By: Nguyen
What is a joke?
Google defines a joke as:
1. a thing that someone says to cause amusement or laughter, especially a story with a funny punchline.
2. a trick played on someone for fun.
3. a person or thing that is ridiculously inadequate.
In my opinion, I think a “joke” comes from a person who initiates, through 
speaking or physical behaviour, some sort of thing (e.g., slapstick) intended to be funny and amusing. If the person intended for it to be a joke, then I will recognize it as a joke, whether or not it is funny.
There are times when a joke is flat out “not funny” or poorly executed. Perhaps, the person has a different world experience / different perspective which we cannot relate. All I am saying is whether or not the jokes are funny is subjective.
What is the fine line? What is considered a joke and 
what is not?
In my opinion, I think it depends on the context and setting. Dark humour (e.g., suicide, murder), rude jokes (e.g., sexist, body weight, ugly, “mama” jokes) and racist jokes are not off limits, because these jokes can bring forth political and social debate. If our society ‘taboos’ these jokes from comedians (or non-comedians), you are limiting cultural discussion of certain issues. I believe banning these type of jokes could stop potential discussion on the subject, which may actually make the problem worse.
For instance, Dick Gregory was a great comedian and activist that brought people’s attention to the injustices during the civil rights era in the 1960s (Reference).
“You know the definition of a Southern moderate? That’s a cat that’ll lynch you from a low tree.” – Dick Gregory, 1960s
He also told a story about him at a restaurant in the segregated South and was told by the waitress: “We don’t serve colored people here.” However, Dick Gregory responded: “That’s all right, I don’t eat colored people. Just bring me a whole fried chicken.”
James Gunn. the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Can jokes go wrong!?
There was a recent incident about James Gunn’s old jokes resurfacing on Twitter, which got him fired from Disney/Marvel Studio. These old jokes were about rape, 9/11 tragedy, pedophilia, and etc.
Here are some examples:
“I like when little boys touch me in my silly place.” – James Gunn
“The best thing about being raped is when you’re done being raped and it’s like ‘whew this feels great, not being raped!’” – James Gunn
Therefore Disney severed ties with James Gunn, they said:
“The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him,”
– Alan Horn, Walt Disney Studios chairman
My question to readers: should the person who made a crude joke a long time ago be punished for their actions? Also, are people who have made crude jokes, nothing worse than what you would find on Family Guy or South Park, really promoting or endorsing rape, pedophilia, white supremacy, etc?
A study conducted by Ford et al. (2000) found that exposure to sexist humour negatively affects the way sexist men perceive discrimination against woman. Similarly, another study found that disparagement jokes promoted discrimination against Muslims and gay men (Ford et al. 2013). They also suggested that disparagement humour may not be “just a joke” even though there is no “malintent”. It depends on their individual position in society (e.g., are they a majority or minority in the society).
Another study from Brock University found that it might not be the joke itself, but rather the audience’s contemptuous point of view that “a joke is just a joke” even if it is disparaging (Hodson et al. 2011). Hodson et al. (2011) suggested that an individual who believes in “a joke is just a joke” may actually be accountable for some of the negative effects of disparagement humour.
How do you create crude jokes to bring forth political and social debate? How do you solve this issue?
Possible Solution: In order for dark jokes to work, the joke must be structured and executed correctly.
I believe you can joke about anything. It just depends how you construct the joke, what the exaggeration is. Every joke needs one exaggeration; every joke needs one thing out of proportion. – George Carlin
Execution
There are comedians that can execute their jokes well (e.g., George Carlin, and Lewis C.K.) and others not so much. Worst executed comedians can damage minority communities by the way their jokes perpetuate negative stereotypes. Here are some examples that Ali Wong destroys stereotype while Esther Ku perpetuates it:
Jokes about Asian men
V.S.
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Jokes about Asian Stereotypes
V.S.
(These Ali Wong and Esther Ku jokes are compiled by NextShark)
Can crude/dark jokes be good for our society?
A study by Willinger et al. (2017) recruited a total of 156 adults rated black humour cartoons and conducted measurements of verbal and nonverbal intelligence, mood disturbance and aggressiveness. According to Willinger et al. (2017), black humour defined as:
“humour that treats sinister subjects like death, disease, deformity, handicap or warefare with bitter amusement and presents such tragic, distressing or morbid topics in humorous terms”.
They found:
- Black humour preference and comprehension are positively associated with higher verbal and nonverbal intelligence, and higher levels of education.
- Emotional instability and higher aggressiveness appear to decreased levels of pleasure when dealing with black humour.
To note: Age and gender do not differ significantly
Another study conducted by Cindy L. Cain (2012) examined the hospice workers’ frontstage behaviour (emphasize compassion) and backstage behaviour (e.g., dark humour, strategizing, and detachment) when they took care of patients. She found:
…that the caring aspects of the hospice identity enabled them to display continued commitment to the compassionate goals of their work, while the backstage activities helped workers to express private or troublesome feelings and bond with one another. In combination, these aspects of the hospice identity mitigated the difficulties involved in providing emotional labor within end-of-life care.
Buchanan and Keats (2011) recruited 31 Canadian journalists and photojournalists. They were investigating journalists’ coping strategies when being exposed to trauma and disaster event and work-related stress. They found that the most commonly reported coping strategies for journalists were: use of black humour, controlling one’s emotion and memories, exercise and other physical activities and so forth.
If you (readers) love reading science journals, Berk et al. (1989) found that mirthful laughter experience appears to reduce serum levels of cortisol (p =0.011), 3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (p = 0.025), epinephrine (p = 0.017), and growth hormone (p=0.027). The reduced levels of these biochemicals can alleviate the neuroendocrine and stress hormone response.
Resources:
- “Somebody Going to Get Hurt Real Bad”: The Race-based Comedy of Russell Peters
- Psychology behind the unfunny consequences of jokes that denigrate
What do you guys think? Please comment below.
