c/can-we-still-laugh

19

ward.kim•5h ago

I finally learned why my aunt's joke bombing at Thanksgiving was actually on me

She told a dark cancer joke and I got all offended until my cousin pulled me aside and said 'she's literally had chemo 3 times, let her laugh.' Now I just shut up and listen before judging other people's humor. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized you were the one being too sensitive?

21

gavin365•6d ago

Compared my old kitchen knife to a $30 Victorinox and wow what a difference

I've been using this rusty old knife from my grandma for years, thinking it was fine. Last week I grabbed a Victorinox Fibrox at the store for $30 just to try. First thing I noticed was how easy it sliced through tomatoes without squishing them. Chopping onions took half the time and I didn't even tear up. Has anyone else had a cheap upgrade change their whole cooking experience?

24

bennett.harper•6d ago

Question about that "I turned 40" birthday meme that went around last month

I hit 1,000 followers exactly last week and suddenly every joke I used to laugh at about millennials getting old felt like it was aimed right at me, how do you guys decide what's still funny when you're the target now?

24

aaron740•7d ago

Can we still joke about how long "quick" home repairs actually take?

I needed to swap out a single bathroom faucet last Saturday. Watched a 12 minute YouTube video, figured I'd be done in an hour. Three hours later I was still wrestling with a rusted supply line nut that would not budge. By the time I finally got the new one in, my wife had already left for brunch without me. Has anyone else had a "30 minute job" turn into half your Saturday?

18

finleyl39•10d ago

Pro tip: paid $80 for a comedy special on mental health and it bombed hard

Saw a local comedian doing material about their depression. Thought it would be edgy and real. Dropped $80 on tickets and a drink. Jokes fell flat. Audience just sat there quiet. Felt like a therapy session not a show. Can jokes about mental health still land or is the line too blurry now?

9

sean_green44•10d ago

That time a coworker joked about mental health and I still don't know how to feel about it

We were in the break room at the gym I work at, about three months ago. Tom was ranting about his wife's anxiety meds, then laughed and said 'people just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.' I froze with my water bottle halfway to my mouth. He saw my face and said 'oh come on, you can't take a joke anymore?' I just walked out. Has anyone else had that moment where you're not sure if you're being too sensitive or if the line actually moved?

22

jessica707•13d ago

The time my oven died mid-Thanksgiving dinner prep was a comedy of errors

Last November I was all set to roast the turkey for 12 people when my 15 year old oven just clicked and went cold. The temp never got above 200 degrees even after I waited an hour. I had to call three neighbors before someone let me use their oven at 2 PM. The turkey ended up being an hour late and the gravy was lumpy from rushing. Everyone still ate it and said it was fine but I was fuming inside. Is it wrong to laugh now at how stressed I got over a bird?

15

troy_price•13d ago

Coworker's joke about my grandpa shifted my view on dark humor

I used to be pretty rigid about what was off limits for jokes, especially anything about family loss. Then last year at a warehouse job in Phoenix, this guy Mike saw me looking at a picture of my late grandpa on my phone. He goes 'What's that, your ghost hunting selfie?' and I almost snapped at him. But then he just said 'Hey, my dad used to say the dead can't haunt you if you make fun of them first' and laughed. He wasn't being mean, he was trying to connect. It stuck with me because he lost his dad too and joking about it was how he coped. Now I wonder if I'm too sensitive about certain topics or if it's okay to let people in that way. Has anyone else had someone break through your wall with a joke about something heavy?

17

barbara_grant4•15d ago

My first time roasting a friend's dark humor got applause at game night

Last week at my buddy's place, I finally told a joke about bad breakups that used to feel too edgy for me. I tested it on my sister first and she laughed so hard she snorted her drink. At the party, 8 of us were swapping sensitive material and I went for it without the usual nervous preface. The room went quiet for a second then someone yelled that's exactly what we needed. Anyone else hit a moment where a taboo topic just clicked with the right crowd?

27

michael_green44•15d ago

TIL I hit 500 days of no soda and it actually changed how I feel about those "off limits" jokes

I hit 500 days without drinking soda last Tuesday, and it surprised me because I never planned to quit. I just stopped after a friend said "you laugh at diet soda jokes but drink the real stuff every day." That got me thinking about what we choose to laugh at versus what we actually do. At my job, people make jokes about cutting sugar, but nobody really follows through. So has anyone else hit a weird milestone that made you rethink a joke you used to tell?

6

jamief67•15d ago

Hit 100 days of telling dark jokes in a row and it changed my view

I used to think making fun of serious stuff was just being mean. Then I started a little challenge with myself to tell one dark joke every day for 100 days. I honestly just wanted to see if I could stick with it. By day 50, I noticed I was actually thinking deeper about the topics behind the jokes, not just laughing at them. It made me realize that laughing at something doesn't mean I don't care about it. Now I get why some people use humor to cope with heavy stuff. Has anyone else had a milestone with a sensitive joke that shifted how you see things?

26

shane_hayes•15d ago

Warning: I told a dead baby joke at a family dinner last night and it did NOT go well

I was at my cousin's house in Phoenix for a barbecue. About 15 people were there, everyone laughing and having a good time. I thought I'd test the waters with a dark joke I saw online. I said it loud enough for the whole patio to hear and my aunt just stared at me like I'd grown a second head. Her friend had a miscarriage two weeks ago and I had no idea. I spent the next hour apologizing and helping clean up while everyone avoided eye contact with me. Has anyone else had a joke backfire this bad and how did you fix it?

16

phoenix_lewis•19d ago

Found out 40% of comedy clubs now have trigger warnings on flyers... is that killing the vibe or keeping venues open?

I saw a stat from a survey by a comedy magazine saying nearly 40% of clubs in places like Austin and Portland advertise trigger warnings on their event listings now. Some comics I follow say it makes crowds more chill and willing to take risks, but others claim it just kills any real edge or surprise. What's your take - does a warning help you decide what to skip, or does it ruin the whole point of live comedy?

32

jessej23•19d ago

Went to a comedy club in Nashville last Friday... half the crowd walked out during a Holocaust joke

Saw two camps in the audience. Old timers laughing their heads off. College kids grabbing their coats. Comics looked confused. Is that joke dead or are we just too divided now? What do you think - can we still laugh at that stuff?

29

jakewhite•23d ago

Tried to fix a clogged toilet at my buddy Dave's place last weekend with a cheap plunger from Dollar General

I was over at Dave's house in Arlington for game night and his toilet backed up right after Matt went in there. I ran to Dollar General and grabbed their $4 plunger. That thing was so flimsy it bent sideways on the second push. Water splashed all over Dave's bathroom floor and I had to use his wife's expensive towels to clean it up. Dave was cool about it but I owe him a new toilet brush now. Anyone else ever had a cheap tool make a simple fix ten times worse?

30

umar49•23d ago

My uncle said I was being too careful with my joke, he was right and wrong at the same time

So at a family BBQ last summer, I made a lighthearted joke about my grandma's parking skills. My uncle pulled me aside and said 'never joke about family quirks at a gathering, people take it the wrong way.' I took his advice, but then everyone else was making similar jokes and getting laughs. Now I'm wondering if his advice was too cautious or if I just read the room wrong. Has anyone else gotten specific joke advice that turned out to be a total miss or a hidden gem?

3

jasonf35•23d ago

Can we talk about that guy who laughed during a eulogy at my cousin's funeral

At my cousin's funeral 3 years ago in a small chapel in Ohio, this old buddy of his let out a loud snort-laugh when the priest said he was 'always full of surprises' because it reminded him of the time they filled someone's car with packing peanuts.

17

amy_craig28•26d ago

My grandpa's old joke about 'calling the cops on yourself' turned out to be a real story.

So I'm at a barbecue last summer in Columbus, and my grandpa starts telling this joke about a guy who robs a bank, then runs into the police station by accident to hide. We all laughed, thought it was just one of his made-up tales. Then he pulls out a newspaper clipping from 1982, yellowed and everything, about a guy named Frank who actually did that in Cincinnati. He walked into the First National, stuffed cash in a bag, then sprinted into the precinct next door. The cops didn't even believe him at first. I couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity, but then I felt kinda bad. Is it still okay to find that funny since nobody got hurt? The guy did get caught and all the money was returned. Just wondering if laughing at real dumb criminal stories is crossing a line or if it's fair game.

3

alicemurphy•27d ago

Changed my mind about disability jokes after my cousin broke her leg

I used to laugh at wheelchair jokes until my cousin spent 6 weeks in one after a ski accident and told me how isolating those jokes felt. Has anyone else had a personal experience flip how they see a whole category of humor?

12

lily_torres31•27d ago

Tried telling my "crippling anxiety" joke at an open mic and the silence was brutal

Last Saturday I did a set at this little bar downtown and I had this bit about how my anxiety makes me feel like a squirrel in a parking lot. Got some chuckles at first. Then I tried to pivot into a joke about school shootings and panic attacks and the whole room just went quiet. Not even a groan. Just dead air. I knew it was a sensitive topic but I thought the comparison was clever or something. I don't know. Has anyone else bombed hard trying to joke about mental health? Where do you draw the line?

27

ray_williams•27d ago

Found out my 'dark humor' joke about plane crashes was actually based on a real FAA stat

I was scrolling through the FAA accident database last night and pulled up the numbers for 2023. Turns out, 80% of general aviation crashes happen in good weather with no mechanical issues. I'd been telling this joke about pilots messing up in clear skies thinking it was just my imagination, but the data backs it up. Has anyone else found a stat that made a joke you tell feel way more grounded in reality?

25

ray_williams•27d ago

Whoa, the difference between telling a joke at work vs a family gathering is huge

Last week at the office, I tried one of those dark humor jokes about airline peanuts that my uncle shared at Thanksgiving. Big mistake. Three people walked away and my boss gave me a weird look. At the family dinner, the same joke had everyone laughing for 5 minutes. The place matters way more than the joke itself, you know? Has anyone else bombed hard at work with something that killed at home?

15

murphy.tessa•28d ago

Vent: My cousin made me rethink abortion jokes at dinner last night

We were at Applebee's in Denver and my cousin Sarah brought up the old joke about coat hangers. She's 22 and said it's not funny anymore because her friend actually had to travel 200 miles to get care. Hit different hearing it from someone who knows the reality. Has anyone else had a younger relative call them out on stuff you grew up joking about?

0

daniel_gonzalez•28d ago

Joked about a plane crash at the airport bar and got the death stare from the bartender

Was waiting on a delayed flight out of Denver last month, sitting at one of those airport bars. Some small plane had gone down a few days before, nobody died, made the news local. I said something like "well at least that flight won't be late" to the guy next to me. Bartender heard it, stopped pouring my drink mid-pour, just stood there staring at me for like 10 seconds. Felt like I was in trouble with my mom. Is that one of those things where you just can't joke about it because of timing or is it permanently off limits now?

2

blake792•1mo ago

Why does nobody talk about how dark humor helps process real grief

After my grandma passed last month, I cracked a joke about her awful raisin cookies at the wake and my cousin nearly choked on her tea, but the whole room burst out laughing and it actually broke the tension in a way nothing else could have.