The Ghost Joke

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English
  1. Why can’t ghosts ever become comedians? Because they’re dead serious.

OR the alternate ending, because they’re dead. (An ‘Anti-joke’).

  1. The informant actually created this joke and ‘Anti-joke’, herself. It features a classic joke ending, and an Anti-joke ending that she can alternate depending on what she believes her audience will find more enjoyable. Anti-jokes are purposefully set up so that you believe you will get a normal punchline that is found in other jokes. In regular cases for jokes, the punchlines are supposed to be edited so that they’re intentionally funny, but for Anti-jokes this is not the case. Anti-jokes are not intended to be funny, and that itself is the actual punchline.
  2. The informant created this joke during her senior year of high school. She created this Anti-joke during class time when she was bored. She then shared her joke with the rest of her classmates.
  3. I thought that this joke was funny. I actually liked the Anti-joke ending more, because I definitely expected a more complex answer than the one I had received. Again, this is the purpose of an Anti-joke. You are essentially expecting something drastically different than what you are told. This is why I found the alternate ending funnier, since I usually have a good idea as to what the punchline of a joke would be. With this joke, I was definitely surprised by its ending.