Asperger's and humour.

Post Reply New Topic

I was told by someone that people with Asperger's can't make funny jokes or understand them.

I can make jokes about science and I understand 60% of science jokes. However the sort of jokes you get on mainstream TV, I never get.

Is this person correct?

Well if it's worth anything I have classic autism there's some jokes that I get but then there are some that flies over my head as for telling jokes I've been told that I have a sharp sense of humor

I "get" most of the mainstream jokes and the sort of scripted humour you find in films, etc. I just don't find that they're very much good.

I find a lot of "inappropriate" humour funny, as well as acerbic, ironic and absurd stuff.

Wordplay also, the more inept the better.

Some of the threads in the "Off The Wall" forum are worth checking out, in my opinion.

I believed the idea that people with Asperger's Syndrome had little or no sense of humor ... until I joined Wrong Planet. My biggest surprise was learning how many others are funny like me!

I can understand most jokes, but I "get them" a little more delayed than NTs

There is some humor that is crafted to be enjoyed by both Aspies and NTs, but in completely different ways.
I think a couple of examples of this dual-humor would be Beavis & Butthead, and Southpark.

I've noticed NTs watching B&B and laughing commenting on how stupid the two boys are, - a basic hierarchal approach to an observation.

I loved B&B for a completely different reason. I enjoyed the fact that B&B was a very accurate and raw way to display the human behaviors that go on around us constantly, but presented in a way so that most people wouldn't really get that that's what it was doing due to their own denial. NTs generally do not want to admit to participating in the exact same processes and mechanisms that they see on B&B. It IS the exact same, only appearing a little different on the surface.

In many ways the boys B&B were much like Aspies trying their hardest to be NTs. They would go to great lengths to try and emulate NT behavior, but often fall a little short, and so NTs viewing the program would pick up on this fault and feel good about themselves because they were not as "stupid" as B&B.

If you tell an NT that B&B are basically doing the exact same things that they do, the NT will respond "No they aren't. What I do doesn't look stupid like that".
This kind of thing entertains me greatly because yes it does look stupid. B&B just make it more painfully obvious.

The movie "Team America" and the Southpark show both do a lot in the way of poking fun of the memetics present in our society. I'm a bit surprised that with as much effort that is put into displaying memes in a ridiculous manner that more people really do not catch on to how deep these concepts really go. It's like they don't mind laughing about the memes sometimes, but at the same time refuse to acknowledge the control that those memes have over their lives.

Wasn't it Mark Twain that said "It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they are being fooled" ?

I think I have a pretty good sense of humour, I would never be able to pull off telling a joke but I make observations and comment on things in a humorous way. people have often commented on my 'dry' sense of humour. But sometime people laugh at things and assume I am joking when really it is an actual option I have.

As for understanding humour, I think I always 'get' jokes but am hard to amuse.

My humor is often very dry and highly specific to my interests. My joke style seems to be very focused and tends to be highly inappropriate (mainly sexual things like "that's what she said," and whatnot) which doesn't fly at work, so a lot of people seem to think I'm overly serious because I don't like to make dirty jokes for fear of sexual harassment repercussions.

I do sometimes have a hard time recognizing humor when it is used in a place that is typically out of context (like a meeting or at a funeral or something).

While I am more HFA than Aspie, I do have a strong sense of humor (or for those who prefer "proper" English, humour). As a kid, I used to read my brother's joke books, and a lot of those used simple humor, especially puns. Today I understand more complex humor, and I like to crack jokes whenever I can. I try to avoid using any kind of humor that has the potential to offend people. I can pick up sarcasm and use it around the right people. Potty humor still makes me chuckle, and while I rarely use adult humor, I can surprise people when I show them that I can.

mine is a bit based on Deadpool's

i enjoy humor though I can't and don't attempt humor or telling jokes. I laugh at the morbid and dark which others do not always find entertaining or funny - so it is better that I just don't go there.

An Aspie walked into a bar and said ouch.

My sense of humor is based on observation of everyday events, not scripted out of a book. Most so-called jokes are simply not funny. I get the joke, but don't find it funny in the least.

I've been told I have a good sense of humor and I laugh at things all the time. Sometimes just remembering something I saw funny in a cartoon, a YouTube poop, or even a silly thing my brother once did makes me laugh out loud, because I can replay the event like a movie camera in my head, and during a two-way conversation I may apologize several times for not getting it under control, even if it wasn't inappropriate.

I value humor and laughter very much. My life and the world itself would be even darker than it already is without them. I also enjoy telling jokes. In fact, I've pretty much killed at least three threads with joke-posting as the topic.

Sometimes when I say a opinion about something. People laugh. It's not the type that people make fun of me for. It's just the way I say it I guess. And I'm always like. What's so funny? I'm being serious here. And they're like we know you are. I never understood what's funny then.