If there is one thing I love in life it’s when a humorous concept is explained on Wikipedia. I’m talking about when something is explained solely for comprehension purposes, and uses the most dry and mundane language possible. It helps to imagine that these explanations were written for aliens or robots who are trying to gather enough common knowledge to pass as human.

Most recently, I was interested in learning who created knock knock jokes because, dammit, I love knock knock jokes. Of course, the first part of the entry is dedicated to explaining what a knock knock joke is, before delving into the history of the joke style. It went something like this:

The standard format has five lines:

Step 1. The punster says: Knock knock!
Step 2. The recipient says: Who’s there?
Step 3. The punster says a variable response, sometimes involving a name
Step 4. The recipient says a repetition of the response followed by “who?”
Step 5. The punster says the punch line, which typically involves a pun-based misuse of the word set up during the response

HA. HA. HA. Right? It’s so unfunny that it’s funny again.

Here are some more fantastic explanations of funny things:

Stand Up Comedy:

In stand-up comedy the comedian usually recites a fast paced grouping of humorous stories, short jokes called “bits”, and one-liners typically called a monologue, routine or act. Stand-up comedy is often performed in comedy clubs, bars, nightclubs, neo-burlesques, colleges, and theatres. 

Practical Jokes:

A practical joke (also known as a prank, gag, jape or shenanigan) is a mischievous trick or joke played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort. Practical jokes or pranks are generally light-hearted, reversible and non-permanent, and aim to make the victim feel foolish or victimised to a degree, but must be performed with appropriate finesse.

Laughter:

Laughter can arise from such activities as being tickled, or from humorous stories or thoughts. Most commonly, it is considered a visual expression of a number of positive emotional states, such as joy, mirth,happiness, relief. Factors such as age, gender, education, language, and culture are determinant factors as to whether a person will experience laughter in a given situation.

Humour:

Humour is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide  amusement. Note: This entry goes on to state “Some claim that humour cannot or should not be explain.”

If you want to learn MORE about each of these topics, zip on over to Wiki for all the funny-unfunny details:

Knock Knock Jokes
Stand Up Comedy
Practical Jokes – this one is particularly great because it has photos to help explain examples of different practical jokes.
Laughter – this one includes pictures of people laughing, or perhaps simply “aggressively smiling.”
Humour