I grew up in a very humorous family. My mom's side with dry humor and my dad's side with... puns. For 19 years I have had to endure almost every family reunion on my dad's side with pun related jokes about chicken breasts, "Breast hope you get the good pieces" (my uncle's favorite), to puns about bands and actresses.
I'm not here to complain about puns, though! I'm that one friend that has the pun humor in the group. I'm here to explain to others the problems of our humor.
Not enough people are able to appreciate the fine piece of art that is the comedy of puns, but for those that do (like my uncle), they flaunt it and they own it. Much to the dismay of their audiences.
"Don't Be Short With Me"
They grunt and they groan and they look you dead in the eye with a resounding, "No." Why are they so offended? Having a punny sense of humor is one of the best things related to comedy! And in my opinion, it's an eggcellent form of comedy; everyone gets it, the jokes are short and sweet, anything can become a yoke, and you can even have a full on conversation in puns!
But every pun comedian out there faces the same stigma daily of being puny. These are a few of our troubles.
"Do you like local jokes? Yeah me too, they're right up my street."
All of your friends know your humor. They know how horribly puny you are and how often you make those punny puns. (Hint: All the time.) They can tell by that glint in your eye what kind of joke you're going to make and how bad it's going to be. They automatically clench up and dread the next few seconds of their lives and prepare to either groan or force a laugh. It steals your thunder, but you do it any way because you are hilarious and who would let a pun go wasted?
"This song is called subtraction — take it away!"
Take it away. That's what you do when you make a pun. You take a random word, attach it to a creatively thought out joke, and voila! A pun is made. It is that simple. And that is why people are constantly annoyed with you. You take everything and make a pun out of it. It's easy, but you can make some friends wish they weren't your friends.
"Why are fish so smart? Because they live in schools!"
People immediately judge you the moment they hear a pun come from your mouth. They roll their eyes; "Don't be so childish," they say. But you're really not! Okay, you probably are, but in a literal sense you are still a grown person and have adult-like responsibilities. When people hear puns they think that because you don't have a joke that you can set up with a lengthy story that you can't handle everyday things.
"Don't go bacon my heart." "I couldn't if I fried."
The worst problem a pun maker has is the mini heart attack they have when a pun is spoken and silence follows. No one gets it. A split second of silence and you immediately rethink all of your life decisions. And then a couple crucial seconds later after you have already planned to back your bags, move to Russia and become a goat farmer, "Ooooh....I get it. Haha." And so on. It may not seem like such a big deal, but we pun-ers live on the joke. If the audience doesn't get it then what is the point?
People with puns live a hard life of comedy, but let me tell something to all those pun makers out there. There are people who appreciate your puns. It may not be you close friends, but they are out there! Don't stop with you creative witty jokes because they are hilarious and if it makes you laugh, then that's all that matters.
