h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Care Bears have been stopped at Customs.

They're suspected of being involved in snuggling.

H.

I challenge anyone to laugh at it.

You can't entertain all of the people all of the time.

I laughed when I heard it. And I've got laughs with it, usually from women for some reason. It's not really a "bloke joke".

H.

I know. It's just the idea of the non-subjective joke that gets me.

Comedy has a victim. Even if it's the Care Bears. There's always going to be a victim, and therefore always the potential for offense.

(And "bloke joke" or not, it isn't funny!)

What's green and has four wheels?
It's grass. I lied about the wheels.

There are these three nuns walking down the street. The first two nuns walk into a bar. So the third nun ducks.

A termite walks into a bar and asks "Where's the bar tender?"

A horse walks into a bar and the bartender says "Why the long face?"
(Though I suppose a horse could be offended, given the opportunity.)

A man walks into a bar and orders six shots of the best house tequila. The bartender lines up the shots and the man slams them all down without pause. The bartender asks "Geez buddy, what's the deal?" To which the man replies "You'd drink like that too if you had what I had." Curious, the bartender probed "What do you have?" The man shrugged and said "Fifty cents."

I smiled at the Care Bears joke - good one!

I agree that the best comedy has a victim so is not non-subjective, but the funniest subjective comedy is when the victim is not "other" but is the person telling the joke, so you're not laughing *at* anybody, but are laughing *with* someone.

Even better is when the comedian finds absurdity in familiar situations, so the audience can relate to them and everyone is the "victim" of the joke but everyone is laughing with everyone else. I think Michael McIntyre has quite a few good examples of that, and one of my personal favourites is Laurence Clark http://www.laurenceclark.co.uk/ as he describes situations I've been in with hilarious observation, as he's been there too.