To hear examples of where to draw the line in comedy, Redditor DeltaName asked:
"What do you see as the lowest form of humour?"
Not everyone can handle being pranked.
It would behoove the jokester to really know their victim's limits before committing to something that can be potentially harmful.
Disguised Attacks
"When 'pranks' are really just bullying/assault."
"Its only funny if the person being pranked can laugh about it as well, if not, its not a prank."
– Cleverbird
Just A Jerk
"Another thing, in an extremely simplified scenario to illustrate: the victim suspects it's a prank and calls BS on it. '600 paper bags? Is this a prank?'"
"The perpetrator plays innocent and swears it's on the up and up: 'No, we really DO need 600 paper bags!'"
"Victim gets the bags, perpetrator laughs and reveals it was 'just a prank.'"
"I see this play out pretty often. If the jig is up, admit it and move on. Otherwise, you're just being a jerk-- not a funny prankster."
– hmmm_thought_pig
Too Stage-y
"I also hate pranks that are obviously staged. A prank isn't funny because of what's being done, but because a good prank will be based somewhat in reality - so for a second the person being pranked believes whatever is happening is actually happening to them."
"So when a prank is staged, I see no comical value in it whatsoever. They're just really poorly acted, low budget sketches at that point."
– tmobilekid
For The Sake Of Clicks
"Pranking kids. Making them cry just for a sh**ty tic tok video."
– Outcasted_introvert
Unfair Target
"Cheap shots on a persons physical appearance."
– Alternative-Poem-337
People think joking about a traumatic past should be off-limits.
There Are Limits
"'Pranking' others about serious matters."
– Sa-lin
The Difference
"Prank: covering someone's room in tinfoil."
"Not prank: faking a traumatic emotional event"
"It's a pretty easy line to spot if you're not a jerk, but people suck."
– APearce
Taking Advantage Of The Gullible
"Yeah I hate these. Like I said a pretty innocuous joke and dude got all serious and said he was abused or his mom died or something. I felt bad and stopped joking around and apologized. And then it was like 'haha look how dumb he is for believing that HARDEEHAR!'"
"I'm just like wtf, u think I'm gonna call u out as a liar over sensitive stuff like that?? Of course I choose to believe you. And you're kind of a dick!"
– iFlyskyguy
A Lost Opportunity
"I had a friend I was close to in high school. One day he confessed to that me was dying from a terminal illness. I pitied him and did my best to be a good friend for the next two months, and then found out he was lying for apparently no reason."
"Obviously I was confused and angry so I stopped hanging out with him and to this day I still have no idea why he did that. If he wanted attention, he had it already -- he never knew, but I had a slight crush on him at the time."
– gekigarion
These workplace pranks are anything but hysterical.
At The Expense Of Co-Workers
"F'king with workers for a video."
– KiraSandwich
Who Does This?
"Throwing a drink at someone, especially a food worker after they hand you the drink. My f'king god I hate seeing that sh*t."
– suddenAlcoholic
Taking Another Person's Property
"Saw a video of a guy stealing a worker's ID and running in the hallway while the worker was chasing him.. he did it as a 'prank' apparently."
"Really hate that sh*t."
– ballistic-dumba**
As an Asian-American, I've often been subject to racist humor.
"I'm just kidding. I have tons of Asian friends," is the excuse I've grown numb to hearing, and I often laughed it off. I always thought that if I expressed my humiliation, I would be accused of being "too defensive" or lacking a sense of humor.
I realized, embarrassingly late, that by going along with their mockery of me using Asian stereotypes, that I was complicit in perpetuating casual racism towards people who look like me.
When non-White people are constantly made fun of based on their ancestry and/or color of their skin, it's never funny.
My statement may invoke others to call me "woke."
For me, it's more like "I've had it, I'm tired, and I'm no longer taking your racist bullsh*t."
Certain forms of comedy like roasts, dark humor, and one-liners for the sake of having shock value are all risky, but if the jokes are clever to start and delivered smartly, comedians can really knock it out of the park.
Or they could really have a negative impact on audiences.
Curious to find out about the boundaries within the world of standup, Redditor thebosomofthePacific asked:
"What should be off-limits in comedy?"
Pranks are a popular comedy tactic, but the result isn't always a laughing matter.
Unwilling Participants
"Pranks on people who don't want to be involved, especially ones that physically or psychologically hurt people."
"Agreed, all those 'prank' channels where they say and do horrible things to their children and then go 'it's just a prank, you little baby!' while their kid is sobbing… that sh*t makes me sick."
Pranksters
"Physically involving people who didn't want to be involved (e.g. YouTube / TikTok pranksters)"
"ANYTHING should be allowed on pure standup comedy though."
The Golden Rule
"I had a practical joke book when I was a kid and on the first page and the back it had in big letters: 'The golden rule of pranks: A prank is supposed to make people happy and laugh' If you pull a prank on someone and they don't laugh or find it funny, no matter what: YOUR PRANK WASNT FUNNY! STOP, APOLOGISE IMMEDIATELY, EXPLAIN YOURSELF AND APOLOGISE MORE. If you don't do this, you're not a prankster you're just an a**hole!""
"At the end of every joke it had 'Remember the Golden Rule' It kinda stuck with me 20 years later."
– Cprich22
Dark humor is perfectly acceptable, but even those can have hard limits.
Rule Of Thumb
"Nothing should be off limits, but Chris Rock gave a good rule of thumb on Talking Funny that you should joke about what people DO, not what they ARE."
Frankie Boyle
"Frankie Boyle is possibly my least favourite comedian because, while some of his lines are funny (albeit dark and uncomfrotable) he usually goes for the darkest and most controversial thing he can say in a given scenario even if it is not really relevant or funny. His dark jokes are fine but they're ruined for me by the fact he clearly tries to make everything as dark and controversial as he can, and sometimes they end up being funny, rather than being as funny as possible and sometimes they're dark and controversial."
A Study In Contrasts
"Listen, dark jokes are fine. Nothing is off limits. But there's a difference between being funny and just saying disgusting sh*t."
"Bias Comedy"
"Shock comedy, and what I'll call 'bias comedy.'"
"If the punchline itself is just the fact that you said a racial slur, or made fun of somebody with cerebral palsy, that's pretty lame."
"Also, if the only reason anyone is laughing is just because you made a political statement and they agree with you, that's pretty lame as well."
Reading the room was mentioned as a key factor to successfully landing a joke.
Gauge The Audience
"Comedy is subjective, there should be no limits. However it is still a good idea to keep in mind who the audience is."
The Right Structure
"depends on the structure of the Joke."
"you can laugh: about it , or with it , or at it."
"if you laugh at someone or something on the other hand , you reeeaally gotta know your audience."
Expectations
"I think it's a mutual trust thing, both the comedian should know the audience and the audience should know the comedian. I will not sympathize with someone who is offended at jokes Bill Burr makes and then simultaneously goes to a Bill Burr performance a few weeks later."
Racist jokes are tricky. I understand some of them are rooted in truth, but if delivered poorly, they can be downright offensive.
Being Asian, I'm indifferent to a comedian's dig at a minority group if it's based on a tired stereotype like, "Asians make terrible drivers"—which is absolutely not true.
To deliver hackneyed jokes like that is a mark of laziness in my opinion.
But even more unforgivable is when racial epithets are used. I cringe whenever a comic of any ethnicity uses a racist slur targeting themselves as if to demonstrate they have permission to denigrate their own community.
And it's not about being "too sensitive." The opposition stems from the need to prevent microaggressions from potentially evolving into bigger forms of hatred many ethnic groups constantly face in their everyday lives.
But that's just my take.
Exhaustion can get the best of anyone.
Many people get so busy that they forget about the importance of getting rest. I've fallen asleep in movie theaters, classrooms, and even in busy restaurants.
Redditor u/aimlessecho asked, Where is the weirdest place you've fallen asleep? , and some of the answers were shocking.
9. They were doing the job for the doctors
"I fell asleep one time waiting before a medical procedure. They had to wake me up so that I could sign paperwork permitting them to put me to sleep."
8. I see this a lot
"on the bus, standin up
in my defense, it was a traffic jam and i hadn't slept the previous night"
7. Extreme camping
"When I was a kid, like 5 or 6, there was a tree in the front yard I really liked climbing. There was a branch perfectly shaped for little me to lie down on. Early one morning, I woke up and decided to take my sleeping bag up the tree and went back to sleep."6. Are they still hiring?
"During a job interview. He actually had to shake me awake. Weirder yet, i still got the job."
5. This is why you should call out sick
"I volunteered at the local firehouse when I was a teen/early 20's. We got a call one night on the interstate which was a 20 minute drive. Sick me decided to close my eyes thinking I would wake up when the sirens stopped. I woke up when the truck pulled back in the station and turned off with everyone laughing at me."
4. I would panic if I woke up like that
Giphy"Buddy and I went to an amusement park, roller coaster were the main thing we went for. Then we got in line for one and as we sat down in the seat and got strapped in, a couple got pulled off to the side because they had a camera out. You aren't allowed to film or take pictures on roller coasters where I'm from. So security was called and the ride was delayed.
So I sat there and turn to my friend & say 'Yo Chris, wake me when the ride starts.' I said it as a joke, he laughed, and then I leaned back and closed my eyes. Then I was falling. The coaster has started and I actually fell asleep. I woke up on the first hill but I'm still amazed I actually fell asleep."
3. The dentist was accommodating
"I fell asleep while they were putting my braces in and I kept closing my mouth. They had to put something in my mouth that would keep it open for me. It was actually helpful as I fell back asleep and woke up when they were done.
2. That's so disappointing!
"At a Van Halen concert in the 90's. Laid down on the grass in the open seating area. Next thing I knew the concert was over and my friends were waking me up so we could leave."
1. The Louvre's security must've been asleep too
Giphy"Did a full 7 hours under a marble bench at the Louvre. I was eleven, it was Bastille Day, they had air conditioning."
Ever feel like you're having an exceptionally weird day?
Sometimes it feels like that no matter what you do, that the universe is just out to get you. For better or worse, you find yourself in situations that are so unlikely, that some higher power has to have a hand in it.
Redditor u/GhostRxm got people to relive their weirdest days by asking, "What was your 'The universe is messing with me' moment?"
10. What are the chances of getting a bug in your ear?
"I sometimes "play hooky" from work...basically if I need a "mental health day" but can't explain that to my boss, I'll make up some other excuse to call out.
At least 75 percent of the times I've done this, I end up getting sick or injured or something which results in me actually needing to take the following day off work.
Most recent example: I called out one day and claimed I'd been struck by the stomach bug that was going around. The next morning, ready to return to work, I woke up with a goddamn bug stuck in my ear canal and had to go to the doctor to have it removed."
9. Sounds like a really bad joke
Giphy"Right after moving I was in a car accident on the freeway during rush hour. Backend of my car was crunched. While it was sitting in the parking lot of a collision center waiting to be repaired, a semi backed into the front end. The collision center was right next to a trucking company. When my husband called to tell me what had happened I thought he was joking."
8. Double dumped
"While getting dumped, I was shat on by a pigeon."
"You got dumped twice, dude"
"That's a crappy feeling"
7. Quitting is hard, good for you!
"The evening of my first day without a cigarette in 15 years I came across a full pack of smokes lying on a window ledge. Laughter ensued. I never had found even 1 discarded cigarette before. Nor since."
6. Sometimes, the universe is kind
"Back when I was a kid, I borrowed a CD of my dad's without asking, and it ended up becoming lost. We looked everywhere, but it was never found... Dad scolded me, but worse, as only a dad can do, he would tease me about it. He never forgot, and he made sure that I never forgot either.
Fast-forward ten years: my dad died unexpectedly while at work. Thankfully, the universe (or someone/something) made sure to let us know everything was going to be okay:
After we arrived home from the funeral, my mom, siblings, and I were sitting around in silent shock. It was Christmastime, so my brother thought he'd try lightening the mood by playing some Christmas music. He went into the CD cabinet, and there, sitting right in front, was the missing CD. That CD had been missing for ten years!"
5. August 2019
"August 2019.
First weekend in August i get mugged and punched on a night out. Lose my phone, wallet, keys
The same weekend my dad and second mum split up after 15 years.
The weekend after my mum goes on holiday. The first night shes away and im watching the dogs. The eldest passes away in the midnight vet as im holding her.
About 3 days before she comes home i get rushed into hospital with supposed sepsis and have surgery. Luckily i was in and out within a week.
The last weekend of August my car breaks down and costs me £300+ in repairs.
I am not leaving the house next August."
4. There was a glitch in the simulation
"A couple of months ago, I went to the drinking fountain to fill up my water bottle. Except there was no water fountain. I walked away from it, looked around the hallway, and then walked back to the area where the drinking fountain was supposed to be, but it was still gone. Thinking I was crazy, I ended up going back to my office and asking my coworkers if we'd ever had a drinking fountain there to begin with. Of course, they said that there was. I went back to the fountain a third time, and it was there, the same as always."
3. A surprise was just around the corner
Giphy"Cut off contact with a horrible ex around May of this year and last week I finally decided to clear all of her stuff out of my car. Some clothes and random junk. Got it all bagged up and tossed out. The very next day I turned a corner at the store and there she was. I haven't seen or spoken to her in six months and the day after I try to remove items that remind me of her I almost run right into her."
2. No good deed...
"It was my birthday weekend. I helped someone jump start their car in the morning. Later on, LA has the most rain it's had in 6 years, the storm drain near my house get backed up. My house gets flooded, and was the only one on the block to be affected."
1. You're right: A dog wouldn't do this
"My girlfriend cheated on me last fall which hit me really hard. Took a long time for me to feel ok with myself and gain the confidence to start dating again and trust somebody else. Fast forward to last spring I met this amazing girl and been in a relationship with her for the last couple months and even admitting being in a relationship was a huge step for me. Well, who doesn't call me up five days ago but her boyfriend asking me if I've been with her while he was away working abroad. Conclusion: I'm getting a dog"
