[yccs27]

Some of the variations just had me in tears and I can‘t really explain why.

Edit: I guess it‘s the same formula as most jokes: There is some logic in the setup, and the punchline replaces it with a different logic or pattern. Only in this case, the original logic isn‘t common sense, but the expected pattern of each type of joke. A meta-joke in that regard. It really depends on you being blindsided, but immediately recognizing the new “logic“ at the punchline.

[ranger207]

Yeah this is a meme in the modern internet sense, where a large portion of the humor comes from recognizing the format

[brianpan]

A joke breaks expectations. Setup: "What kind of bear has no teeth?" Punchline: "A gummy bear" breaks the expectation you have trying to think of a type of animal bear.

Non-jokes or meta-jokes break the expectation but in an unusual way. "Why did the chicken cross the road?" punchline breaks your expectation of an broken expectation. You thought it was a joke, but it turned out to be a statement. The aristocrats joke turns out to be just a dirty story- the story is the "joke".

Memes are not non-jokes or meta jokes. Memes are refillable jokes in a known container. You see the picture, you know what the joke is. Just like a TV sitcom is storytelling/joketelling in a refillable container. You see the kooky friend character, you know how he/she is going to react.

The aristocrats joke happens to also be a refillable container (you can tell/retell it however you want), but that's not the part that makes it a non-joke.

[manimino]

"To get to the other side" has a double meaning (to die, perhaps by being hit by a car).

So the chicken joke is not necessarily an anti-joke.

[NateEag]

I somehow went thirty-eight years in this life without realizing there was actually a double meaning behind that phrase.

Thank you for enlightening me.

[cgio]

There's also the meaning of side as in potatoes or rice.