Why are Brits so tickled by puns?

Posted by steve_b@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 43 comments

American here, long time big fan of British humor and sensibility. However, one thing that's always stuck out as odd to me: very funny and clever British comedians seem to be inordinately pleased to make or hear puns when they show up during panel shows & the like, no matter how obvious or cheesy, while reacting in a less laudatory way to genuinely funny or clever stuff. For example, consider Taskmaster, which is filled with great off-the-cuff (or perhaps pre-written?) exchanges or one-liners, which are also cracking up the participants (so I know it's not just my American perspective) that get brief acknowledgement. Yet if someone cracks out some corny pun, the show grinds to a halt as the crowd and the hosts/guests go nuts and sometimes take bows. On the other hand, scripted British (or American) comedy doesn't rely on puns much at all. Yet on American shows (the closest probably being American talk shows), the dropping of a pun is generally met with rolling eyes, groans or exaggerated, ironic appreciation (Conan O'Brien seems like a good example). As a person who's decently funny for a layman, I consider puns as a low-effort "Dad joke" that I will pull out on occasion only because I know they'll get a "Oh, there he goes again" reaction, but not the "He's the next coming of Oscar Wilde" reaction you seem to get on British shows.

43 Comments

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FunCartographer7372@reddit

I have the same observation as an American. I think most comparisons between British and American humor miss the mark and are unfair because they usually end up just comparing bad comedy on one side to good comedy on the other - because in reality the funniest people on both sides are equally funny and I don't notice much cultural or quality difference in the slightest. But the pun thing is a huge exception. Not the mere usage of puns, because Americans use puns too, but it's the celebration of the cleverness that's so remarkably different. Everyone uses puns from time to time, but I feel like in the US our reaction seems to be "this clever connection between words is amusing, but it's not actually a joke" - and then our laugh/groan reaction is based on how much laughter the pun-user was fishing for. If the pun-user used it as a punchline and paused for laughter, we think "ugh, that's not even a joke, it's just a clever observation that 2 words sound alike". The irony of the funny person intentionally using a lame joke isn't enough to cancel that feeling out. But if the pun-user wasn't actually trying to get a big laugh and was just being clever for a moment and quickly moves onto something else, we chuckle a bit and think "ah, clever pun" and can appreciate it. But it's never something to celebrate as "good comedy". British panel shows are loaded with applause-break puns and one liners. It's the only element of them that even stands out to me as being "British", otherwise they're just funny people being funny and there isn't that much to notice from a comedy cultural perspective.

mysilvermachine@reddit

Consider the greatest newspaper headline ever “Super Caley go ballistic as Celtic are atrocious “ I’ve got no point to make except that still makes everyone laugh.

Kennedy_Fisher@reddit

God my dad still quotes that. How old is that now?

audigex@reddit

Coming up 14 years now

Fluffy_UK@reddit

I also liked the Guardian's headline when Katie Hopkins collapsed after taking ketamine. "A-hole in a K-hole" https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2018/feb/08/a-hole-in-a-k-hole-katie-hopkins-ketamine-adventures

McCretin@reddit

Or “Foot heads arms body” - from The Times about Michael Foot being put in charge of a committee on nuclear disarmament

Perfect_Confection25@reddit

Sunday Sport when Gianni Versace was murdered - 'Basque Terrorists?'

Particular-Echo347@reddit

This is amazing, thank you

YchYFi@reddit

I sang that. Now to watch Mary Poppins.

Mogwair@reddit

That was fucking brilliant! 😀

privateTortoise@reddit

Yep.

Shoddy_Pie6514@reddit

Puns are funny because they are shit. That's why we like them

EvilInCider@reddit

It may be that, as an American, you do not understand irony.

merrycrow@reddit

Nobody reads the pinned comment here do they

stupre1972@reddit

Puns are clever, and I laugh because I appreciate the cleverness of the construction. My all-time favourite joke - Two parrots sitting on a perch, one says to the other, "Can you smell fish?" - is a perfect example. On one hand, it's a take on the old two guys in a bar joke. On the other hand, it's an incredibly clever use of Perch being a place to sit and a freshwater fish Add to this that it took me 6 months to get it when I first heard it....

bevtheape@reddit

Hear about the parrot that smelled a perch? It drowned

exkingzog@reddit

Two perch in a tank. One says to the other, “do you know how to drive this thing?”.

Again, great use of word transposition - simple, but clever

RumbaAsul@reddit

The majority of puns on Reddit are low quality efforts. I need a major punster to enjoy a good punning. I usually bail from threads when the low effort punsters show their shit efforts at hmour. But I'm not bitter. Live and let live.

One-Digit@reddit

We’re also making fun of ourselves when we make a shitty punny. It’s layered in with the self-deprecating humour that we are famous for; the people are laughing both at and with the comedian. In a way that’s like “I can’t believe you’re not embarrassed by how shit that joke was, but it was also quite quick and a bit funny”.

edhitchon1993@reddit

It's almost always an ironic reaction, particularly in Taskmaster (the exception there probably being Tim Vine because one liners and wordplay are his schtick).

Milton Jones is very sharp yet due to his style comes across as a bit daft and simple.

Whilst he's by no means out of place or outclassed on panel shows, his longer form stuff (live and particularly radio series) is definitely stronger.

Original puns aside. The beauty of using formulaic or even tired puns is that you have spotted the opportunity to use it in the otherwise normal conversation. Hence the back slapping, bowing, etc. See also: boboom-tish, I'll get my coat, thank you we're here a week, etc

Sendmeaquokka@reddit

We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We know the joke is terrible but that’s part of the charm.

davemee@reddit

Puns are not humour of *surprise*. They’re about pulling up a familiar linguistic trope that you are expected to recognise. Your ability to perform this, and acknowledge when used in a genuinely innovative context, is what is being probed and rewarded.

listyraesder@reddit

It's a language built for puns. Words that sound the same and have contrary meanings, similar words, and so on.

liseusester@reddit

You laugh at the pun because it’s a) a good piece of word play and b) because it’s delightfully shit word play. You get to feel a smidge smug because you *get* the wordplay and amused because you recognise it’s, objectively, terrible. I come from a family which is very fond of puns and wordplay in general, the more ridiculous the better. I grew up on I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue and Just A Minute. I introduced my dad to Terry Pratchett, a man who never let a pun go unrecognised, and he was thrilled.

BaseballFuryThurman@reddit

#AmericanHere

Happy_Construction2@reddit

Yank here… thanks, I needed that. You can clean up the mess.

Kid_Kimura@reddit

You really wrote all those words just to ask why people find things funny that you don't?

VSuzanne@reddit

So, different cultures have different humour. That's to be expected.

tmstms@reddit

Our sense of humour is twofold. One side is dry, ironic, witty, but the other side is a bit silly really.

Emotional-Success632@reddit

Just like easy origami

FluffyBeaks@reddit

Puns work on the level of A) lauging at the pun itself and then B) laighing at such a weak joke in the first place.

I love them. They can be very creative.

I think that's the thing, it requires a certain degree of skill, but it's a throwaway joke. It's not "ooh matron" or "yeoooo", it took thought and effort, but it's still silly. Maybe on a sociological level it preserves an in-group, i.e. those who get it, without necessarily creating an 'other' - i.e. there is not usually a butt of the joke.

HeavyHevonen@reddit

Because they are funny

TartanGuppy@reddit

Jokes like that are just puntastically funny

TrumpleIVskin@reddit

Puns function in the same way as Christmas Cracker jokes. You aren't laughing at how funny the joke is, you're laughing at how shit they are.

You have gone and pun it now.

itsshakespeare@reddit

Ba-dum psssssssh

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