Easier to be funny online or in real life?

simu · 02-06-2006 09:19PM #1

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! · 02-06-2006 09:26PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:32PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:32PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:33PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:36PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:39PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:40PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:41PM

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

Mike.

simu · 02-06-2006 09:43PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:44PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:44PM

The only humour thats effective online is sarcasm really,

Obviously real conversation allows for much better use of comedy

Zapp Brannigan · 02-06-2006 09:45PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:47PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:47PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:48PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:53PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:55PM

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 · 02-06-2006 09:55PM

el rabitos wrote:

could you BE anymore right? :eek:

the irony is not lost, believe me.

nor the spelling mistake. rarity.

constitutionus · 02-06-2006 09:58PM

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

02-06-2006 10:47PM

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 · 03-06-2006 10:49AM

Definitely in real life.

Robbo · 03-06-2006 11:07AM

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 · 03-06-2006 11:34AM

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 · 03-06-2006 11:47AM

...timing

Setun · 03-06-2006 12:41PM

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

projectmayhem · 03-06-2006 01:14PM

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 · 03-06-2006 02:40PM

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 · 03-06-2006 03:04PM

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 · 03-06-2006 03:15PM

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 · 03-06-2006 04:07PM

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

Easier to be funny online or in real life?

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