Communicating that I did, in fact, get a joke

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So we all know that those with Autism/Aspergers send to have trouble realizing when someone is joking, which definitely is the case with me.

But what seems to me to be even more common with me is that I do, in fact, know that someone is joking, but because I respond to it in the wrong way, people think I didn't get get the joke.

Do other people find that same thing?

Yeah. That used to happen a lot to me.

I have trouble with this too. It was even worse when I was a teenager. I'm terrible with banter. Usually if I just grin or laugh people understand that I got it though.

Yeah....I do the same thing, too. I'm not into banter myself. I'm not quick to "get it."

I just adopt a phony laugh if necessary. Or I might say "why" I get the joke.

Lenny Bruce used to be popular amongst hip people. So was George Carlin (but for different reasons).

Bruce used to get into "sophisticated" humor, which I didn't get as a teenager. And people like Mort Sahl, who got into political humor--I didn't get him too well, either.

I used to like things like Laurel and Hardy/Abbott and Costello much better.

And the Marx Brothers (who had sophisticated humor--but it was more evident and more "broad comedy).

I understood the humor of Seinfeld--but I just didn't care for it. Too "droll." And sort of cynical.

Going in we know these people are comedians and thus joking. The problem a lot of us seem to have is understanding if a person is joking or being sarcastic is being serious. It is harder for everybody to tell online. But for me it depends on the person. People here have been offended by user Ezra. But I "get" when he is being heavily sarcastic which he is often.

Ezra uses "sarcasm based on absurdity/extremity."

He makes people he believes in positions which are so extreme that they are absurd.

I encountered lots of that sort of humor in high school. And I believed half of it.

I may have encountered lotsa that in high school....but who knows? Maybe they were just crazy? I fail this test every time, because the way I see it, people say crazy stuff all the time, and if you call them out on it, then you really are hock deep in s**t. I play it safe by taking most things seriously, because of the number of times I was laughing out loud or joking with someone who turned out to be deadly serious. People really only accept that behavior from men, and then seldom.

Have never been a fan of Seinfeld either, but that's mainly because I find his topics uninteresting. I like Little Britain

Yes, I find this happens to me quite often. What I especially don't like is when a person who has made a joke involving irony feels that they need to explain to me, in a rather condescending way, that it was just a joke.

To return to topic, yes, it used to happen a bit. I practiced a small smile that could be interpreted any which way. Seems to do the trick, except you can get accused of being arrogant. I guess it is the lack of any facial expression acknowledging the joke that makes people think you're not understanding it.

What happens with me is that someone will tell a joke. And then I will lecture them about how they are wrong about the subject they joked about, which will prompt them to say "I was just joking". To which I will reply "exactly!". It wasn't a lame attempt at being serious, it was a lame attempt at being funny. And I am coaching you on how to be better at telling a joke, and part of telling a joke is getting your facts straight about what you are joking about. And I will then continue to lecture them about the subject they joked about. And they usually get red in the face, leave the room in a huff, and never speak to me again. Lol!

Actually that's what I usually WISH I had said after the fact.

But one time I actually did get into a heated discussion like that with my mom. She was defending someone because what they said "was just a joke", and I argued that the fact that it was a joke made no difference. Finally I said:"if you're Rich Little (the famous comedian-impersonator) and your goal is to spoof Humphrey Bogart, you give Humphrey Bogart a lisp (because he had a bit of a lisp). When you do Clark Gable you DONT give Clark Gable a lisp because Clark Gable didn't have a lisp. What that person did was the equivalent of giving Clark Gable Bogey's lisp, it makes no comedic sense, so it fails as a joke. When you make fun of something you do so for a trait that it has, not for some trait that it doesn't have" That finally got through to her, and she clamed up and admitted that I was right.

Usually if someone tells a joke I "get it" but don't laugh. They usually think If I didn't laugh then I must not of "got" the joke. Sometimes they try explaining the joke in a condescending tone then I have to interrupt and tell them I "got" it but it wasn't funny.