have individual creativity. The stronger each separate part system, the more productive the system as a whole!
8. Help someone play KVN. This could be KVN between classes, faculty KVN... The feeling of the need and necessity of your work for someone other than you is very mobilizing.
9. Always have a means of recording thoughts and impressions at hand. One of famous works Japanese literature is called “Notes at the Bedside”. The man simply drizzled one on before bed, and it turned out brilliant!
10. Coming up with jokes is a very selfish activity. So make yourself laugh! You must really like what you write! I hope you achieve this by leveling up, not by lowering the bar!
Alexey Eks
This article and many other materials can and should be read.
People love humor. Television is crammed with a variety of programs where artists joke. Sometimes successful, sometimes not so successful. But the audience, as a rule, laughs like crazy. Therefore, a person who lives surrounded by humor also wants to join a community rolling with laughter and asks himself the question of how to come up with a joke easily and quickly in order to be successful with friends.
How to come up with a joke quickly and easily? Talent and sense of humor
What follows next is obvious, which is still worth mentioning. KVN or other similar TV shows star people who either have a sense of humor or think they have one. This is all to say that a sense of humor is, in a sense, a natural gift, like any inclination. That is, a person is either funny or not.
If he manages to come up with humor spontaneously, then the relevant question for him is how to learn to come up with jokes; perhaps he wants to make money from it. Yes, we warn you right away: some techniques may seem primitive, and jokes may seem clumsy, but, as the classics said, it is much more difficult to joke on paper (writing) than orally.
How to learn to come up with jokes? Technicians
1. Significance. The abundance of meanings of a particular word or phrase, or perhaps a combination of letters, can be used for your own purposes. For example, anecdote:
What is the CPSU?
A combination of unvoiced letters.
2. Unexpected ending. There was a joke in the old KVN: “They gave me terrible diagnosis...fit."
3. The joke is based on internal contradiction. For example, Kurt Vonnegut has the following phrase in one story: “She had the charm of a sagging couch.” Based on this joke, you can make up your own less successful joke: her skin was fresh, like a pear that had been lying in the sun for a long time.
4. False expectations. For example:
How long will it take you to run 10 kilometers?
Thousand for 10.
5. Observation of reality. The essence of technology cannot be conveyed mechanistically. You need to be able to see and hear funny things. Of course, this ability depends on natural inclination. For now, you can draw from other people's storerooms. For example, Mikhail Zadornov cited Dmitry Medvedev’s phrase, which he used in his speech - “a face that does not shake hands.” It's better not to imagine this.
6. Irony. This technique is based on the contradiction between the form and content of the statement, when, for example, a coward is told that he is brave. The subject may or may not understand the joke, the main thing is that its meaning reaches the audience. Zadornov’s creativity will also help out here. For example, he liked to analyze pop songs from a common sense point of view. You have to understand that most pop compositions are made not for meaning, but for money, so there is no content there. And so famous comedian ironized to his heart's content. The irony is, first of all, that a serious method of analysis is applied to meaningless material. The result is a joke.
There is no girl who, when compiling a list of basic requirements for the guy of her dreams, would forget to mention having a sense of humor. However, you already know that being the wittiest in any company is very pleasant and honorable. Like any other skill, the ability to joke can be developed. A sense of humor is just a tricky muscle that can be pumped up. Perhaps, with the help of our article, you will have time to do this by the next beach season.
5 surefire ways to say something funny
Humor only seems to be a free, spontaneous and exuberant form of creativity. If you wipe off the stupid smile from your face and analyze with a serious look what exactly causes laughter, you can isolate ready-made formulas for what is funny. Here are the most common and easiest to use of them. And although they are all used, if you take them into service, it will greatly help your boyfriend.
1 They were swapped
The most mechanical and simple way to create a joke (or at least its semblance) is to swap two elements. These can be letters in a word ( president - drezipent), letters in the phrase ( sweaty hands - mouth farts), words in a sentence ( hit a squirrel's eye from a hundred meters away - hit a hundred meters from a squirrel's distance) and therefore similar ( Fedor Konyukhov - groom Fedorov). Main secret in applying this formula - speed. I heard a phrase suitable for a changeling, immediately turned it over - earned a smile ( “And don’t forget to wash the dishes and throw out the trash!” - "Fine! I’ll throw out the dishes and wash the trash!”). Of course, 99% of your changes will turn out to be meaningless nonsense, but even nonsense can evoke positive emotions. Any boring news from the Vremya program will play if the druzipent Vedmedev participates in it.
2 New word in...
Hundreds of phraseological units that you constantly use have become so worn out from use that neither you nor your interlocutors notice them. Blow off the dust by replacing one of the worn parts with a new one. Instead of “freaking out,” say “ freak out about cholesterol", instead of the "carrot and stick method" - " whip and pizza method", instead of "glue the fins together" - " glue skis (boots from Skorokhod)" Please note: the more appropriate the replacement, the more fun it is. If you replace the name of the flower with “baobab” in the expression “God’s dandelion,” it will sound especially funny if the size of the old woman is close to the dimensions of the tree in question.
3 How does it sound?
The direct meaning of words and expressions is a rich field for jokes. ( “How are you after yesterday?” - “Like a cucumber! Green, and some suspicious little bumps appeared on the chest.”) The essence of this method is not to pay attention to the context and circumstances, but to focus on one, albeit not very significant, detail ( “Hold the door” - “Do you think if you let go, she’ll run away somewhere?”). Listen to everyday speech - you will be amazed how many reasons for such stupid jokes are hidden in almost every phrase ( “You're two hours late again! How does is called?" - “Hm... I give up. Well, what is it called? This is the first time I’ve heard this riddle!”).
4 Yes, more, more!
If you read us carefully, you probably noticed that we have already used the technique of comic exaggeration forty billion times in our magazine. As comedian Bill Cosby once noted, in mathematics 1 + 1 = 2, in humor 1 + 1 = 11 ( “How long have you been waiting for us?” - "From september. 1989"). You already often lie, take another step and start lying in a square: “I was so scared by this rustling sound that even my neighbors turned gray!” By the way, the formula “that even the neighbors have something there” is quite productive. Remember it and use it at every opportunity ( “I got so drunk that day that even my neighbors got up with a headache the next morning.”. “He weighs so much that even his neighbors had to go on a diet.”).
5 Original stamp
Another algorithm for constructing a joke is a cliché turned upside down: a proverb, a saying, quotes from a song or movie, etc. This is not the easiest of the methods (you have to stretch your imagination), but also not the most difficult (you have a stove, from which one should dance). At the beginning of the joke, you take a well-known cliché for a run, then, pushing off from it, you jump and land completely different from where you were expected.
"I'm ready to give right hand, just to learn to play the guitar!”
“I’m ready to give up my right arm just to become disabled!”
“I’m ready to give up my right hand to become left-handed!”
“I’m ready to give up my right hand. I still have three of them.”
From whom we played jokes humor
Back in 1932, psychologist F. Goodenough found out that a sense of humor is an innate skill, and not learned from adults, like speech or the habit of smoking after sex. In his experiments, deaf-blind babies laughed when tickled just like healthy ones. But since scientists at that time did not have today’s money or a false sense of the significance of their work, Goodenough’s ideas did not receive proper development.
Serious theories about the origin of humor appeared only at the end of the 20th century. Moreover, they were put forward by ethologists - researchers of animal behavior. For example, J. Panksepp in 1998 described the sense of humor in monkeys, canines, bears and even, surprisingly, rats. Of course, humor in this case must be understood in a broad sense: it is unlikely that a monkey will be able to appreciate the comedy of a situation when a person comes to her bank for an interview in different socks. However, all these animals are capable of two types of jokes. First, peek-a-boo is when one animal scares another by pretending to eat it, and then “laughs” at the victim’s fear. Secondly, public humiliation - when one male pushes another from a branch or crushes another, and then - okay, gray, are you offended? Moreover, if the monkeys are equal in status, the victim has the right to a “joke” in response, and the offender should not be offended. That is, he must give in the next time they knock him down.
As another ethologist, J. Gamble, found out, such a meager supply of witticisms is explained only by the lack of speech. As soon as gorillas or chimpanzees were taught sign language, they immediately began to joke much more subtly (by ape standards). For example, they deceived other monkeys that there was food hidden under a stone, and then watched with satisfied hoots as they worked their hairless asses lifting the boulder. In addition, big-eyed animal psychologists Van Hoof and Proeschoft discovered two types of reactions to jokes in monkeys and rats.
█ Grin (lips rolled up, teeth exposed and tightly clenched) - something like a smile, which is given by the objects of the prank. Interestingly, grinning in a broader sense is a signal of submission. Therefore, the equivalent of a grin in the human world should be recognized not only as the phrase “Ha ha, of course!”, but also “You are such a wit, Pal Palych!”
█ A playful face (the mouth is open, the lips are extended, breathing becomes rapid) - a prototype of laughter. Animals use it to differentiate between play and reality. In childhood, when the cubs are learning, they often get into fights, fussing and chasing. If an adult runs after you and laughs, it's a game. If you are concentrated, apparently there is a predator on the horizon and you have to really run. Panksepp, by the way, found out that animals “without humor”, raised by serious individuals (who cannot show a game face due to injuries or a muzzle), are less adapted to life, solve problems worse and cope with stress.
When the shovels sing
Why don’t they laugh at your witticisms, but only sniffle gloomily, thoroughly kicking you?
You weren't the first
Believe me, if a person’s name is Slava and he is over ten years old, he has already heard the joke about “Glory to the CPSU” two thousand times. Not a single Sveta will smile if you joke something like “sleep in the Light.” Anatoly Wasserman’s reaction to your pun about “Wasserman’s reaction” is also not difficult to guess. Did you come up with a joke? Wonderful! But before you post it, think for a second about how new it will be for the listener.
You know more than others
Tell your grandmother this incident from our fictional life: “I was recently in a Chinese restaurant. I ask the waiter: “Do you have Wi-Fi?” He left, then comes and says: “Wai Fai is a day off today, but there is his brother Wai Wen.”. If your grandmother laughs, she just loves you very much. Remember: if even one of the key elements of a joke is unknown to the listener, the joke will fall apart. House of cards, built from sand.
You overdid it
Many weak jokes were received with a bang and in a good way the words were laughed at only because they sounded unexpected. Humor should appear spontaneous. Never prepare your audience that a bird is about to fly out ( “Wow, what a joke I came up with! Get pumped! Listen..."). You shouldn’t ask for forgiveness or make excuses in advance either ( “The anecdote, of course, is quite stupid, but I liked it. It touches on the topic of kinky sex with animals, so I apologize in advance to the ladies and animals present here. So...").
If a joke fails, the worst thing you can do is frantically remember the next joke ( “This time it’s definitely funny!”). It could turn out even worse. But the most tragic ending will be if you start accusing your interlocutors of lacking a sense of humor and spice up the accusation detailed analysis salt jokes. This behavior makes unfunny clowns become dead clowns.
4 theories of humor
From serious scientists who have observed humans and other animals.
Weisfeld's theoryHumor is a tool for creating alternative realities. Our jokes are the same playful romp of animals, only even more simplified. Imitation of imitation life. We check other people's reactions to conflict situation without being physically involved in it: “Well, where do you think I was until three in the morning? I went to a brothel with our nurse and her stewardess friend!”
Fredrickson's theoryHumor is essential for improving emotional control. A joke is a reversal of the body’s response to stress: “They brought you pizza here. But we ate it! Ha ha! A developed psyche requires a quick transition, for example, from anger to happiness, because getting stuck in one emotion makes you vulnerable. For lower animals (and also for some guards, we would add) transitions to a new state are difficult.
Ouren-Bachorowski theoryFor the benefit of evolution, two adults must be genetically dissimilar: this is the only way they can produce a good assortment of offspring. However, the difference in genes (and therefore in the color of eyes, skin, nipples and sidelocks) can be frightening: the second organism is perceived as alien. This means that there must be a mechanism for consolidating sympathy that is different from external attractiveness. An “emotional loop” becomes such a mechanism: the first one jokes, the second one is happy, the first one is happy that the second one is happy, etc. Jokes about a non-offensive woman are good cement for relationships ( “Darling, do snakes sleep with their eyes open?” - “I don’t know, I get up later than you”).
Mulcay-Miller theoryThese two believe that humor is not a mechanism of attachment, but of choosing a partner. Both admit that the choice in sex is always up to the woman, so the man is obliged to joke. At the same time, Mulcahy believes that humor is a product of demonstrative aggression; it is intended to humiliate male competitors in front of females: “San, it wasn’t you who printed about self-medication for gonorrhea - is there anything left on the printer?” Well, good-natured Miller writes that a joke should not be offensive, humor is simply a sign of good intellectual form, and therefore high-quality genes. It seems that his theory, which for once takes into account the character of people, and not gorillas, is the most correct.
Wit for the lazy
How to be known as a funny guy without making up a joke.
Quote
As Mikhail Zhvanetsky once noted, “One well-placed quote is worth ten out-of-place anecdotes.” Memorize a dozen quotes, for example from “The Twelve Chairs,” and wait for the right moment. Did your colleague show up to work wearing something new? Go up to him and announce publicly: “It was impossible to start a polygamist’s career without a marvelous dapple-gray suit.”. Is anyone getting scolded by their bosses? Note in a low voice: “From the outside it might seem that a respectful son is talking to his father, only the father shakes his head too animatedly”.
Ideally, the quote used should not be shabby from frequent use (“To whom the mare is a bride”), otherwise it will lose some of its power. In this case, it is desirable that the source be at least approximately guessed. Nice quote brings with it the spirit of the work, and all the former positive emotions associated with the quoted work come to life in the souls of the listeners. By the way, this is why the quote from Zhvanetsky with which we started did not make much of an impression on you. Well, also because we invented it ourselves.
Tell jokes
A Frenchman, a German and Mikhail Zhvanetsky somehow ended up on a desert island. And they began to compete to see who could tell the best joke. It was Zhvanetsky’s turn, and he said: “One appropriately told anecdote is worth ten inappropriately used quotes.” Yes, whatever one may say, there is no more reliable way to gain a reputation as a joker and comedian than telling jokes. It’s okay that you didn’t invent them. It is impossible to treat someone who makes you laugh without sympathy. Anger can only be caused if it turns out that you forgot the ending of the joke.
Speak with accents
Any boring phrase said with an Estonian accent will bring smiles to those around you, unless, of course, the speaker and those around you are Estonians ( “Re-read me, pa-azhalusta, so-ol, but be-faster”). Other “cheerful” accents are no worse: Georgian ( “Sleesh, sol, paredai, huh?”), Jewish ( “I have to ask you for salt. Why are you bothering me? Well, this is downright funny, not salt!”), Eskimo ( “My salt is to ask, thank you to say!” Perhaps, however, this example was Chinese).
What do women want?
And last scientific fact, with which we could not help but spoil the parade of jokes and witticisms that our article actually (although it is not obvious) is. More precisely, not exactly a fact, but the result of a series of experiments carried out by anthropologists E. Bresler and J. Greengross. Independently of each other, these two conducted experiments on women (all sexy) and men different ages, statuses and external data.
Since the scientists were unable to insist on the main requirement of the experiment - that all women should also be naked - it was carried out like this. Men who filled out regular profiles, like those on dating sites, were assigned status based on income level, education and appearance. Women were not shown this status assessment, but they could read the questionnaires freely. In addition, each man had an autobiography written by professional comedians. The types of humor varied: toilet, chauvinistic, self-flagellation, offensive to other men, etc. - eight types in total. Going through the line of women, the man read out his “autobiography” and received a final assessment of sexual attractiveness. Then the same thing was repeated in reverse. Apart from the banal conclusions like “a sense of humor is very important for dating,” Bresler and Greengross found the following.
Men don't like it when a woman makes jokes
Perhaps perceiving them as competitors ( “Maybe she’ll have sex with herself, and... have any cutlets?”), participants in the experiment lowered the scores of the funniest storytellers. And if anyone was called very attractive, it was the gigglers, who laughed most actively during the first stage. So women don't have to joke at all. But, fortunately, they don’t know how, ha ha!
It almost doesn't matter how a man jokes
The maximum marks, regardless of status, were given to the lucky ones who came across a “simply funny” autobiography. Neutral humor, without a clearly defined object of jokes, without vulgarity and fixation on any topic, increased the sex appeal of a man in the eyes of a woman. All other types of humor worked noticeably worse. But, surprisingly, there was no difference between them: almost the same number of women liked toilet humor as high-brow humor. Although there was one exception that deserves its own paragraph.
Self-flagellation only works if you're cool
The old advice, “If you can't laugh at anything else, laugh at yourself,” can be deadly for low-status men. If the woman in Greengross's experiments knew that she was a loser, self-flagellation humor ( “If I have money, I like to go to a fancy restaurant and order a big McNugget.”) only reduced the man’s attractiveness in her eyes. However, if she knew in advance - from the questionnaire - about the significant and sonorous advantages of her counterpart, loser jokes worked at the neutral level. That is, in the best possible way.
