The Orange Head Joke

I anticipated the punchline in advance, and still found it funny. It probably would have been funnier if I hadn't seen it coming.

I immediately proceeded to discuss it with a friend, who couldn't understand what was funny about it at all.

I came up with another joke to explain to her what's funny to me about this one. I find them I find them funny for similar reasons.

A man walks into a control room. There is a big red button labeled "Nuclear Launch Button." He walks up and presses it.

A display screen next to the button reads "Input password." There is a number panel below the screen. He searches around the room, and finds a locked desk. He jimmies it open, and rummages around through it. Inside there is sheet of paper which says "Nuclear launch password: 7831662"

He returns to the number panel, and punches in 7831662. The display screen says "Code confirmed. Press again to launch." He presses the button again. "Launching nuclear arsenal."

He stares at the screen in shock. "Aw shit.... I fucked up."

This joke works by subverting a cliche, and thus how funny it is to you depends on how salient the cliche is.

It made me laugh, which is a reasonable proxy for thinking it's funny.

I suspect a lot of why it made me laugh is that I recognized the "twelve-inch pianist" template and spent the entire joke trying to anticipate what the analogous punch line could be, which set me up to be surprised by the punchline. I'd expect someone who wasn't trying to anticipate the punchline to not think it was funny.

I'm reminded of "What did the Zen master say to the counter-worker at Dunkin' Donuts? 'Large coffee and a chocolate crueller to go, please.' " Which got a huge laugh at the time, but you really had to be there.

This reminds me of a less punny version of the "twelve inch pianist" joke. I think it's amusing but not hilarious.

it suddenly occurred to me that many LWers might not be familiar with the longest joke in the world. I loved it.

http://www.brianstimelines.co.uk/Longest_Joke.html

I insist that I don't find that joke funny. Really, it's just stupid. But for some reason I laughed for three seconds when I got to this bit:

but you have an orange for a head. How did that happen?"

Then for about 20 seconds when I got to this part:

"For my third wish -- and, this is the bit where I kinda fucked up -- I asked for an orange for a head."

Then, when I went back to find those two quotes I laughed for another 3 then 5 seconds. I also laughed three more times while writing the text of my reply.

Because he wished for an orange for a head. That's fucked up.

It wouldn't work as well if you'd never heard a joke before. It's only meta-surprising. I love it.

I guess I'm in the middle? I thought it was mildly funny.

For whatever it says about me, my all-time favorite joke is this one:

Q: What's brown and sticky? A: A stick!

Suggested edits for an audience made of stereotypical LessWrongniks:

Mention, in passing that "There are three kinds of genies: Genies to whom you can safely say "I wish for you to do what I should wish for"; genies for which no wish is safe; and genies that aren't very powerful or intelligent.". Then argue which kind of genie this was.

End with "-- and, this is the bit where I kinda failed to overcome akrasia -- I asked for an orange for a head."

I thought it was a bit funny, or meta-funny perhaps. It reminds me a little of the following, which is one of my favorite jokes: http://www.miraclesalad.com/blog/archives/2006/09/quick_wit_retor.php

This is my favorite joke of all time.

I especially like when this type of joke is a bit long, because it makes the satisfaction of telling it to people who don't find it funny that much better. Is that a bit mean? So's my sense of humor.

Robot comedian that takes audience feedback, perfectly miscalibrated for my sense of humor. The TED audience thought it was fairly funny. Did you laugh?

"A man walks into a bar and says Ow."

CEV FAIL.

I found it mildly funny. To me it was just a straightforward metahumor joke: isomorphic to "Why did the chicken cross the road?" I suppose the social elements engage the reader a bit more.

A poll! (Count me for funny, since I can't vote in my own poll.)

ETA: Note that there's a karma balance post for the poll -- since it's downvoted once per vote, it may appear as "comment score below threshold" or disappear entirely, depending on your personal settings.

Your version is funnier than the one on the blog post.

See also this bit relating to Christmas Cracker bad jokes:

He [Professor Richard Wiseman] thinks the key to the success of modern cracker jokes is precisely because they're not funny. 'If the joke is good and you tell it and it doesn't get a laugh, it's your problem. If the joke's bad and it doesn't get a laugh, then it's the joke's problem. My theory is that it's a way of not embarrassing people at Christmas.' So they're not jokes at all? 'In a sense, they're just a way of binding people together. Given the diversity around your average dinner table, it would be extraordinarily difficult to come up with a joke that everyone found funny. The kids won't get it, or someone will find it offensive. Even if you did, the delivery would be difficult. Women don't tell jokes to one another, so they're not used to doing it. Blokes do, but it's done in a particular context, not around the family table, and it's quite stressful to try and deliver a funny joke, so it would be a disaster.'

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/dec/11/christmas.britishidentity

I found it pretty funny (I love anti-humour), but not as funny as I would have if I hadn't been able to guess the punchline before I got to it.

Eh, I wasn't amused. I can see why some people would find it funny, but I don't.

I think it's hilarious.

I literally laughed out loud, and that doesn't often happen when I'm browsing the net.

Has anyone set up a poll for this?

An entirely unrelated genie joke. http://www.lulztruck.com/42520/genie-loophole/

I am a laugher but it took more detailed explanations before I understood why...

I have used this exact joke as a test of people's sense of humor; the people I thought most similar to me in sensibility loved it; many other people don't get it.

I never heard the part "and, this is the bit where I kinda fucked up", so I guess I was telling it wrong, but it still got laughs from the sort of people who laugh at that sort of thing.

As for me? I think it's hilarious.

Summary: "A man has an orange for a head. How? Magic."

Is it still funny?

Assuming a person can actually have an orange for a head and that genies exist then this is just a straightforward story explaining how he became wealthy, desirable and fruitheaded. Like asking someone in a suit how come he's wearing a suit and he answers "because I bought one and put it on".

Assuming a person can't actually have an orange for a head, it's just a timewasting surreal story which doesn't go anywhere.

The humour is in the non-answer where an answer is expected, but I don't find a non-answer funny. I do see it as a joke-shaped pattern and start to involuntarily smile at it, but I'm mentally annoyed by it not enhappied by it.

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