Hi, my name is honest
Introduction
Some jokes are really funny, until they aren't, and we wish the jokes never existed in the first place. I am prone to beating a one-liner into the dust, especially if I think no one heard it the first time until it emerges that someone did hear it, they merely thought it sounded stupid.
Along comes this joke: Can I be honest with you? Hi, my name is honest
Extremely simple, yet effective and makes me laugh. It reminds me of a more innocent time, when jokes were what everyone talked in. Nowadays it's a sea of jargon, and any humour is often exclusive to an in-crowd of people. Primary school, at least, was a more enjoyable time for me.
Are memes funny, and is the internet any good?
I used to be more versed in meme culture, but I later left it behind to focus on more insightful things, like maths and writing. Nowadays it's peculiar seeing how a meme can go from apparently the most popular thing on the internet, to being ridiculed and ignored. But not always.
Take the Raygun meme. For those who luckily don't know, she was a bad Olympian, whose fails propelled the breakdancing event from effectively an exhibition into a huge media story. She received lots of backlash and was reduced into a laughing stock, and long after the Olympics ended, it continued. She's maybe one of the few examples of a meme that outlived its shelf life - in fact, it's still ongoing. I feel sorry for her because I know if I was in that position, I'd want to hide myself from everyone and never leave my house (though I also accept she could have done a much better job). Is the joke not funny anymore? Is this good humour, effective in uniting people?
Maybe I'm in the minority - maybe that's a really great joke, but I kind of disagree. Same with lots of political humour, it makes me roll my eyes (but I quite like satire, that's clever).
Why am I even talking?
As you can probably tell, I'm a bit cynical and snide, often resorting to humour in my speech. Maybe too much, to the point of wearing everyone out. I once asked someone what they thought my jokes were like, and they said intellectual. I agree with that, not because that's my style or anything, but because I do firmly believe my jokes reach the stage that they're pretentious, intentionally made to be an "aha! I'm funny", not to comfort people.
So who am I to judge about the quality of humour? I'm not even that funny. But I do think certain jokes are funnier than others, though of course it's subjective. And that's why I like "Hi, my name is honest" so much - it's groan-inducing yet chuckle-worthy, a simple dad joke that reminds us of how simple life can be - or maybe I'm overthinking it.
I really like that joke, honest. Possibly it's my favourite joke.
Epilogue
As always on my blog/s, there isn't a moral to this story.