| > I still have no idea why someone would do that. It's a fundamental way to learn. E.g., suppose people tell me I'm a real funny person. Let me test that. 1. I remember a joke from a professional funny person widely considered to be one of the best. 2. I tell that joke to the people who told me I'm a real funny person. 3. I measure the laughter I get. If the laughter is different-- e.g., if the people tell me this is by far the funniest thing I've ever said, then I know I've got a lot more to learn about jokes. On the other hand, if it's the same amount of laughter I usually get, perhaps I've got a real talent here. Of course, it could be these are just close friends and they are primed to think anything I say is funny. Nevertheless, just the act of telling that joke as if it were my own gives me the experience of the timing and emphasis of that comic. It's a gain of knowledge. That process is an order of magnitude faster on Reddit with control-v. Who know, maybe it even makes that person a bit more cynical about "karma" points. If so, they've at least become a less naive person. |
When I was young, all my jokes were from somewhere else (101 funny jokes!) and people thought they were funny. My problem was remembering them.
Nowadays everybody has seen all the good ones ("Bring me my brown pants!")
So now the problem with telling jokes from a "professional funny person" is that if you've heard it before, chances are others have too and you're getting polite laughter.