“Took Me 20 Years And 60 Watches”: Movie Jokes That Took People Literal Years To Understand

“At the most basic level, a good joke follows the setup / punchline structure, where the setup creates an expectation in the audience and the punchline delivers against that expectation in a surprising way,” Andrew Tarvin, the CEO of Humor That Works—a leadership development company that teaches professionals how to use humor to achieve better business results—told Bored Panda, discussing what makes a good joke.

“To me, what makes a good joke is when you have to work ever so slightly to get it,” he added. “If it's too obvious, it's not funny. If it's too complicated, it goes over your head. But if you have to ‘figure out’ the joke, the reward is even greater when you finally do get it.” (Even if it takes years or decades, as it did for some of the people on this list.)

Another expert in humor, comedian, television writer, and radio/podcast host Chris Duffy—who is currently hosting How to Be a Better Human—noted that a good joke is funny (adding a much-needed “duh”), but also clever and without cruelty. “You can make people laugh by saying something shocking or by being mean, but I don't think that's a good joke,” he said.

“I've talked with some scientists who study humor and one way that the science of jokes was explained to me that lines up with my experiences as a comedian is that a good joke is like a secret code where the person hearing it has the key and all of a sudden it clicks and makes them laugh. Also good jokes should be short, unlike my answer to ‘what makes a good joke?’”

Andrew Tarvin seconded the idea that jokes shouldn’t be too lengthy. “You can be clever, just don't be longwinded or boring in the process. As Kevin from The Office said, ‘Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick?’”

Delving deeper into the structure of jokes, the expert noted that one way to understand the setup and punchline structure is to think back to your days of learning propositional logic: “If A -> B, and B -> C, then A->C. A good joke has a setup (A) and a punchline (C). If the audience can infer what's supposed to be funny (B), they'll laugh.

“So in order to be clever, but not complicated, you have to give just enough information in the setup (A) to help the audience get B, but not so much that it's confusing or takes too long to understand,” Tarvin explained.

Duffy suggested that the balance between a joke being clever and too complicated depends on who you're trying to make laugh. “It's going to be a very different balance if you're trying to make a classroom full of 5-year-olds laugh (you can't go wrong with a silly face) and if you're trying to make a conference of philosophy professors laugh (probably some joke about what it even means to have a face at all). There's no universal rule when it comes to comedy, it's all specific and context dependent,” he told Bored Panda, adding that knowing your audience is hugely important when it comes to humor.

“My friend, the very funny comedian Myq Kaplan, has a great joke about how comedy is one of the only art forms where the audience gets to decide what the art is. His joke is ‘If you laugh at what I say, it's a joke. If you don't laugh, it's a poem! You decide.’”

Tarvin, too, believes that knowing your audience is incredibly important when it comes to jokes and, according to him, there are two main reasons for that. “First, humor is predicated on an audience being able to ‘get’ the joke. If you reference something they don't understand, such as a pop culture reference or Gen Z slang, there's no chance for them to get the joke. Second, comedy often comes from breaking expectations in a surprising way. How can you break expectations if you're not even sure what they are to begin with?

“One caveat to keep in mind is that you are also part of your intended audience. Sometimes writers will put in jokes that are primarily for themselves, and if you as an audience member enjoy it as well, that's a bonus,” the expert added.

When it comes to humor on the big screen, Chris Duffy believes that jokes make the characters relatable and likable. “But I think they also serve to release the tension, which is a huge and important tool when you're writing scripts in any genre,” he added.

According to Andrew Tarvin, there are countless uses for jokes in movies. “It could be used to release tension, break the ice, make a character likable and charismatic or cruel and vindictive,” he said, adding that humor is a universally human trait, so it can be used in nearly any manner.

“However, one of the most important things it can do is just keep the movie engaging. When a character uses a joke, not only does that develop their persona more, it also makes the movie more entertaining. And as soon as that first joke hits, you're now on the lookout for the rest of the movie for the next big laugh, making you even more engaged in the material.”

“While all of these things apply to characters in movies, it also applies to you in real life,” Tarvin continued. “How and when you use jokes has a massive impact on how you're perceived by others, which is why there are over 30 benefits to learning how to effectively use humor as well.

“Also, you don't need a whole team of scriptwriters to be funny. Anyone can learn the skill of humor, and watching movies and analyzing why the jokes worked (or didn't) can be a great place to start.”