If you’ve ever experienced a social media post where the comments on the post were as funny of funnier than the post itself, you know everyone can be a comedian. There are social media accounts that do a lot simply going over the comments (looking at you @savagemomlife1). The boundless creativity found in the comments shows that in each of us there’s a little comedian, a careful observer of the funny, just waiting to let their voice out. Whether you’re humor is dry, ribald, or absurd, there’s a funny out there for you to uncover.
The internet has given so many the opportunity to explore humor, to be funny, when they may, if they had been in the company of others, before been hesitant. The comment section allows someone to think about a comment, to craft it, to put it out there without the worry of it “bombing” or not being able to compete with the other people who may be funnier, may quicker out of the gate, or just better story tellers. Even if it does bomb, there are so many other comments that it’s likely not going to be that big of a deal. There’s all sorts of constraints and obstacles to finding the funny that simply disappear when your stage is the comment section.
The comments are also a great place to see how jokes can grow and develop, how they can be workshopped. You will see themes evolve and get worked through. The first couple comments may start a theme and may be the best while the rest never quite reach that same level of funniness. Or it could go the other way. The initial idea might be on the right track, funny, but not quite have the joke that’s going to kill. Whatever the trajectory and even if there isn’t one, the comment section can show you how others see the funny and how you can too.
Here’s an example from my own joke working. A friend of mine had a variant on “Happy birthday” he liked to use on social media. Instead of writing the traditional “happy birthday” on your page, he would say something like “Happy anniversary of your self.” It’s not the greatest joke but it got me to thinking of ways to say happy birthday in a funny way. I started with “happy womb escape day” which was too wordy, and didn’t quite work. There were a couple of other short-lived ones that I can’t remember, but what I ended on was “happy womb eviction day.” It was a little bit edgier, the contrast of happy and eviction added to it, and it stuck. People seem to like it and I use it with my friends on occasion. But there you see how the joke didn’t come out fully formed. It took some work-shopping. You can often see the same sort of progression in comment sections.
The other great thing about comment sections is that they simply show all the many ways in which the funny can be found. You can see puns, maybe a GIF or two for the visually minded, and some might even do a version of the shaggy dog story. You’re bound to find all sorts of humor from all sorts of perspectives. That’s one of the joys. Since each person has their own background, they might find interesting or nonsensical relationships that you’d not see because you don’t have that background. Sometimes the jokes will becomes parodies of themselves. The richness of the humor is limited only by those who don’t engage and chime in. When comment sections start to run in these ways, it’s an invitation for more joking. Join in, you’ll have fun.
So if you’re doubting your comedic chops, if you’re looking for ways to become funnier, then go root around in the comments section of posts where there is a lot of humor. Look at the things people write. Find ones you find funny and riff on them. The comments section is really a great virtual writing room right there for you to use. At the very least you’ll enjoy laughing at the creativity, wit, and humor of others. That alone is worth the price of admission.