You won’t enjoy this, but out of respect for you I will keep it brief and at least it will be over quickly. You will see what I mean.
There’s first order funny, second order funny, and third order funny.
First order funny is the pure stuff. It is telling a joke, a story, or putting on a character and is the basis for all other forms of funny. It involves the most risk, and at worst it will seem clownish and trying too hard. But it has the most reward when done well. A stand up comedian is first order funny… or not. The wager is stand in front of a crowd and make me laugh funny man. It is hard. It is the most adversarial form of funny and is rightly how you make a career out of it. They are the builders.
Second order funny is responding to something said or done by someone being first order funny even if they are just making a fool of themselves. It can be an elaboration or an affirmation or a contradiction. It gets a lot of credit because it appears to be spontaneous and improvised and leads to a lot of genuine humour, like good crowd work, but it is always at best parasitic. A second hand high. Think of an amusing critic or a heckler, they can be good, necessary even, but people also hate them. They are the climbers.
Third order funny is the lowest form of funny. It is what I’m doing right now. The theory of humour to show that you get it, that you’re in on the joke. Why something is funny, or why it is not. The abstract explanation or analysis of jokes that is not in itself funny, or just acknowledging that something funny has been said or done in any other way than just laughing. Most of the time they’re not even wrong. They are the steam rising from a fresh turd.
That was awful. I feel dirty.
Matthew Cameron 
You won’t enjoy this, but out of respect for you I will keep it brief and at least it will be over quickly. You will see what I mean.
There’s first order funny, second order funny, and third order funny.
First order funny is the pure stuff. It is telling a joke, a story, or putting on a character and is the basis for all other forms of funny. It involves the most risk, and at worst it will seem clownish and trying too hard. But it has the most reward when done well. A stand up comedian is first order funny… or not. The wager is stand in front of a crowd and make me laugh funny man. It is hard. It is the most adversarial form of funny and is rightly how you make a career out of it. They are the builders.
Second order funny is responding to something said or done by someone being first order funny even if they are just making a fool of themselves. It can be an elaboration or an affirmation or a contradiction. It gets a lot of credit because it appears to be spontaneous and improvised and leads to a lot of genuine humour, like good crowd work, but it is always at best parasitic. A second hand high. Think of an amusing critic or a heckler, they can be good, necessary even, but people also hate them. They are the climbers.
Third order funny is the lowest form of funny. It is what I’m doing right now. The theory of humour to show that you get it, that you’re in on the joke. Why something is funny, or why it is not. The abstract explanation or analysis of jokes that is not in itself funny, or just acknowledging that something funny has been said or done in any other way than just laughing. Most of the time they’re not even wrong. They are the steam rising from a fresh turd.
That was awful. I feel dirty.
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