Quiz: Can You Finish the Famous Joke?

A good joke works under very specific circumstances. It has to be well-timed, comprehensible, and clever at the same time. Some comedians, of course, simply have a knack for coming up with and delivering great jokes with seemingly no effort, and some of these jokes are so memorable that they become classics, to forever be repeated by dads at dinner parties throughout all of time. 

In the quiz ahead, see if you can guess the answers to these famous jokes—and finish with an arsenal of new jokes to try out, or at least a few chuckles in the process.

Theories of Humor: The Incongruity Theory

Many comedians have spent their lives trying to figure out exactly what makes something funny, funny. Everyone has a slightly different take, though the incongruity theory is one of the more popular explanations. 

This theory proposes that humor happens when expectations or patterns are unexpectedly broken. The incongruity theory has roots in the writings of Aristotle and has been expounded on in the centuries since.

The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer explained the theory by writing, “The cause of laughter in every case is simply the sudden perception of the incongruity between a concept and the real objects which have been thought through it in some relation, and laughter itself is just the expression of this incongruity.” 

Immanuel Kant, meanwhile, described humor as “an affection rising from the sudden transformation of a strained expectation into nothing.”

In other words, a great joke involves “normal thing plus normal thing in the same category, plus absurd random thing tangentially related,” said comedian Patrick Cunningham, per the Augusta Press. Savannah-based comic Chris Davidson, meanwhile, said that the formula should involve “setting an expectation and subverting that expectation in a succinct and clever manner.” According to this theory, a great joke is all about the element of surprise and subversion.

The Superiority Theory

Some other theories about humor are, ironically, a bit darker. One such theory is the superiority theory, which again dates back to ancient Greece and was also famously detailed by Thomas Hobbes in his book Leviathan. 

Here, Hobbes essentially proposes that we laugh when we see someone or something we see as dumber or lesser than ourselves, thus making us feel superior. Some sociologists have also proposed that laughter serves as a form of social regulation. This could explain why we laugh at “fail” videos, but most theorists agree that this theory falls short and only explains a highly specific type of humor. 

The Relief Theory

Another theory of humor is the relief theory, which argues that laughter is essentially a form of blowing off steam and releasing pressure. According to some evolutionary psychologists, this theory could date back to when we were threatened by tigers at night and accumulated so much stress that we needed some way to let it go—and so laughter developed.

Sigmund Freud extrapolated on this theory, arguing that even if we aren’t threatened by tigers, we still accumulate layers of stress and density and need a way to release this tension. He also proposed that laughter allows people to address unconscious desires or forbidden taboos that are sometimes buried in the psyche. Laughter, he wrote, is a way of satisfying “an instinct (whether lustful or hostile) in the face of an obstacle that stands in its way.”

Laughter does have known health benefits, which lends some support to this idea. Additionally, this could explain why so many jokes seem to explore somewhat taboo and controversial topics.

What Makes a Great Joke?

Ultimately, most jokes could probably be explained by some combination of the above theories. Yet truly, an incredible joke needs no explanation. Great humor relies on a certain combination of factors that transcend analysis; you’re not thinking about theories when you’re literally rolling on the floor laughing. 

We can’t guarantee that any of the jokes in the above quiz will have this effect on your loved ones when you volley them out at the next function, but hey, it’s worth a try! 

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