I used to give talks on humour. Oh yes I did. People used to come to lectures on how to be funny. They weren't my initiative, I was asked to take part by some organization or other. I never claimed to be able to make people funny, because Funny is inherent, but I did give strategies on how to make jokes, and what "funny" is - the anatomy of humour, in fact. It's quite an academic subject, and I was afraid that by preparing for the talk, researching and examining, etc, I would actually lose my sense of humour.
One of the things I did was describe how jokes can be constructed by using plays on words. I drew some grazing antelope, plus a lion hiding in the bushes. The punchline was "Lunch Boks". This sort of humour can be "passed on" as it were. People with absolutely no sense of humour could actually put together their own "joke" by word association in an almost mathematical fashion. If they had a mind to. I also told the story of an old girlfriend, a sweet, gorgeous girl, but with virtually no sense of humour. I told her I was having a tuna fish sandwich. She said "I didn't know you could tune a fish". I was gobsmacked. I laughed not at the joke but at the fact she had attempted a joke. It was like seeing a baby walk for the first time.
