Can Aspies tell Jokes?

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There are comedians/comics who are Aspies, some I have not heard were actually DX but I am fairly certain about it. My son seems to mostly like puns right now, which can make a lot of people groan... but I used to read a lot of Xanth novels. He is not very good at telling regular jokes because he forgets parts a lot. I think that is partially due to his age though and not because he has AS.

Right now my husband is trying to teach him how to "trash talk" because he feels that is a very important skill for little boys to have. That gets pretty funny sometimes.

Timing is crucial with jokes though and anyone can have a hard time with that, even the most NT NT... actually they would probably have it the worst of all because they tend to be less flexible.

Just why would anime be banned? lol

I think anyone is capable of having a sense of humor, even if it's a bit off beat like mine.

But sometimes, don't we Aspies have an incorrect or lacking knowledge of NT conventions that leads us to offend people.

I notice that 30-40 per cent of the time, I tend to tell jokes that invariably end up offending people.

This touches my overly sensitive persona, and I tend to over-react.

I wonder if I should just become a robot w/o a sense of humor.

Some of us can tell jokes, and have drop-dead delivery. I'm most notorious for awful puns, though.

I've always told jokes and funny stories, even as a lad.
Had to, it was a form of self-defense in my family.
Mum and dad could both tell a story and get a laugh.

This hot dog (for you Yanks) walks into a pub and sits down. The bartender is at the far end, and not paying him any mind. Finally the hot dog say "Hey! I'd like a pint." The bartender walks over and looks at hom and says "We don't serve food here."

I'm very often the last person in a room to understand a joke, and it seems like many of us can relate to that. However, as someone else mentioned I have noticed that I tend to make people laugh even when I'm totally serious. Through my early teens I was just confused by this, and kind of insulted, but eventually I found out that there are some observations or ways of describing things that occur to me that don't normally occur to most people, and when I make them many people find them amusing. So I kept doing that, except I tend to time it better and rehearse lines which worked before - in other words, it would in most cases be intentional rather than unintentional. And if something doesn't work (which quite often happens, no matter how funny you are), I just pretend I never said it and move quickly on to something else.

Most of the time the closest things I have to "jokes" with punchlines and the like are stories, most of them unflattering stories about myself. As far as the overall reception to my stories and interjections goes, though, I think I can more than hold my own with what I have.

There is a story I have about my sense of humour, which exposes stereotypes of AS but at the same time makes me feel better about how my stories and interjections are received. It's not a funny story, though.

The events of the story took place about one and a half years ago in college. One day, having finished another long quantum mechanics homework me and a certain classmate were the only people left in our little study room.

Suddenly he remarks to me, "that guy A, he definitely has Asperger Syndrome don't you think?" This came totally out of the blue; I never told him about AS before then.

"What?"

"You know, Asperger Syndrome. A mild form of autism."

"Yes, I know, but I never thought of A that way before."

"Well, he definitely does. It's so obvious. I'm on a private mission here, because I think a few people in our class may have it."

I wasn't too impressed, but I decided OK let's bring my diagnosis up. "Well, if you must know," I told him, "I have it."

"Really?" He did indeed seem surprised. "I could never have guessed."

He paused. "Well... Maybe," he said, "but you have a really active sense of humour."

Totally presumptuous of him of course, but I took it as a compliment. Well maybe he really thought it was "active" as in actively annoying, but I have my doubts.

My sarcastic comments get a laugh or two. My sister high fives me when I say something really funny, and my hand hurts so it happens a lot.

I have absolutely no sense of humor whatsoever. I should become a prison warden.

NO! Laughter is very important. It helps destress you, it helps with depression. Having a sense of humor is incredibly important and valuable. Unfortunately some people are just pretty easy to offend.

I'm joking around all the time. Everyone doesn't always get it, but a large portion of what i say in social situations is, at least partially, me joking around. (i think maybe i watch too much comedy central and sitcoms, heh) A lot of people think i'm funny, though, so sometimes it gets through. A lot of the time, though, it's just "Huh? what?" and i say "nevermind."

I can tell jokes. That is one of my special interests. I have memorised thousands of them.

I often find myself using them to re-focus conversations. When others start going on sidetracks, I tell a joke that is similar to the topic we had (or modify a joke to fit the topic), and then continue with the topic after the laughs.

^ 100% opposite here - I can not remember a joke for no more than 2 maybe 3 minutes, always have been that way - never could figure it out

Sometimes jokes are offensive on purpose. Sometimes jokes are offensive by accident. President Obama, very NT and well skilled in NT conventions, made an accidentally offensive joke about himself being in the Special Olympics. He spent about a week apologizing for it after people explained to him why it was offensive. If you accidentally offend somebody, apologize and move on, like President Obama did. But don't stop trying to be funny. Everything that is funny will end up offending or boring some people (or they won't find it funny) but others will laugh. For every person who thinks your humour missed, there is somebody else who liked it.

hmm i often have trouble picking jokes from actual seriousness, i usually cannot even think of my own jokes to begin with, or be funny about something, on intention anyway...i sometimes seem to make people laugh without trying to, when usually i'm being serious lol..but i think it has to do with my body language or tone because i can usually make people laugh online..and on the phone a little more often. Also, lacking self esteem might have something to do with sucking at telling jokes..

But ya may be on to something, I can never be funny if I intend to be, and when somebody tells a joke i often dont even realise lol.

Comedians often use seriousness in their jokes, and sometimes what makes them funny is that they just point out the obvious, or they'll say what everyone else wouldn't dare say, or they point out things that aren't logical. All those things are things I notice Aspies do anyway, so that's probably why people think you are being funny when you don't mean it to be that way.

I remember once (this happens more often than once, but this is what came to mind just now) I went to a grocery store...Kroger. They wouldn't take my check because I had my old address on the check. That address happened to be in Wyoming on a military base, and we had just gotten out of the military and moved to West Virginia. Who really orders new checks everytime they move anyway? So anyway, I argued with the manager forever about it claiming that he can call the bank to verify I'm me, reminding him that I write checks from my other account with the wrong WV address on it (my mother's address) and they take it all the time, and that I'm a regular customer, etc.. He didn't care. So then furiated, I go to a gas station to pick up some smokes, and I start ranting to the clerk about my experience at that grocery store (they were next to it...small town). He and the chic that worked with him were laughing hysterically at the things I said. Like that grocery store will make you sign a blank check to print on it, and then they claim that the address is what makes all the difference for security purposes. And, I said that since my old address was military that I should sue them for false advertisment when they claim to support their troops because they obviously support them but won't take their check because of the military move? Yeah, had them laughing, and I didn't really think i was being funny.

When I say, "What's the square root of 69?" answer being "8 something...and it really is." Most people dont' get it at first, and when they do get it, it's like, that's corny. I think it's freaking hillarious.