I’d like to tell you a short story with a humorous ending.

I believe my companion is not alive.

The thing that makes this joke worthy of our attention is that it can be used as a way to study humor.

One example is somebody colliding with a street lamp because they are not paying attention.

The person who is doing the laughing feels like they are smarter, and the person who is the object of the laughing feels dumber.

Although this theory is good for explaining the joke about the hunters, it doesn’t work when we think about nonsense jokes or jokes based on the double meanings of words.

Next, let’s examine that same joke again, but this time let’s use a different idea.

If you have a place that is all sand and no water, you wouldn’t expect to see a ship there.

In other words, because it doesn’t make any sense, we find it funny to put the two things together.

You think that you will see high quality paintings at an art show.

By the way, this actually occurred once in a Dutch museum for paintings.  

To summarize, the problem with the incongruity theory is that it is too basic.

I have a joke for you

I’d like to tell you a short story with a humorous ending.

I think my friend is dead

I believe my companion is not alive.

Now, what’s interesting about this joke is that we can use it to analyze humor.

The thing that makes this joke worthy of our attention is that it can be used as a way to study humor.

Take the person who isn’t looking and walks into a streetlight.

One example is somebody colliding with a street lamp because they are not paying attention.

While the person laughing feels superior, the person being laughed at feels inferior.

The person who is doing the laughing feels like they are smarter, and the person who is the object of the laughing feels dumber.

While this theory does help us understand the hunter joke, it can’t help explain surreal humor or word play.

Although this theory is good for explaining the joke about the hunters, it doesn’t work when we think about nonsense jokes or jokes based on the double meanings of words.

Now, let’s look at the joke from another perspective.

Next, let’s examine that same joke again, but this time let’s use a different idea.

A boat in the middle of the desert is incongruous.

If you have a place that is all sand and no water, you wouldn’t expect to see a ship there.

To put it another way, the connection is humorous because it’s ridiculous.

In other words, because it doesn’t make any sense, we find it funny to put the two things together.

When you go to an art gallery, for example, you expect to see real art.

You think that you will see high quality paintings at an art show.

This, incidentally, happened in an art museum in the Netherlands.

By the way, this actually occurred once in a Dutch museum for paintings.  

In short, incongruity theory just seems too simple.

To summarize, the problem with the incongruity theory is that it is too basic.