What percentage of people have to understand a joke for it to be a good joke?

[David B]

I rather like this one, but how many people would be aware of the controversy surrounding it?

http://www.calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=418

So what would be the optimum percentage of people to get a joke?

http://www.calamitiesofnature.com/archive/?c=410

David

[StarChild]

Do we need to evaluate everything by popularity? Can't we say that jokes are entirely contextual?

With each strip, the artist is trying to appeal to their audience, but they are also constructing their audience.

[Matty]

it depends on the crowd.

for example a hilarious rape/statistics joke might not go down well at all on a principally liberal discussion board that is primed for outrage at anything less than fully PC


lfmf


:cool:

[LoneWolf]

86%

[Silly Sausage]

lfmf


:cool:


Ha ha, I had to google 'lfmf' to find what it meant (you young 'uns and your slang these days).

Of the two answers offered, I'm guessing it doesn't mean low frequency magnetic field ;)

[Matty]

http://www.secularcafe.org/showthread.php?t=7917


:)

dont click if you have a hair trigger sense of outrage or have PC parental control set up on your SoH.

[Silly Sausage]

I remember that thread. That's all I'm saying.

[Clivedurdle]

This is an existential question related to the jokicity quotient of the phrase, their delivery, how they might be interpreted and misinterpreted.

Ontologically all jokes were thought first by God.

[BioBeing]

Well, if your audience is 1, I guess you need 100% for it to be a good joke.

However, in a group, it is sometimes extra funny to have a joke that only a few people get. Then you can laugh at all the people who don't get it.

So yeah - it depends.

[Anne]

It also depends of what you mean by 'good'.

If good=popular, than a high number. If good=intellectual... well...

plus the fact it's possible to 'get' a joke that is still not funny or 'bad' (not bad as in 'ooooo that's bad lol!' but bad as in 'that's a joke?').

[Rie]

Some people will 'get' the joke and some won't or won't think it's funny. They will politely titter. But if it's a joke that relates to a life situation that the audience will relate to, then it's funny.

[Berthold]

What about inside jokes of occupational groups?

For instance:

Three hornists go past a bar.

Among musicians, the hornists have the greatest reputation of being drunkards.