Humor

"What's Wrong With This" Humor

Many of the first jokes we told as children were like this one --

Question: Why did the moron throw the clock out of the window?
Answer: Because he wanted to see time fly.

Morons, citizens of Poland, and dumb blondes are always doing foolish things which are recounted in the setups and punch lines of many jokes and riddles. The conclusion in this type of humor involves figuring out, "What's wrong with this?" In addition to these anonymous stupid-by-definition types, every TV situation comedy seems to have at least one fool or neurotic to generate "What's wrong with this?" humor.

You will also find "What's wrong with this?" humor in monologues and essays which assume the form of serious communication, yet contain deliberate errors. Observe how Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry cleverly sets up a plausible sounding argument leading to an absurd punch line which challenges us to discover, "What's wrong with this?" --

    Most home projects are impossible, which is why you should do
    Them yourself. There is no point in paying other people to
    screw things up when you can easily screw them up yourself for
    far less money.

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