Who says Autistics/Aspies don't get jokes?

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I really enjoy comedy but in real-life I don't always know when people are joking or being serious & tend to take what they say more literally.

I've always "got" jokes just fine, in order for me to actually laugh the jokes in question have always needed to be inintelligent.

I have been an avid consumer of comedy and humor since I was a preteen and realized that it's one of the best ways to connect with people (NTs and Aspies) and enjoy life in general. I've watched Family Guy, South Park, numerous Comedy Central standup specials, and a partial lifetime's worth of comedy movies (Monty Python and The Holy Grail was my favorite movie as a kid). I'm a big fan of Jim Gaffigan, Dave Chappelle, Ronald Reagan, Jon Stewart and Will Ferrell. As a young kid I used to be very slow to understand jokes but nowadays I'm as quick as the average person to understand humor, and I make my fair share of jokes about my friends (sometimes my innotation is off though and it comes out as being offensive) as well as the more random "weird s**t that just popped into my head" kind of jokes. My sense of humor is probably the most spontaneous and creative part about me.

I think I have a good sense of humour, I certainly get jokes and sarcasm. But I can't always read between the lines instantly so I might 'get it' a second or two later than some people.

I enjoy programs like South Park which I would describe as satirical? Most of the jokes are hyper exaggerated though and sometimes I don't always get all the references, but I think this is because it's American based and I'm in the UK. To a lesser extent I enjoy The Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy and American Dad, all of which I think are counted as 'comedy'.

Sometimes when I use sarcasm people who don't know me extremely well just don't 'get' my jokes and ask me if I am being serious or not or if I am teasing them. I think this is due to the lack of facial expression or my slightly monotone voice that doesn't convey emotion well.

I feel I have a fairly good sense of humour (and when all else fails, I quote the Simpsons), but I definitely know autistic people who don't understand humour beyond slapstick.

The person with the worst sense of humour of anyone I've ever met told a lot of jokes like this one:
Knock knock
Who's there?
Spider Man
Spider Man who?
The Black Spider Man

and:
What did Jesus do on the cross?
He died

That second one was actually hilarious in context, but certainly not in the way he intended it...

So in summary, whilst it's certainly not guaranteed that an autistic person will have a bad sense of humour, I think it is fairly common. Someone's sense of humour should never disqualify them from an autism diagnosis, but a total lack of one could be a bit of a flag.