By definition, a dad joke is really a short joke, typically a pun, presented as a one-liner or a question and answer, but not a narrative, according to Wikipedia. Dad jokes are most commonly told by fathers in the family, hence the name, and their main feature is being overly simple and generally inoffensive. Hence, they play on the safe side.
As we all know, family gatherings serve as a perfect environment for dad jokes to emerge, especially family dinners, Christmas holidays, birthdays, and Thanksgiving. Dad jokes only take off when there's an audience, preferably more than two people and grown-up children included. This is partly because moms have become somewhat immune to dad humor with time and tend to generally not respond to the pun thrown at the table for many reasons.
In 2019, the Merriam-Webster dictionary added the term 'dad joke,' granting it a holy grail of use in common language.
