being "funny"

[madhair60]

are you "funny"? do you crack jokes and banter at the office? among your friends, are you "the funny one"?

basically wondering how your sense of humour manifests and where. I was at a CaB meet at the weekend and obviously almost everything said is leaning into trying to get a laugh, or just to amuse, and I thought about how I am with my pals and at home and stuff and it's basically the same. I dunno.

[bgmnts]

Not really, I find the pressure and expectation to be funny nowadays really draining and nowadays if I am ever in social company I just say what I want, regardless of whether it is funny.

[Butchers Blind]

[Petey Pate]

OP's post made me spit out my coffee. Wonderful stuff, my sides still ache.

[Kelvin]

I resent that people who have died get described as having a wonderful sense of humour. All my life I've been the funniest person in the room, the funniest guy in the office, "the funniest person I know"... but my legacy will be "a wonderful sense of humour", just like all these other rotting chumps.   

[pigamus]

I can sometimes be funny spontaneously but I've never had the urge to make people laugh that some people have. Maybe twenty years ago when I was trying to get attractive women into bed.

[kittens]

i am incapable of being funny at work, and outside of work i am incapable of not being funny. i never think about anything i say. it just comes out of my mouth and i have to deal with it. recently i realised i barely even think, and only discover my opinions the moment i hear myself saying them. it is like my concept of "me" is a parasite living inside this body. i wouldn't be surprised if i was a bug that lives in my brain.

[Utter Shit]

I think I have a pathological need to be funny. Literally any conversation, any news story, my first instinct is to think of something funny about it and get a laugh out of my mates. I can only assume it's indirectly a need to be liked, because there's certainly no frustrated professional comedian in there.

I know when it's appropriate and not, it's not like I'm in work meetings smashing through a load of Microsoft Outlook puns. But I do wonder if (/suspect that) it must be annoying to my mates that I'm always 'on'.

[checkoutgirl]

I used to be medium funny, not the life and soul but capable of the odd joke or witty remark. Now I'm not funny at all except for my mother, she finds me hilarious for some reason. I'll say something innocuous and she'll burst out laughing and everyone else will be stony faced.

This doesn't bother me. As long as I can get through social interactions without insulting anyone then that'll do.

[checkoutgirl]

I've never had the urge to make people laugh that some people have.

It's not necessarily an urge, it could just be a natural reaction. Some people just do it instinctively.

[checkoutgirl]

Microsoft Outlook puns.

One of the most socially excruciating things is when two people (blokes let's be honest) get into a pun joust. They giggle to themselves as everyone else looks on and groans. They won't be stopped so you have to leave the room.

[Famous Mortimer]

I wish I was, but I'm probably not. I hopefully know well enough that I'm not, though, so I'm not the person in any group who makes the "funny" comment and is greeted with crickets.

[Kelvin]

I think I have a pathological need to be funny. Literally any conversation, any news story, my first instinct is to think of something funny about it. I can only assume it's indirectly a need to be liked, because there's certainly no frustrated professional comedian in there.

I know when it's appropriate and not, it's not like I'm in work meetings smashing through a load of Microsoft Outlook puns. But I do wonder if (/suspect that) it must be annoying to my mates that I'm always 'on'.

A lot of this rings true with me, too. It's less of an issue now I work from home, but back when I was working in an office, I used to find it difficult to separate being professional with my bosses and funny with my colleagues, because even if I maintained that split (which I did, initially), I only had to walk into a room and people would go "Here he is, Kelvin the comedian" (or whatever), almost expecting a show, and I immediately looked unprofessional to any managers or directors I was with. I seriously believe it would have prevented any meaningful career progression in one place I worked, and when I started a new job I actually made a decision not to be self-deprecating (as this has frequently led to colleagues believing the caricature I present), and not to be funny in the workplace.

Even now, working from home, I sometimes think to myself, "shut up" while we're do a Teams meeting, because I can't help but cut in with jokes.

[pigamus]

It's not necessarily an urge, it could just be a natural reaction. Some people just do it instinctively.

Well that is kind of an urge really

[Voltan (Man of Steel)]

I've been told pretty much all my life that there's something funny about me.

[shoulders]

I have friends and acquaintances (fucking get me) who enjoy discussing different things in different ways. I don't dominate the conversation to force it to be like one thing or another. I noticed individuals doing this and found it quite repellent.

It would feel as bizarre to be constantly cracking jokes to some of them as it would to do anything other than compete to make the most miserly antisocial hatefilled comment for laughs with others.

Not great at small talk so have a tendency to try and find something funny to say among people I don't know very well. Have toned that down considerably to a dryness most people can tolerate.

It's natural to assume everyone else uses humour as a coping mechanism for the cyclone of pneumatic fist fucking hell that sweeps through every day of our waking lives. What else is there?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It largely depends on whether you like puns (although only filthy scum bastards don't).

I'm a bit of a shrinking violet, so I normally keep fairly quiet during social events, occasionally making a wry remark, which catches everyone off guard. A friend, who is making a committed attempt at being a stand-up comedian, tells me I should try my hand at it, but there is no blinking way you'd get me up on a stage.

Children find me hilarious. I can do a bunch of silly voices and have a reckless disregard for my physical wellbeing, which makes me good at pratfalls - there's nothing the pint-sized psychos love more than seeing someone hurt.

I inherited it from my dad, although he is pathological with it. I'm pretty sure you could tell him you have cancer and he'd respond by clowning around.

[imitationleather]

If people knew about the endless sleepless nights I spend hunched over an old-style typewriter (one of the really clacky ones that makes a loud noise when you go to the next line) carefully scripting all the off-the-cuff wisecracks I'm going to make the next day they might finally have a bit more respect for me.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I don't think I could ever have more respect for you than I do now.

[seepage]

My partner always says "why do people constantly tell me how 'funny' and 'beautiful' I am, never  how intelligent and wise". Nothing like being modest is there?

[ImmaculateClump]

A laugh fills the hole for like half a second and then it's a gaping maw again, hungrier than ever for it's fix of reassurance and acceptance.

I let it come naturally, but I don't force it or work my arse off like I used to.
You might have noticed that I've never once been funny on here under my current username, and I'm quite proud of that.

[famethrowa]

I was always inspired by the talk of Graham Chapman, who would sit quietly as the conversation went on, then jump in with a well timed line that would slay the crowd. Stephen Merchant kind of did the same thing, and that's generally how I make the funny. I can't tell hilarious stories or carry it myself, but I can jump in with a killer zinger if I've steered it just right.

Also it's a cheap ploy, but I don't normally say rude stuff, so I can throw in something shocking and get a laugh that way. I was telling a dumb story about riding my bike and "telling a little old lady to fuck off" and I made a cute girl spit her drink. Success!

[seepage]

Partner just said to me "for future reference, if I ever tell you that you're funny, it'll be because of the drink".

[the science eel]

are you "funny"? do you crack jokes and banter at the office? among your friends, are you "the funny one"?

basically wondering how your sense of humour manifests and where. I was at a CaB meet at the weekend and obviously almost everything said is leaning into trying to get a laugh

jesus fucking wept

[Povidone]

Definitely used to be that guy at school and for a good portion of my early 20's, definitely was at least passably amusing as I've had plenty people tell me I am, so fairly sure it isn't some sort of delusion. But as Kelvin noted above it can get a bit tiresome when people expect it of you.

I've also definitely been obnoxiously domineering on occasion when I was younger in a bloody minded drive to be a the funny cunt, literally shutting down and oppresssing people with my shtick...luckily it's rare and hasn't happened in a long time and generally been a symptom of some emotional/mental imbalance going on at the time, as for the most part I am introverted to fuck and dont like making myself the center of attention at all.

[QDRPHNC]

People think I'm funny in real life, but I'm actually just remarkably fast at going through my mental filing cabinet of funny things other people have said.

[non capisco]

I'll never be as funny as the little kid who lives near me who I can currently hear outside singing "THE QUEEN IS LOOKING AT MY WILLY" repeatedly at the top of his voice.

Unless he's retroactively reporting a historic offense I suppose.

[pigamus]

jesus fucking wept

Does kind of sound like Mock the Week with bald internet failures, I'm sure it's not that bad really

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

i make myself laugh a lot, and sometimes others

[Kankurette]

Only unintentionally.