Meta-joke
Encyclopedia
Meta-joke refers to several somewhat different, but related categories: self-referential jokes, jokes about jokes (also known as metahumor), and joke templates.
in which a familiar class of jokes is part of the joke..
Examples of meta-jokes:
), or metafiction
.
Marc Galanter
in the introduction to his book Lowering the Bar: Lawyer Jokes and Legal Culture cites a meta-joke in a speech of Chief Justice
William Rehnquist
:
E.B. White has joked about humor, saying that "Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind."
Another kind of metahumor is when jokes make fun of poor jokes by replacing a familiar punchline with a serious or nonsensical alternative. Such jokes expose the fundamental criterion for joke definition, "funniness", via its deletion. Comedians such as George Carlin
and Mitch Hedberg
used metahumor of this sort extensively in their routines. Hedberg would often follow up a joke with an admission that it was poorly told, or insist to the audience that "that joke was funnier than you acted." These followups usually get laughs superior to those of the perceived poor joke and serve to cover an awkward silence. Johnny Carson
, especially late in his Tonight Show career, used to get uproarious laughs when reacting to a failed joke with, for example, a pained expression. Similarly, Jon Stewart
, hosting his own television program, often wrings his tie
and grimaces following an uncomfortable clip or jab
. Eddie Izzard
often reacts to a failed joke by miming writing on a paper pad and murmuring into the microphone something along the lines of "must make joke funnier" or "don't use again" while glancing at the audience.
In the U.S. version of the British mockumentary
The Office
, many jokes are founded on making fun of poor jokes. Examples include Dwight Schrute
butchering the Aristocrats
joke, or Michael Scott
awkwardly writing in a fellow employee's card an offensive joke, and then attempting to cover it with more unbearable bad jokes.
Limerick jokesters often rely on this limerick
that can be told in polite company:
"A limerick packs jokes anatomical/
Into space that is quite economical./
But good ones, it seems,/
So seldom are clean,/
And the clean ones so seldom are comical."
jab at the fact that some jokes are endlessly refitted, often by professional jokers, to different circumstances or characters without significant innovation in the humour.
The philosopher Sidney Morgenbesser
summarised Jewish logic as "If P, so why not Q?"
Self-referential jokes
This kind of meta-joke is a jokeJoke
A joke is a phrase or a paragraph with a humorous twist. It can be in many different forms, such as a question or short story. To achieve this end, jokes may employ irony, sarcasm, word play and other devices...
in which a familiar class of jokes is part of the joke..
Examples of meta-jokes:
- An Englishman, an Irishman and a ScotsmanAn Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman"An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman" is the opening line of a category of joke popular in Ireland and the United Kingdom. The nationalities involved may vary, though they are most usually restricted to those within the UK and Ireland, and the number of people involved is usually three or...
walk into a bar. The bartender turns to them, takes one look, and says, "What is this - some kind of joke?" - A Priest, a Rabbi and a Leprechaun walk into a bar. The Leprechaun looks around and says, "Saints preserve us! I'm in the wrong joke!"
- A woman walked into a pub and asked the barman for a double entendreDouble entendreA double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
. So he gave it to her. - An Irishman walks past a bar.
- Three men walk into a bar... Ouch! (And variants:)
- A dyslexic man walks into a bra.
- Two men walk into a bar... you'd think one of them would have seen it.
- Two men walk into a bar... the third one ducks.
- A seal walks into a club.
- Two men walk into a bar... but the third one is too short and walks right under it.
- Three blind mice walk into a bar, but they are unaware of their surroundings so to derive humour from it would be exploitative — Bill BaileyBill BaileyBill Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his appearances on Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in...
- W.S. Gilbert wrote one of the definitive "anti-limericksLimerick (poetry)A limerick is a kind of a witty, humorous, or nonsense poem, especially one in five-line or meter with a strict rhyme scheme , which is sometimes obscene with humorous intent. The form can be found in England as of the early years of the 18th century...
":- There was an old man of St. Bees,
- Who was stung in the arm by a wasp;
- When they asked, "Does it hurt?"
- He replied, "No, it doesn't,
- But I thought all the while 'twas a Hornet."
- Tom StoppardTom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
's anti-limerick from TravestiesTravestiesTravesties is a play by Tom Stoppard.The play centres on the figure of Henry Carr, an elderly man who reminisces about Zürich in 1917 during the First World War, and his interactions with James Joyce when he was writing Ulysses, Tristan Tzara during the rise of Dada, and Lenin leading up to the...
:- A performative poet of HiberniaHiberniaHibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of Ireland. The name Hibernia was taken from Greek geographical accounts. During his exploration of northwest Europe , Pytheas of Massilia called the island Ierne . In his book Geographia Hibernia is the Classical Latin name for the island of...
- Rhymed himself into a hernia
- He became quite adept
- At this practice, except
- For the occasional non-sequitur.
- A performative poet of Hibernia
- These non-limericks rely on the listener's familiarity with the limerick's general structure:
- There was a young man from Peru
- Whose limericks all stopped at line two
- (may be followed with)
- There was an old maid from Verdun
- (and even with an explanation that the narrator knows an unrecitable limerick about Emperor Nero)
- Why did the elephant cross the road? Because the chicken retired.
- Two drums and a cymbal roll down a hill. (Cue drum stingSting (percussion)A sting, often incorrectly referred to as a rimshot, is a short sequence played by a drummer to punctuate a joke, especially an obvious one. A sting is often used as accompaniment during cabaret- and circus-style shows. The sound of the sting is sometimes written ba dum tsh, ba-dum ching,...
) - A self-referential knock-knock jokeKnock-knock jokeThe knock-knock joke is a type of joke, probably the best-known format of the pun, and is a time-honored "call and answer" exercise.It is a role-play exercise, with a punster and a recipient of wit.The standard format has five lines:...
:- A: Knock, knock!
- B: Who's there?
- A: The Interrupting Cow.
- B: The Interrupt--
- A: MOOOOOOOO!!
- A self-referential meta-joke:
- I've never meta-joke I didn't like.
- Why did the chicken cross the road? To have his motives questioned.
- Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.
- There was a man who entered a local paper's pun contest. He sent in ten different puns, in the hope that at least one of the puns would win. Unfortunately, no pun in ten did
Joke about jokes (metahumor)
Metahumor as humor about humor. Here meta is used to describe the fact that the joke explicitly talks about other jokes, a usage similar to the word metadata (data about data), metatheatrics (a play within a play, as in HamletHamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
), or metafiction
Metafiction
Metafiction, also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion...
.
Marc Galanter
Marc Galanter
Marc Galanter is the John and Rylla Bosshard Professor of Law and South Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin Law School and LSE Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He teaches South Asian Law, Law and Social Science, Legal Profession, Religion and...
in the introduction to his book Lowering the Bar: Lawyer Jokes and Legal Culture cites a meta-joke in a speech of Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
William Rehnquist
William Rehnquist
William Hubbs Rehnquist was an American lawyer, jurist, and political figure who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the 16th Chief Justice of the United States...
:
I've often started off with a lawyer jokeLawyer jokeA lawyer joke is a joke, often self-deprecating, about a lawyer or the legal profession. Lawyers when giving a talk, especially to the profession, often employ lawyer jokes as icebreakers....
, a complete caricature of a lawyer who's been nasty, greedy, and unethical. But I've stopped that practice. I gradually realized that the lawyers in the audience didn't think the jokes were funny and the non-lawyers didn't know they were jokes.
E.B. White has joked about humor, saying that "Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind."
Another kind of metahumor is when jokes make fun of poor jokes by replacing a familiar punchline with a serious or nonsensical alternative. Such jokes expose the fundamental criterion for joke definition, "funniness", via its deletion. Comedians such as George Carlin
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
and Mitch Hedberg
Mitch Hedberg
Mitchell Lee "Mitch" Hedberg was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and unconventional comedic delivery. His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line jokes, mixed with absurd elements and non sequiturs...
used metahumor of this sort extensively in their routines. Hedberg would often follow up a joke with an admission that it was poorly told, or insist to the audience that "that joke was funnier than you acted." These followups usually get laughs superior to those of the perceived poor joke and serve to cover an awkward silence. Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
, especially late in his Tonight Show career, used to get uproarious laughs when reacting to a failed joke with, for example, a pained expression. Similarly, Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
, hosting his own television program, often wrings his tie
Tie
Tie may refer to:* Necktie, a long piece of cloth worn around the neck or shoulders* Tie , a finish to a competition with identical results, particularly sports...
and grimaces following an uncomfortable clip or jab
Jab
A jab is a type of punch used in the martial arts.Several variations of the jab exist, but every jab shares these characteristics: while in a fighting stance, the lead fist is thrown straight ahead and the arm is fully extended...
. Eddie Izzard
Eddie Izzard
Edward John "Eddie" Izzard is a British stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime...
often reacts to a failed joke by miming writing on a paper pad and murmuring into the microphone something along the lines of "must make joke funnier" or "don't use again" while glancing at the audience.
In the U.S. version of the British mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
The Office
The Office
The Office is a popular mockumentary/situation comedy TV show that was first made in the UK and has now been re-made in many other countries, with overall viewership in the hundreds of millions worldwide. The original version of The Office was created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It...
, many jokes are founded on making fun of poor jokes. Examples include Dwight Schrute
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Kurt Schrute III is a character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Rainn Wilson. He originally exactly resembled Gareth Keenan from the original UK version of The Office. Dwight is the top salesman and former acting manager for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and has won numerous awards for...
butchering the Aristocrats
The Aristocrats (joke)
"The Aristocrats" is an exceptionally transgressive dirty joke that has been told by numerous stand-up comedians since the vaudeville era...
joke, or Michael Scott
Michael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
awkwardly writing in a fellow employee's card an offensive joke, and then attempting to cover it with more unbearable bad jokes.
Limerick jokesters often rely on this limerick
Limerick (poetry)
A limerick is a kind of a witty, humorous, or nonsense poem, especially one in five-line or meter with a strict rhyme scheme , which is sometimes obscene with humorous intent. The form can be found in England as of the early years of the 18th century...
that can be told in polite company:
"A limerick packs jokes anatomical/
Into space that is quite economical./
But good ones, it seems,/
So seldom are clean,/
And the clean ones so seldom are comical."
Joke template
This kind of meta-joke is a sarcasticSarcasm
Sarcasm is “a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt.” Though irony and understatement is usually the immediate context, most authorities distinguish sarcasm from irony; however, others argue that sarcasm may or often does involve irony or employs...
jab at the fact that some jokes are endlessly refitted, often by professional jokers, to different circumstances or characters without significant innovation in the humour.
- "Three people of different nationalities walk into a bar. Two of them say something smart, and the third one makes a mockery of his fellow countrymen by acting stupid."
- "Three blokes walk into a pub. One of them is a little bit stupid, and the whole scene unfolds with a tedious inevitability."
- —Bill BaileyBill BaileyBill Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his appearances on Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in...
: - "How many members of a certain demographic group does it take to perform a specified task?Lightbulb jokeA lightbulb joke is a joke that asks how many people of a certain group are needed to change, replace, or screw in a light bulb. Generally, the punch line answer highlights a stereotype of the target group...
" - "A finite number: one to perform the task and the remainder to act in a manner stereotypical of the group in question."
- There once was an X from place B,
- Who satisfied predicate P,
- The X did thing A,
- In a specified way,
- Resulting in circumstance C.
The philosopher Sidney Morgenbesser
Sidney Morgenbesser
Sidney Morgenbesser was a Columbia University philosopher. Born in New York City, he undertook philosophical study at the City College of New York and rabbinical study at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, then pursued graduate study in philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, where...
summarised Jewish logic as "If P, so why not Q?"