What makes a joke funny?
The obvious answer is the punch line, but a joke takes a lot more than that. It requires the person telling the joke to be skilled in timing and delivery. It requires a patient audience and it requires an open mind.
Punch lines to jokes are the culmination of an agreement between the listener and the teller.
The teller agrees to provide a clear and coherent relation of the joke that might involve a minute or so of set up time. In this relation of the joke, the teller will sometimes use hand motions, body language, or facial expressions to help convey the joke.
The listener agrees to pay attention and not interrupt the teller. The listener agrees to absorb the effort of facial expressions, body language and large words to gain a complete and deep undertanding of what is being related to him.
So...
If all of this is required for a good joke.... then why is this punch line -- absent from the joke itself -- still one of the funniest things I have ever heard?
"Rectum? Damn near killed em!"
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