Easier to be funny online or in real life?

simu

Well? Do you find it easier to raise laughs irl or on the interweb? Or does it depend on a person's type of sense of humour? (I suspect that some humour styles work better in a social setting). Or are funny people funny wherever they go?

Dave!

IRL, cos jokes depend on timing for the most part, and vocal tone, which can't really be effectively replicated in text. Although I do try

iFight

In real life, how can you be funny online, you dont even talk, as said above, it's all about delivery. Well, some people are i suppose, but it's a different kind of funny really;)

simu

Well, personally, I have to know people quite well before cracking jokes with them irl. It takes me a while to build up a level of ease and also, people usually have to know me a bit before they get any jokes I make.

Online, it's weird. First of all, it's hard to guage people's reactions. Sometimes I'd get a lol off something I didn't think was very funny at all but most of the time, people won't know if what they posted produced a laugh or not. (That was one good thing about the rep system a few years back - made it easier to admire people's humour).

simu

iFight wrote:

In real life, how can you be funny online, you dont even talk, as said above, it's all about delivery. Well, some people are i suppose, but it's a different kind of funny really;)

Well, have you never laughed at something sb posted on here? I often do!

WhiteWashMan

dunno.
im the same on line as i am offline.
so i guess it depends on wether people think im funny.

maybe im just the jack dee of boards?

CathyMoran

I find it easier to be funny off line, I would tend to be very quick witted, but the intonation has a part of it. Another thing would be that it is easier to be misconstrued online so unless I am mailing a friend that I know really well I will think for a while before I write. There are some posters who I find hilarious online though and they manage it brilliantly.

Faith

I find it far easier offline because my jokes are generally all about the delivery, and are generally just straight off the top of my head. Online, that tends to seem rehearsed and false.

However, I've laughed countless times at things online, so it depends on the person, I guess.

mike65

What the fk is irl? I thought txt spk hd bn bnd.

Mike.

simu

mike65 wrote:

What the fk is irl? I thought txt spk hd bn bnd.

Mike.

in real life

It's not txt spk - it's nerd speak!

Ruu_Old

Offline, does depend on the person though, all my jokes are too old anyway and people usually groan at me. The old classics are finished I think I do have a good larf online though.

WellyJ

The only humour thats effective online is sarcasm really,

Obviously real conversation allows for much better use of comedy

Zapp Brannigan

Funnier in real life definitely. I tend to ghost on forums anyhow but in real life I'm always in the middle of things, so I get more opportunities to crack jokes.

iFight

simu wrote:

Well, have you never laughed at something sb posted on here? I often do!

i have, a few times today to be honest, but as I said, it's a different type of funny. Most things i laugh at on here would not crack me up in real life, although i did read a few good one liners, but they are rare occurances. I think it was Diarmsquid that something that would have got me going IRL, and some thread about a guinea pig, but that is really it. It's not that i have a dried sense of humour, i d say taht i laugh as much as the next guy, but not for the same reasons as in RL. I fear taht ive reapeated myself a few times in taht sentance BTW:D

simu

WellyJ wrote:

The only humour thats effective online is sarcasm really,

Ah, no.

You can have puns, in-jokes, visual jokes based on different fonts or images... it's quite diverse!

WhiteWashMan

well, i hope its all true that people are funnier off line, becuse i find very few people witty on line tbh.

although, i think Chandeler bing has a lot to answer for.
now everyone thinks there a bloody comedian.


anyway, everyone knows comedy is about.....

el rabitos

although, i think Chandeler bing has a lot to answer for.
now everyone thinks there a bloody comedian.

could you BE anymore right? :eek:

WellyJ

simu wrote:

Ah, no.

You can have puns, in-jokes, visual jokes based on different fonts or images... it's quite diverse!

None of which would make me laugh....

But then humour is objective in fairness

WhiteWashMan

el rabitos wrote:

could you BE anymore right? :eek:

the irony is not lost, believe me.

nor the spelling mistake. rarity.

constitutionus

to be honest i reckon if your naturally funny it comes across evenly on and off line but the advantage of the net is the humour can be skewed some what. i cant remember who posted it but there was a thread a good bit back with a link to a vid of a kid playing a concentration game where he had to guide a dot through a maze with out hitting a wall which ended in the game screamming at him and showing horrific imagery and he just fell to pieces.
i just fell about laughing at that (i know i know its cruel) but thats just something you couldnt relate off line and get the humour value

Black Swan

simu wrote:

Well, personally, I have to know people quite well before cracking jokes with them irl. It takes me a while to build up a level of ease and also, people usually have to know me a bit before they get any jokes I make.

Agree. Like this has been my experience online, too. If I try too soon, often I just look foolish.

ThrownAway

Definitely in real life.

Robbo

Given time and google, anyone can throw up some form of witty rejoinder on the web. The problem is that timing doesn't really matter when replying to threads, just quote-reply. If you were to chime in with some kind of pithy riposte in a real conversation some time after the initial point has been made, you'd be seen as mentally subnormal.

I've been to loads of Boards beers where the borderline autistic types who seem so funny online just sit on their hands and rock awkwardly when they can't keep pace with a normal conversation. These are the same people who'll see a gap (for a catchphrase, funny meme, spuriously downloaded TV reference) and then keep on hammering home the same point all night long.

Hagar

It's quite difficult to be funny on boards. Most good comedy depends on the physical, tone of voice, facial expression, eyes, body language, it goes on. Really funny people live the joke, it becomes part of them and they part of it. It almost impossible to do this in cold print. Some jokes are totally impossible in print. I have a great one about a 12inch woman that isn't ever going to work in print. Also large scale exposure kills jokes. They are often about intimacy, a little secret between friends, a shared snigger if you like.

All that said, I'm still going to keep trying to have a laugh around here. Often I will die on my arse but it's worth it when I succeed.

WhiteWashMan

...timing

Setun

Deffo offline, certain boards characters <^> are too intimidating to try to be funny around :rolleyes:

projectmayhem

i think my humour is the same both on or offline, but i think it works better offline because sarcasm doesn't really come accross in text

nesf

Different forms of humour imho. Online longer more subtle jokes work better because if someone's getting bored they can just scroll on rather than have to wait for you to finish. Then, whether you consider yourself as a funny person is a lot of it. I can make people laugh now and then, but I wouldn't consider myself particularily funny. My humour is too dry for most people or something.

Earthhorse

I once got three lols for something I posted in an After Hours thread. *sniff*

I regularly get more than three lols for things I say in real life.

lostexpectation

Robbo wrote:

I've been to loads of Boards beers where the borderline autistic types who seem so funny online just sit on their hands and rock awkwardly when they can't keep pace with a normal conversation. These are the same people who'll see a gap (for a catchphrase, funny meme, spuriously downloaded TV reference) and then keep on hammering home the same point all night long.

Ok so we've got the banner text for the boards beer!

Skyuser

Took me ages to realise what 'irl' was. I kept thinking ireland first.

Tar.Aldarion

I have no idea if people laugh at anything I say online, unless I'm in a chatting program. It's easy to tell IRL though. In conclusion, I don't know.
I laugh at things a lot in both though.

OctavarIan

IRL for sure.

simu

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

I have no idea if people laugh at anything I say online, unless I'm in a chatting program. It's easy to tell IRL though. In conclusion, I don't know.
I laugh at things a lot in both though.

Well, you've made me laugh quite a few times online. But way more since I met you irl because I "get" you more, I guess.

Another factor to take into account!

Sangre

I'm hilarious both on and offline.

Tar.Aldarion

simu wrote:

Well, you've made me laugh quite a few times online. But way more since I met you irl because I "get" you more, I guess.

Another factor to take into account!

Ah, quite true. It's much easier to 'get' somebody online after meeting them and getting to know them. I know how you would say it, facial expressions etcera. More laughing is induced.

arbeitsscheuer

Fail miserably both online and off.

"Sangre's antithesis", if you will...

YeAh!

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

Ah, quite true. It's much easier to 'get' somebody online after meeting them and getting to know them. I know how you would say it, facial expressions etcera. More laughing is induced.

When you say laughing. Do you actually mean physically laugh?? Or just kinda think to yourself "thats so funny" (as in ur one from scrubs). Offline I'm always laughing at peoples jokes, but I rarely ever laugh at online jokes just kinda grin I think (unless whatever is said is absolutely halarious!)

Pigman II

It's easier online because the knockbacks for a duff joke here aren't as bad so it's a no lose situation.

For example when you get the ":rolleyes:" here you can just put your hands on your hips stare upwards and laugh it off defiantly superhero-style. However when someone ":rolleyes:"'s me in real life I typically collapse down onto the ground, curl up into the foetal position and start crying like a little girl.

YeAh!

Pigman II wrote:

However when someone ":rolleyes:"'s me in real life I typically collapse down onto the ground, curl up into the foetal position and start crying like a little girl.

TAKE THAT!!! :rolleyes: AND THAT!!! :rolleyes:

Hydroquinone

Robbo wrote:

The problem is that timing doesn't really matter when replying to threads, just quote-reply. If you were to chime in with some kind of pithy riposte in a real conversation some time after the initial point has been made, you'd be seen as mentally subnormal.

That's exactly right. I've met internetty people (not off ths board, but I can't imagine that makes a difference) who make me fall about in kinks on line, but when I've actually met them, they're nothing like as funny, because they're not as fast. Now as you've said that, I heard a big penny drop. *clunk*
Can't think why I'd never thought of that before.
Thanks Robbo.

Tar.Aldarion

YeAh! wrote:

When you say laughing. Do you actually mean physically laugh?? Or just kinda think to yourself "thats so funny" (as in ur one from scrubs). Offline I'm always laughing at peoples jokes, but I rarely ever laugh at online jokes just kinda grin I think (unless whatever is said is absolutely halarious!)

Physically laugh a good bit. Smile if it is not as funny. I never think, oh my, that's so funny.

20 Times 20 Times

Sangre wrote:

I'm hilarious both on and offline.

keep telling yourself that.

azezil

*inserts penis into simu's ear and gyrates*

...

see that just far funnier in person!

constitutionus

azezil wrote:

*inserts penis into simu's ear and gyrates*

...

see that just far funnier in person!

now thats humour

simu

azezil wrote:

*inserts penis into simu's ear and gyrates*

...

see that just far funnier in person!

If only you didn't play for the other side...

:eek:

azezil

baby, with that hairy back and flat chest of yours, I'm sure I could make an exception

I would expect ppl to be funnier online than in real life becuz online ppl can shed their inhibitions and the like just giving my opinion ...:)

nesf

coolsmileygirl wrote:

I would expect ppl to be funnier online than in real life becuz online ppl can shed their inhibitions and the like just giving my opinion ...:)

Actually you'll find that's why people online can be such muppets/idiots/trolls. It brings far more harm than good imho.

OLDYELLAR

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

Physically laugh a good bit. Smile if it is not as funny. I never think, oh my, that's so funny.

Im not sure about online but Tar has once caused me to come close to a ROFL offline

base2

I'm funnier in real life myself. All crazy anecdotes and abstract impressions of anal gape and such.