The phenomenon of the unfunny joke plays a deceitful dichotomy.

While the audience anticipates a humorous beeline route to escapism, the comedian detours the fantasy with a brutal proclamation of honesty. The unfunny joke combines the unavoidable reality of tragedy with the color of comedy, a stark contrast between what should and should not be. A raw subject is delivered with jabbing shock -- vulnerability and discomfort are the punch line.

In recent years, the popularity of the unfunny joke has skyrocketed. Its disorienting dynamic newly defines the capabilities and prompts of humor in society, questioning the severity of the most harrowing certainties of life by spinning our perception of self and of our world.

Laughter is a universal language. It is an innately human reflex that acts regardless of inhibition. Studies suggest that laughter predates humor, "Laughter and humor are related but different things…laughter is ancient. It's a primate play vocalization. Humor is a more modern, cognitive and linguistic development. There was laughter long before there was humor.

"The critical stimulus for laughter tends to be another person, rather than the joke or action itself. A bonding mechanism, laughter is a vocal display of solidarity or compliance with a leader or friend. In its response to the unfunny joke, an audience may be fooled by the expectation of its atmosphere. We sit comfortably in the seat we have paid for to listen to a comedian whom we have hired to make us laugh.

We want to laugh.

To laugh is our goal and assumption because it is the indication of happiness – in some cases, it is the illusion.

We have been programmed with the ideal of laughter in mind based on the environment that surrounds us. Laughter is difficult to consciously control, “It strips away our veneer of culture and challenges the hypothesis that we are in full control of our behavior.”

We may have a predetermined definition of humor, yet within the context and setting of humor, all qualifications are null. Humor is unpredictable, jumping at an unexpected time. The element of surprise lends to the hilarity of a situation or statement, despite its supposed crudeness.

The spontaneity of laughter attests to its humanism. It is uncensored and contagious, reflecting a mob mentality. Once one doubles over in laughter, it is the instinct of the others to join. This reflects the human desire to be accepted in a social aspect, to communicate and be fulfilled. Laughter’s neurological derivation explains its animalistic execution.

The unfunny joke earns laughter, not at the conscious decision of its audience, but at its innate tendency to respond to the energy of its environment without controlled anticipation.

A comedian stands at his deadly mic and spits his unfunny joke -- the exposure of the harsh truth in the blatant absence of humor.

The audience responds with a united tremble of laughter and the success of the unfunny joke is born. Perhaps what defines the “joke” in these circumstances is the humorous response despite the delivery of a crude proclamation, the ironic contrast between the tragedy of reality, and the comedy of its interpretation.

Out of context, the unfunny joke is shocking, offensive, and repulsive, yet when followed by the belly-shaking uproar of an audience, the unfunny joke becomes a different animal.

Tig Notaro, in her Hello, I Have Cancer comedy routine, has mastered the art of the unfunny joke – she proudly displays the scars of her double mastectomy to her audience, earning laugh upon laugh.

Addressing the outburst, Notaro said, “It’s weird because with comedy the equation is tragedy plus time equals comedy…” The unfunny joke is an assault and the laughter that follows is a satisfying release for both the audience and the comedian. It results in a freedom from the words you have wanted to say, but have never had the audacity to vocalize.

It does not seem that the unfunny joke is primarily intended to offend. Its intent is honesty, an opportunity to touch an innate sense of being, response, and awareness. The expected reaction is offense, the unexpected is laughter, but perhaps the correct response is contemplation.

The unfunny joke provokes an analysis of perception, a confrontation of ignorance, and a shock of culture that is achieved by drastic measure.

Artists in popular culture have reformulated comedy drastically, using laughter as a tool to unify and captivate. With a biting and limitless sense of humor, artists plunge into the depths of human sensibility by tricking our consciousness.

Amy Schumer’s spin on the television show, Friday Night Lights, poked fun at the issue of rape centered around a high school football team. The players ask if they can "rape at away games," a father is devastated that his son "will never rape again," and the players chant, "Clear eyes, full hearts – don’t rape!”

By producing the parody of a beloved TV show, stigmatizing bulky, high school jocks, blatantly downplaying the severity of rape, and producing hilarity in response, Amy Schumer runs with her unfunny joke and scores a touchdown.

In response to questions regarding her artistic choice, Schumer has stated, “We know what message we want to send, and then we also think the premise is funny, and then we go to town." Schumer captures her audience with the cunning safety of humor and masterfully spins the context to formulate her truth.

The unfunny joke begs to be told in a society carefully shrouded by a haze of neglectful truth. We struggle to trust, to believe, and to have faith in the system that governs us and the people that surround us.

Politicians indirectly answer questions and government buries honesty beneath policy. In effect, we resort to avoidance and distraction to dodge pain and negativity. Yet our dismay and frustration force us to discover new sources of moral direction – musicians, artists, writers, and comedians.

Perhaps brazen humor is at the forefront of social activism and change, a unifier of realistic poignancy and emotional insight that will continue to shock us into action.