Too Soon?

February 7, 2014 in Daily Bulletin

Not sure if an appropriate amount of time has passed before it’s safe to make jokes about a traumatic event? Science has your back:

  • Jokes about a traumatic event before it takes place (such as an upcoming hurricane) are generally well received.
  • The perceived humour of post-tragedy jokes falls up to about fifteen days after the tragedy.
  • After that jokes about the event seem funnier. They seem funniest 36 days after the event.
  • The perceived humour of jokes falls after that – but mostly because the memory of the event fades with time and so it’s harder to relate to jokes about it.
  • It also depends on the quality of the joke. Two weeks after 9/11 The Onion released an issue with jokes about the event that was well received due to the quality of the writing.

See graphs that show when you can make that joke you were holding onto and more over here.

Source: New Republic

Via: Marginal Revolution