Tag Archives: anti-joke

Knock-Knock Anti-Joke

Nationality: USA
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: April 29, 2015
Primary Language: English
Language: Hebrew

“There’s this stupid knock-knock joke that my friend always did to me, and I kind of picked up on it and I do it all the time now. It just goes like this:”

 

Him: Okay lemme tell you this knock-knock joke.

 

Me: Okay, go for it.

 

Him: No but you have to start it.

 

Me: *looks puzzled* Wait what?

 

Him: Yeah you just start the joke!

 

Me: Uhhhh….. okay then, knock-knock?

 

Him: Who’s there?

 

Me: …………

 

*Awkward-but-hilarious silence ensues*

 

“So yeah that’s pretty much it, it’s kind of an anti-joke. I honestly don’t know why it’s so hilarious to me but it just is. I guess because it just makes the other person so confused and uncomfortable when they suddenly realize that the joke makes no sense whatsoever.”


This one is from one of my friends who’s lived in California his whole life and has pretty much been a joke-teller for all of his life. This is one of my personal favorites of his jokes, so I really wanted to include it. He said that he just learned it from one of his friends in elementary school, and it’s been a staple of his for years. Additionally, he said that the joke always entertains him and brings some joy to the atmosphere because of the confused reactions he gets.

Anti-Joke – Why was the little boy crying?

Nationality: Taiwanese American
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Residence: Newport Beach, CA
Performance Date: April 8, 2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Why was the little boy crying?
Because he had a frog stapled to his forehead.

My informant told me this joke after I had been venting about how bad my day had been.  At this point, she told me this joke.  After she delivered the punchline, I was at first taken aback by how violent the answer was. But then, I started to laugh at how far out and unexpected it was.  I asked her where she heard this joke, and she told me that she had heard it from school.

This joke is an example of an anti-joke.  An anti-joke is characterized by having the question be one that can have many different answers to it.  Another characteristic is that the punchline is usually not funny.  However, the unexpected nature of the punchline is really what makes the joke humorous.  This form of jokes probably developed as a way to add a twist to the stereotypical jokes that are out there.