Why don't others laugh at my jokes?

[Anonymous]

I've made a couple jokes/pranks recently and hardly anyone laughs. I don't get it. They're suppose to be funny.

For instance I told a co-worker that not to put too much gel on his hair otherwise he'll look like a porcupine, get it porcupine. Only one laughed but no one else. Another time, I got my boyfriend by pranking him about being pregnant till I said ''gotcha, just kidding, lol''. The last one was about getting robbed and no one laughed. There is many others I've told during conversations but very few laugh.

I'm just trying to be funny. Can't anyone take a joke? Why don't others laugh at my jokes?

[sawno]

The jokes are to predictable and in some cases actually hated.
The porcupine thing is to on the nose so it doesn't have that unexpected twist comedy needs, so you'd get a smile if he likes the teasing but that's about it.

The fake pregnancy prank is often hated because of how scary it is to potentially have your entire life turned around. I have seen the prank done extremely well but the result to the person it happened to isn't a laugh, in the video I saw he got mad.

The robbed one I can't judge since you didn't tell it.

Ill share two of mine that landed so you can compare (Although I'm sure they won't be as funny on paper), and ill explain why they landed.

Comeback Humor: I had just finished a really frustrating call, so I did a loud "UGHH" out of frustration. My colleague also enjoyed making jokes so he jokingly said "Did you just cum Sawno?" nobody laughed yet just wondering how i'd react of course, and I almost instantly replied "No Tim, that was a sigh of frustration. If you can't tell the difference you should probably have a talk with your girlfriend". I didn't expect that one to be funny, I was just parrying his joke but it cracked up the entire department due to deadpan delivery of it and the implication twist that he was awful at sex. He was absolutely cracking up by that to and joked back "That was beneath the belt".

Prank: Another guy at the company kept saying Fortnite randomly throughout the day, so as he walked by my desk and said it I happened to have the computer management system open for one of our customers. So I clicked a random computer and edited the webpage to display PC-FORTNITE without actually renaming it. As I had edited the screen and he walked past again I told him if he could have a word as the others of the department were looking. I schooled him that if he was going to name test PC's he should never use something like FORTNITE for the PC name as now it had been accidentally handed out to a customer and they were working on it.

Now you might wonder why that prank was funny, what made it hilarious for the department is that he believed he had actually done that and for a good minute or two was checking and trying to correct his mistake. None of us would have ever believed that prank since none of us would name a PC like that, so the fact he fell for it was hilarious to everyone and implied that he could have actually done that.

So my most effective jokes are highly situational and they cause a funny unexpected implication. If we compare that to the porcupine joke its actually the expected outcome of putting to much gel in, so the lack of the response was because it lacked the funny plot twist.

I hope that helps you give some insight as to how to change your humor to be more effective, because the gist of what you need to do is cause an unexpected twist that people can relate to. But even then jokes land or don't, I usually just do it to cheer people up rather than attempting to make them laugh hard. If they land that well its a bonus, but it will at least cheer someone up just like your porcupine joke likely will have.

[Asker]

I'll try to change my jokes and not try too hard. The one about the robbery prank was where I pretended to have my hair messed up, my purse opened up and me telling my close friends (faking a good, worried voice, almost in tears) along the lines of an ''omg I just got robbed by two thugs''.

[Sonorous]

Because they really don't seem all that funny enough to genuinely laugh to in my opinion. Just gotta try again & hope they improve. The more you make jokes, the better you'll probably get.

[Asker]

Yeah it'll try to stay away of serious topics and read more about fun jokes and pranks. Hopefully I get better results.

[Sonorous]

Tbh watching funny youtubers or movies helps too. I'm not funny so they didn't really help me but I imagine they could help someone

[Sonorous]

Thanks for mho 🙏

[rosemilk]

probably because you are being offensive. don't joke about appearance or serious things

[OlderAndWiser]

A joke is when you say something and other people laugh. If no one laughs, either you weren't funny or something is wrong with each and every one of them. Which is the more likely explanation?

"I told a co-worker that not to put too much gel on his hair otherwise he'll look like a porcupine" Nothing funny there.

"I got my boyfriend by pranking him about being pregnant till I said ''gotcha, just kidding, lol.'' That is your idea of a JOKE? Why not prank him by saying his brother's been killed in a car wreck? You being pregnant should never be the subject of a "joke."

"The last one was about getting robbed and no one laughed." So what's funny about getting robbed?

[Asker]

I guess I have a bad taste for jokes. I'll change the nature of it and try to see if I get better results.

[laraWM]

Maybe because your jokes might upset people. You can't force them to laugh anyway, everyone laughs from different things

[jahaims]

You aren't funny and aren't smart enough to figure it out

[Cutegirl06]

You're just being mean 😕

[Asker]

I was just trying to be funny. I'll change the jokes and see if I can get better results.

[Juneboy24]

Those are just “cruel pranks” they are not “jokes”