Edit filter log

'{{short description|Humor alluding to onself or the subject displaying the humor}} {{refimprove|date=September 2017}} {{Original research|date=September 2007}} [[File:No Thumbtacks.jpg|thumb|300px]] '''Self-referential humor''', also known as '''self-reflexive humor''' or '''meta humor''', is a type of [[Expression (language)|comedic expression]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.vo.lu/homepages/phahn/humor/self_ref.htm |title=Sentences about Self-Reference and Recurrence |publisher=.vo.lu |access-date=2012-08-21}}</ref> that—either directed toward some other subject, or openly directed toward itself—intentionally [[allude]]s to the very person who is expressing the [[humor]] in a comedic fashion, or to some specific aspect of that same comedic expression. Self-referential humor expressed discreetly and [[surreal humor|surrealistically]] is a form of [[bathos]]. In general, self-referential humor often uses [[hypocrisy]], [[oxymoron]], or [[paradox]] to create a contradictory or otherwise absurd situation that is humorous to the audience. ==History== [[Old Comedy]] of Classical Athens is held to be the first—in the extant sources—form of self-referential comedy. [[Aristophanes]], whose plays form the only remaining fragments of Old Comedy, used fantastical plots, grotesque and inhuman masks and status reversals of characters to slander prominent politicians and court his audience's approval.<ref>Alan Hughes; ''Performing Greek Comedy'' (Cambridge, 2012)</ref> Popularized by [[Douglas Hofstadter]] who wrote several books on himself and the subject of self-reference, the term ''[[meta]]'' has come to be used, particularly in art, to refer to something that is self-referential. ==Classification== {{Anchor|Examples}} [[Meta-jokes]] are a popular form of humor. They contain several somewhat different, but related categories: ''joke templates'', ''self-referential jokes'', and ''jokes about jokes'' (meta-humour).{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} ===Joke template=== This form of meta-joke is a [[sarcasm|sarcastic]] jab at the endless refitting of joke forms (often by professional comedians) to different circumstances or characters without a significant innovation in the humor.<ref>[http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,15306761-16947,00.html "Stars turn to jokers for hire"]{{Dead link|date=October 2010}}</ref> {{quote|Three people of different nationalities walk into a bar. Two of them say something smart, and the third one makes a mockery of his fellow countrymen by acting stupid.<ref name=Folkloresque>{{cite book |last1=Foster |first1=Michael Dylan |last2=Tolbert |first2=Jeffrey A. |date=November 2015 |title=The Folkloresque: Reframing Folklore in a Popular Culture World |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt17mvkfh |publisher=[[Utah State University Press]] |isbn=9781607324188 }}</ref>}} {{quote|Three blokes walk into a pub. One of them is a little bit stupid, and the whole scene unfolds with a tedious inevitability.<ref name="bb"/> —[[Bill Bailey]]}} {{quote|<poem>How many members of a certain demographic group does it take to [[lightbulb joke|perform a specified task?]] A finite number: one to perform the task and the remainder to act in a manner stereotypical of the group in question.<ref name=Folkloresque /></poem>}} {{quote|<poem>There once was an X from place B, Who satisfied predicate P, Then X did thing A, In a specified way, Resulting in circumstance C.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/rh6kz/metalimerick/ |title=Meta-limerick |author=yomendel |date=28 Mar 2012 |website=[[Reddit]] |access-date=22 February 2021}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=February 2021}}</poem>}} ===Self-referential jokes=== Truly [[self-referential]] jokes are quite rare, as they must refer to themselves rather than to larger classes of previous jokes. {{Blockquote|What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?<ref name=Intellectuals>{{cite web |url=https://factinator.com/30-intellectuals-jokes/ |title=30 Jokes Only Intellectuals Will Understand |website=Fact-inator |access-date=24 February 2021 }}</ref>}} {{Blockquote|[[An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman]] walk into a bar. The barman turns to them, takes one look, and says, "What is this—some kind of joke?"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://englishuniverse.wordpress.com/advanced-class-2/2007-2008-advanced-class/module-3-humour/an-englishman-an-irishman-and-a-scotman/ |title=An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotman |date=2007-2008 |website=English Universe |access-date=24 February 2021 }}</ref>}} {{Blockquote|A priest, a rabbi and a leprechaun walk into a bar. The leprechaun looks around and says, "Saints preserve us! I'm in the wrong joke!"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/79l5xw/a_priest_a_rabbi_and_a_leprechaun_walk_into_a_bar/ |title=A priest, a rabbi and a leprechaun walk into a bar |date=30 October 2017 |website=[[Reddit]] |access-date=24 February 2021 }}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=February 2021}}}} {{Blockquote | text =Three blind mice walk into a bar, but they are unaware of their surroundings so to derive humour from it would be exploitative.<ref name="bb">{{cite AV media | people =[[Bill Bailey]] | date =2004 | title =Bill Bailey Live - Part Troll | medium =DVD | language =English | publisher =[[Universal Pictures UK]] | asin =B0002SDY1M }}</ref> | author =[[Bill Bailey]] }} {{Blockquote | text =When I said I was going to become a comedian, they all laughed. Well, they're not laughing now, are they?<ref name="Not laughing">{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1958051.stm |title=Obituary: Bob Monkhouse |date=29 December 2003 |publisher=[[BBC News]] |access-date=24 February 2021 }}</ref> | author =[[Bob Monkhouse]] }} ===Jokes about jokes ("meta-humor")=== ''Meta-humour'' is humour about humour. Here ''meta'' is used to describe that the joke explicitly talks about other jokes, a usage similar to the words [[metadata (computing)|metadata]] (data about data), [[metatheatrics]] (a play within a play, as in ''[[Hamlet]]''), and [[metafiction]]. ==Other examples== [[File:Paradox.jpg|alt=graffiti art on a wall stating "SORRY ABOUT YOUR WALL"|thumb|A self-referencing work of [[graffiti]] apologizing for its own existence]] === Alternate punchlines === Another kind of meta-humour makes fun of poor jokes by replacing a familiar punchline with a serious or nonsensical alternative. Such jokes expose the fundamental criterion for joke definition, "funniness", via its deletion. Comedians such as [[George Carlin]] and [[Mitch Hedberg]] used metahumour of this sort extensively in their routines. ===Anti-humor=== [[Anti-humor]] is a type of indirect and [[alternative comedy]] that involves the joke-teller delivering something that is intentionally not funny, or lacking in intrinsic meaning. The humor of such jokes is based on the [[surprise factor]] of absence of an expected [[joke]] or of a [[punch line]] in a narration that is set up as a joke.<ref name=shibles>[[Warren A. Shibles]], [http://facstaff.uww.edu/shiblesw/humorbook/ Humor Reference Guide: A Comprehensive Classification and Analysis] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928195929/http://facstaff.uww.edu/shiblesw/humorbook/ |date=September 28, 2007 }} (Hardcover) 1998 {{ISBN|0-8093-2097-5}}</ref><ref>John Henderson, "Writing Down Rome: Satire, Comedy, and Other Offences in Latin Poetry" (1999) {{ISBN|0-19-815077-6}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=uAllRLeoXqYC&pg=PA218&dq=%22anti-joke%22+-wikipedia&sig=lNZmQidTk0cuuoKISaT6HWdjbxQ p. 218]</ref> It depends upon reference to the audience's expectations on what a joke is. ===Breaking the fourth wall=== Self-referential humor is sometimes combined with breaking the [[fourth wall]] to explicitly make the reference directly to the audience, or make self-reference{{refn|"Self-referential humor," in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia; (Wikimedia Foundation Inc., updated {{CURRENTDATE}})}} to an element of the medium that the characters should not be aware of. ===Class-referential jokes=== This form of meta-joke contains a familiar class of [[joke]]s as part of the joke. ====''Bar'' jokes==== {{quote|A guy walks into a bar and says "ouch!"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/parenting-purpose/201903/guy-walks-bar-and-says-ouch |title=A Guy Walks Into a Bar and Says "Ouch!" |last=Rich, Jr. |first=John D. |date=21 Mar 2019 |website=[[Psychology Today]] |access-date=21 February 2021 }}</ref>}} {{quote|[[Phineas Gage]] walks into a bar.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://pageslap.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/phineas-gage/ |title=Phineas Gage walks into a bar… |last=Stamp |first=Nicole |date=31 July 2009 |website=[pageslap] |access-date=21 February 2021 }}</ref>}} {{quote|Two men walk into a bar, you'd think one of them would have seen it.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}}} {{quote|Two men walk into a bar. The third one ducks.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://rollsoffthetongue.tumblr.com/post/111319433555/bartender-not-whats-so-funny/ |title=Rolls off the Tongue, BARTENDER (NOT) Two guys walked into a bar. The... |author=BARTENDER (NOT) |date=2015 |website=Rolls off the Tongue |access-date=21 February 2021 }}</ref>}} {{quote|A baby seal walks into a club.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://theoatmeal.com/djtaf/j/6 |title=A baby seal walks into a club...... Dumb Jokes That Are Funny - The Oatmeal |last=Inman |first=Matthew |date=2020 |website=[[The Oatmeal]] |access-date=21 February 2021 }}</ref>}} {{quote|A [[Dangling modifier|dangling participle]] walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.<ref name="Bar Jokes and Grammar">{{cite web |url=http://lindaksienkiewicz.com/bar-jokes-and-grammar/ |title=Bar Jokes and Grammar - Linda K Sienkiewicz |last=Sienkiewicz |first=Linda K. |date=14 May 2018 |website=Linda K Sienkiewicz |access-date=21 February 2021 }}</ref>}} {{quote|A [[Dangling modifier|misplaced modifier]] walks into a bar owned by a man with a glass eye named Ralph.<ref name="Bar Jokes and Grammar"/>}} {{quote|A [[Dyslexia|dyslexic]] man walks into a br<!--do note change /bra/ to /bar/. /bra/ is correct -- it's a joke, get it?-->a.<ref name="Bar Jokes and Grammar"/>}} {{quote|A bar was walked into by the [[passive voice]].<ref name="Bar Jokes and Grammar"/>}} {{quote|A [[verb]] walks into a bar, sees a beautiful [[noun]], and suggests they [[Grammatical conjugation|conjugate]]. The noun [[Declension|declines]].<ref name="Bar Jokes and Grammar"/>}} {{quote|A [[non sequitur (literary device)|non sequitur]] walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.<ref name="Bar Jokes and Grammar"/>}} {{quote|[[Sigmund Freud]] walks into a bra.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}}} {{Blockquote| | text=Three [[logic]]ians walk into a bar. The bartender asks "Do all of you want a drink?" The first logician says "I don’t know." The second logician says "I don’t know." The third logician says "Yes!"<ref name=Intellectuals/> }} ====''What and Why'' Jokes==== {{quote|<poem>What has four legs and barks? A dog. You heard it.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}</poem>}} {{quote|<poem>Why did the elephant cross the road? Because the chicken retired.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}</poem>}} {{quote|<poem>What's an [[onomatopoeia]]? Just what it sounds like!{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}</poem>}} {{quote|<poem>[[Why did the chicken cross the road?]] To have its motives questioned.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}</poem>}} ====''Two Types of People'' Jokes==== {{quote|There are 10 kinds of computer scientists: those who know nothing, those who know binary, those who know ternary, those who know quaternary, those who know quinary,{{nbsp}}...{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}}} ===Comedian jokes=== The process of being a humorist is also the subject of meta-jokes; for example, on an episode of ''[[QI]]'', [[Jimmy Carr]] made the comment "People laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Well, they're not laughing now!"— a joke previously associated with [[Bob Monkhouse]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/comedy/7927089/Modern-comedys-unlikely-hero-Bob-Monkhouse.html |title=Modern comedy’s unlikely hero: Bob Monkhouse |last=Deacon |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Deacon (journalist) |date=3 June 2015 |website=[[telegraph.co.uk]]|access-date=18 February 2018}}</ref> ===Limericks=== A [[limerick (poetry)|limerick]] referring to the anti-humor of limericks: {{quote|<poem> The limerick packs laughs anatomical Into space that is quite economical. But the good ones I've seen So seldom are clean And the clean ones so seldom are comical.<ref>Feinberg, Leonard. ''The Secret of Humor''. Rodopi, 1978. {{ISBN|9789062033706}}. p102</ref> </poem>}} [[W.S. Gilbert]] wrote one of the definitive "anti-limericks": {{quote|<poem> There was an old man of St. Bees, Who was stung in the arm by a wasp; When they asked, "Does it hurt?" He replied, "No, it doesn't, But I thought all the while 'twas a Hornet."<ref>Wells 1903, pp. xix-xxxiii.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=eKNK1YwHcQ4C&pg=PA683 Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia Of Literature - Google Boeken<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref></poem>}} [[Tom Stoppard]]'s anti-limerick from ''[[Travesties]]'': {{quote|<poem> A performative poet of Hibernia Rhymed himself into a hernia He became quite adept At this practice, except For the occasional non-sequitur. </poem>}} ===Metaparody=== [[Metaparody]] is a form of humor or [[literary technique]] consisting "parodying the [[parody]] of the original", sometimes to the degree that the viewer is unclear as to which [[subtext]] is genuine and which subtext parodic.<ref name="SaulCaryl1989">{{cite book|author1=Morson, Gary Saul|author2=Emerson, Caryl|title=Rethinking Bakhtin: extensions and challenges|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SjtZotCHe2wC&pg=PA63|accessdate=20 April 2013|year=1989|publisher=Northwestern University Press|isbn=978-0-8101-0810-3|pages=63–}}</ref><ref name="Terkourafi2010">{{cite book|author=Marina Terkourafi|title=The Languages of Global Hip Hop|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YoCETlhOPDEC&pg=PA234|accessdate=20 April 2013|date=23 September 2010|publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group]]|isbn=978-0-8264-3160-8|pages=234–}}</ref><ref name="Barta2001">{{cite book|author=Peter I. Barta|title=Carnivalizing Difference: Bakhtin and the Other|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IhVIPn2vZSAC&pg=PA110|accessdate=20 April 2013|year=2001|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-26991-9|pages=110–}}</ref> ===RAS Syndrome=== [[RAS syndrome]] refers to the redundant use of one or more of the words that make up an [[acronym]] or initialism with the abbreviation itself, thus in effect repeating one or more words. However, "RAS" stands for '''R'''edundant '''A'''cronym '''S'''yndrome; therefore, the full phrase yields "Redundant Acronym Syndrome syndrome" and is self-referencing in a comical manner. It also reflects an excessive use of [[Three-letter acronym|TLA]]s ('''T'''hree '''L'''etter '''A'''cronyms).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Clothier |first=Gary |date=8 November 2006 |title=Ask Mr. Know-It-All |newspaper=The York Dispatch}}</ref><ref name=Newman>{{Cite news |last=Newman |first=Stanley |date=December 20, 2008 |url=http://www2.canada.com/windsorstar/news/readersatplay/story.html?id=ea936740-3787-49be-813d-937b3a63eb74 |title=Sushi by any other name |newspaper=Windsor Star |page=G4 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503121728/http://www2.canada.com/windsorstar/news/readersatplay/story.html?id=ea936740-3787-49be-813d-937b3a63eb74 |archive-date=May 3, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Feedback |newspaper=[[New Scientist]]|issue=2285 |date=2001-04-07 |page=108 |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17022858.000 |format=fee required |access-date=2006-12-08}}</ref> ==Exemplars== ===Carson=== [[Johnny Carson]] in his ''[[The Tonight Show|Tonight Show]]'' career used to get laughs when reacting to a failed joke with, for example, a pained expression. Immediately following a failed joke about Lincoln's death Carson remarked, "A hundred years later, and you still can't do Abraham Lincoln jokes." The latter remark got a better laugh than the initial joke. ===Hedberg=== Stand-up comedian [[Mitch Hedberg]] would often follow up a joke with an admission that it was poorly told, or insist to the audience that "that joke was funnier than you acted."<ref>"Mitch Hedberg - Mitch All Together", CD [[Comedy Central]] (2003) ASIN B000X71NKQ</ref> ===Izzard=== [[Eddie Izzard]] often reacts to a failed joke by miming writing on a paper pad and murmuring into the microphone "must make joke funnier" or "don't use again." ===Marx=== In one memorable scene, [[Groucho Marx]] said into a telephone, [[Prince_Albert_(tobacco)#joke|"Do you have Prince Albert in a can?"]] He then turned to face the camera and said to the audience, "Well, all the jokes can't be good, you have to expect that once in a while." ===The Office=== In [[The Office (U.S. TV series)|the U.S. version]] of the British [[mockumentary]] ''[[The Office (UK TV series)|The Office]]'', many jokes are founded on making fun of poor jokes. Examples include [[Dwight Schrute]] butchering the [[The Aristocrats (joke)|Aristocrats]] joke, or [[Michael Scott (The Office)|Michael Scott]] awkwardly writing in a fellow employee's card an offensive joke, and then attempting to cover it with more unbearably bad jokes. ===Rehnquist=== [[Marc Galanter]] in the introduction to his book ''Lowering the Bar: Lawyer Jokes and Legal Culture'' cites a meta-joke in a speech of [[Chief Justice]] [[William Rehnquist]]: <blockquote>I've often started off with a [[lawyer joke]], a complete caricature of a lawyer who's been nasty, greedy, and unethical. But I've stopped that practice. I gradually realized that the lawyers in the audience didn't think the jokes were funny and the non-lawyers didn't know they were jokes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Galanter |first=Marc |author-link=Marc Galanter |date=1 September 2005 |title=Lowering the Bar: Lawyer Jokes and Legal Culture |url=https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/2923.htm |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin Press]] |page=3 |isbn=0-299-21350-1 }}</ref></blockquote> ===Stewart=== [[Jon Stewart]], when hosting [[The Daily Show]], used to wring his [[Necktie|tie]] and grimace following an uncomfortable [[Video clip|clip]] or jab. ===White=== [[E. B. White]] has joked about humour, saying that "[h]umour can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind."<ref>"Some Remarks on Humor", preface to ''A Subtreasury of American Humor'' (1941)</ref> ==See also== * [[Indirect self-reference]] * [[In-joke]] * [[Intertextuality]] * [[Irony]] *{{annotated link|Meta}} *{{annotated link|Meta-reference}} *{{annotated link|Self-reference}} *{{annotated link|Snowclone}} ==References== {{Reflist}} [[Category:Humour]] [[Category:Self-reference]] [[Category:Jokes]]'